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My first really BAD book review.

by Ed on 29th January 2010

Here’s a story that not only highlights how incredibly effective e-mail marketing is, but also the inherent dangers of it working too well.

My new book E-Mail Marketing Dynamite has been on Amazon a while, but until a few weeks ago didn’t have any reviews.

That was a problem for me, because at the beginning of January I signed a contract to promote my new book to around 213,000 small business owners here in the UK.

I was therefore concerned that if any of those 213,000 business owners decided to see what the reviews are like on Amazon, they would see there weren’t any!

That was obviously less than ideal, so on the 18th Jan (11 days ago) I emailed everyone who got the book directly from me, and asked them if they’d mind posting a review on Amazon.

I didn’t ask for a ‘positive review’ or ‘testimonial’ – I just asked for ‘a review.’ I think the difference is subtle, but hopefully people would see I wasn’t trying to influence reviews one way or the other.

Even so, within the first few days of sending my email I’d already received 22 fabulous reviews — and that number has since gone up to 27 reviews, all of them 4 and 5 stars.

Which is brilliant. Thank you if you were one of the reviewers, I really appreciate it.

So of course I’ve been basking in the warm glow of all this positive feedback — it’s quite a relief to know my book’s been so well received because you never really know what people will think of a new book until the first batch of feedback comes in.

Unfortunately yesterday things turned a bit sour.

A really negative review of my book suddenly appeared, giving my book just 1 out of a possible 5 stars!

Of course a poor review is always disappointing, but I totally accept everyone’s entitled to their opinion. (I guess that’s why Amazon call them ‘Reviews’ and not ‘Testimonials’!)

However in this case it’s downright frustrating… because it appears the reviewer hasn’t even read my book!!

The reason he gives for his 1-star is that he doesn’t believe the other 27 four and five star reviews are genuine!

In fact — and it may just be me being a tad paranoid here — but it seems he thinks *I* made up all those reviews, and also that I’ve been seeding the Internet with other positive reviews about my books.

What a cheeky chap!

I know of one Internet Marketer who does that, but it’s certainly not my style. Besides, even if I wanted to do that, as a business owner as well as an author I haven’t got time to do it. (I’m sure as a business owner you probably know all about lack of time too!)

Anyway, I think this all goes to show just how incredibly effective email is… sometimes perhaps too effective!

My email subscriber list isn’t huge (at least not by Internet Marketing guru standards where they have hundreds of thousands of subscribers on their lists), but I do have a great relationship with many of my email subscribers, many of whom have seen me live at various seminars and workshops around the country.

Effective e-mail marketing is all about building a strong relationship with your email susbcribers – a key point I make in E-Mail Marketing Dynamite.

The email I sent out asking for reviews produced a fantastic response — in fact from the reviewers point of view it generated an “unbelievable” amount of testimonials, too quickly.

Maybe I should have asked for reviews in a different way, e-mailing people in small batches over an extended period of time. Or then again, maybe no matter what you do someone, somewhere will take offence?!

I suppose the key is to not let these things get us down as business owners and marketers, and keep pushing forwards and taking maximum advantage of tools and technologies like e-mail marketing.

Even with this unfortunate side-effect, I still highly recommend email as a highly effective way of promoting yourself and your business – just beware that sometimes even the best intentions can produce a degree of unwanted side-effect.

Have a great day!

Ed.

P.S. Thank you to Caroline Cooper for replying (on Amazon) to the non-believing reviewer… to assure him she is real! Thanks for standing in my corner Caroline – really appreciated.

P.P.S. Also yesterday I had a worrying conversation with a customer who paid the £2.36 postage and packing a few months ago to order his free copy of E-Mail Marketing Dynamite, but he never received it, and worse – my back-office system here didn’t show his order!
His book’s been dispatched today, with my profuse apologies of course — but if you ordered my book more than a week ago and are still waiting for it to arrive please contact my customer services team either online or via the phone. (UK Freephone (0800) 612 0616 or International +44 (0)1377 267365). Thanks.

Tagged as: book review, e-mail marketing, publishing

Article by Ed Rivis

I'm the Amazon 5-star rated author of three books about web marketing, and since 2008 have spoken to more than 4,000 business owners at conferences and seminars around the UK. I've also developed software that automatically generates lead pages and home-study programmes that help small business owners like you generate more sales-leads and win new customers and clients, online.

Ed has written 326 awesome articles.

http://www.dermashield.co.uk Peter Friswell

Ed

Rather cynical (maybe even a tad unprofessional?), but at times like this when coming across unreasonable people, comments or opinions I have a mantra that stops me beating myself up too much.

SW, SW, SW? Next!

Some will, some won’t, so what? Next

Of course, just as you have, I always try to use the “so what?” as a learning experience.

Peter
http://www.thekissbusiness.co.uk Karin H

Hi Ed

“because it appears the reviewer hasn’t even read my book!!” LOL

Ah, a review by proxy, those can be really strange indeed and knock you for six. Hope you offered him at least a free PDF copy of your book so he can make up his own mind about the content of the book and not the content of the other reviewers

Karin H (Keep It Simple Sweetheart, specially in business)
http://www.integral-networks.co.uk Paul

The guy is a prat, he needs to get a life and do something positive.

Always base assumptions on facts an not opinions.

Keep it up Ed.

Paul.
http://www.themixedcase.com Stefanie Steil

I cannot believe someone would take the time and effort to check on something like this but having come across some unreasonable people in my time very little surprises me in the world of business. I left a positive review for your book on Amazon as the book really opened my eyes as to what can be achieved through good email marketing and my business partner found the book greatly inspiring.

Stefanie
http://www.carolbentley.com Carol Bentley

Hi Ed,

I had a similar experience with my first book – a reviewer questioned the validity of the results I quoted for a mailing campaign I wrote for a client.

I contacted Amazon to ask how I could respond to this review (at that time you couldn’t comment on reviews on your own books) to explain that the figures quoted are genuine and I have the paperwork to back it up.

Amazon responded by removing the negative review – that was unexpected.

Since then Amazon have set up a facility to reply via comments and I see you’ve done that and have had a good number of people spring to your defence. I think in the long run he’s probably done you more good than harm

Carol
http://geordie-coach.com/Blog Aly

Interestingly enough I was just reading that review earlier today. I also got the impression it was from someone who had not read your book. I checked out his profile and you are not the only person he has given a 1* review.

Amazon shoppers are clever enough to see through a stroppy comment not backed with evidence but the paranoid ramblings of a single sole. The fact so many other people have given you great reviews speaks volumes.

Your book is great and if anyone has received it and just popped it on a shelf then they are missing out from getting some great information and tips from an expert.

Ignore the loser who give you a bad review, is he really worth taking up your valuable thoughts and the time it took to write an email and this blog? Surely your time would have been far better spent writing your next blockbuster?

Which hopefully you can come to Newcastle to launch!!!

Best wishes.

Aly
The Geordie Coach
http://www.theinternetconsultanc.y.com Richard Smith

Ed, you know what it’s like. No matter how good your product or service is, no matter how much your money back, no risk guarantee means, you will always get one or two which say, yeah right! And then go on to make some unwarranted comments.

Life eh Ed!

Keep up the good work.

We all love you.

Richard
Paul H

Hi Ed

All this proves is that you practice what you preach. All the lessons in the book talk about the need to build relationships before you can expect massive response from clients. so whats happened…

You built relationships with your clients and were able to create massive response.

I’ve replied to this effect suggesting Matthew now buys the book although I suspect his cynical nature will have him googling Russ and all the other examples to check you out.

I’ll bet he tried marketing once and it didn’t work!!!

Keep up the good work

Paul
http://www.edrivis.com Ed

I’m bowled over by everyone’s support on this thank you.

@Peter – “So what?” …that’s a good one to remember thanks.

@Karin – yes I said if he buys my book and doesn’t like it I’ll give him the money back out of my own pocket. (If he also asked for a refund from Amazon then of course he;d double his money.) At this time I’ve not a response to my offer.

@Carol – Wow it’s impressive that Amazon responded like that for you. What a great company. Incredble isn’t it – how people have so much time to spend criticising and judging other people.

@Aly – Yes you’re absolutely right I need to move on from this (although it’s been a really positive experience seeing people spring to my defence… you included thank you!

@Richard – yes, too true. An old mentor once said to me “If you want to avoid upsetting anyone tomorrow… stay in bed!” (Or words to that effect.)

(And thanks for the ‘love’ comment… going to be starting my weekend with a warm fuzzy feeling from all these comments. )

@Paul – I’m glad you spotted that… yes if I asked for reviews and didn’t get any then it would have basically sent out a message saying email marketing doesn’t work, or that I don’t know what I’m doing. I guess this fact has been entirely lost on the chap.

————————————————————————-
THANK YOU to everyone who has commented on this – I really appreciate it.
————————————————————————-
David Cross

Ed

I Think you’re absolutely right. The problem is to many reviews too quickly leaving the prospective buyer with doubts. Goes to show we never stop learning Hey!!!!!
http://seriousgardener.co.uk Philip C

Hi Ed
Your book is good and the review I gave it though brief was sincere. I have learned a lot from reading it and will try and track down some of your earlier works.
Fair comment, is fair only if it is fair and based on actual reading.
Good luck in overcoming this set back.
http://www.WordofMouthMagic.com Dr Martin Russell

Hi Ed,

I put a review of a Paul McKenna book (http://www.amazon.com/review/R2PU94M5AFE84S?ie=UTF8&ref_=cm_cr_rdp_perm) – and was accused in the comments of being Paul McKenna writing a great review about himself!

S. Adamas – “Methinks (very strongly) that Paul, in fact, IS you… Or should I say that you, in fact, ARE Paul… ”

Being online leads itself to paranoia

Cheers!
Martin
http://www.edrivis.com Ed

@David – Too true, I guess we never stop learning! I never expected so many great reviews. Then it never entered my head how it would look from a third party perspective. I can see how it would look to someone who has never heard of me. Still, it’s incredibly frustrating to get a ’1 star review’ from someone who isn’t actually reviewing the book — who is making false accusations and assumptions.

@Philip – Thanks. And yes, if he’d read my book and then given it a 1 star review I’d have not only accepted it but also made a note to write a better book next time. Obviously that’s not the case. However I am hoping he does at some point read my book and edit his review to reflect the fact he’s read it. Then even if he still says it only deserves a 1 star rating, at least the review will be actually directed at the book and not his incorrect assumptions.

@Martin – Or should I say “Paul” (so it doesn’t just happen to me then! )

Seriously, I’ve seen this happen to other people — guess I was being a bit naive thinking it wouldn’t happen to me too at some point! Also yes I’m sure you’re right about “being online leads to paranoia”… maybe I need to see a Doctor. Do you know any?
http://www.MerrieMarketing.com Kim O’Rourke

Hi Ed – I’ve read your book AND listened to the CDs and I think they’re great – and I’ll write a review for you (I’m only just catching up my emails).

I wouldn’t worry about the neg-heads out there: they are the ones who don’t do anything with their life and just moan at all the others who ARE making an effort. Some people don’t like others getting success: probably because of jealousy. It boils down to them not being bothered to get off their backsides and do something about their lives. The fact is, you have a whole ton of us supporters out here who trust your advice and follow what you say…I’m personally one of them, and my entire e-mail marketing strategy is based around your suggestions. I’ve just developed a new website for a new target audience (not live quite yet) and have put a squeeze page as the initial landing page for the domain URL (the /index page) – which is something you recommend and I don’t think anyone else does.

Also, yes, this internet thing can work in mysterious ways sometimes: I emailed my current list (mixed genders from the network marketing and direct sales industry) to ask for testemonials for my new site which is aimed squarely at the go-getting, entrepreneurial, self employed business women. Bar one, ALL my testimonials were from men!! And as they’ve all I’ve got at the moment, they are the ones that are having to be scattered around my new site. Hey ho!! ;o) As least they’re good ones.

Keep going – you do a great job.
Kim.
http://www.thesqueezepagewriter.com Nig Boanas

Hey Ed,

I know this is easier said than done, but just forget about this guy’s comment.

For all you know, it’s probably a rival who is simply jealous that you have had a number of rave reviews and doing well. Unfortunately, I see this kind of tactic a lot in forums and stuff.

So bask in the knowledge, we all loved it and forget about this one review. It obviously means you’re doing well!
Mark Nugent

I have responded to this cynic on Amazon. What a ******!
Mark
http://www.edrivis.com Ed

@Kim – Thank you I really appreciate your support and kind words! Also it’s great to hear about your e-mail marketing strategy. Best of luck with it all. As for the testimonials… maybe there’s some hidden market research message in that!? Thanks again.

@Nig – yes I wondered that. In hindsight I can see how at first glance it would appear — to someone who doesn’t know me — that those great reviews (the fact they all appeared so suddenly) maybe looked fake. The thing is — as someone pointed out earlier — if I wasn’t able to get good reviews for my book then it would mean I wasn’t a good e-mail marketer! If the chap had thought about this more clearly he should have realised the reviews all came as a result of me e-mailing my list and asking for reviews. Obviously he didn’t stop to give it much thought before he posted his slanderous 1-star review. Oh well.

@Mark – Thanks for the support. Also — hope you don’t mind — but I edited your comment by adding a few more asterisks.
http://www.peterthomson.com Peter Thomson

Hi Ed

As most people are saying – this will be so good for you in the medium run let alone the long run.
Has any one suggested you were the one who put up the bad review to start this discussion??

Only joking ))))

Peter
http://www.baywebdesigns.co.uk Sharon

I went onto Amazon to reply to this reviewer only to be greeted by numerous other replies (including a fair & considerate one from yourself). I have left my twopenn’orth anyway
http://www.edrivis.com Ed

@Peter — oh dammit… someone finally sussed my game!! (Cue comment on my blog from the chap who left the Amazon 1-star review complaining that he really does exist! )

@Sharon – Thanks I really appreciate that.

UPDATE: I wrote to Amazon’s legal dept. regarding the slanderous comments made by that chap. This afternoon I received an email back from them stating they will remove the comment within the next 4 days. THANK YOU to them, but even more so – thank you to everyone who has commented and reacted to this on my behalf. (I’m almost sad the comment’s being removed because it also means all the great replies will be taken down too!)

Thanks again.
http://www.edrivis.com Ed

UPDATE – Matthew Pollock has just left a new ‘review’ where he says he’s upset Amazon deleted his first one. Then he repeats what he said in his first review implying that I faked all those great reviews. Aargh! Anyway I’ve written another comment underneath his, inviting him to read this blog post where he’ll discover you all do actually exist!!

MATTHEW – If you’re reading this then I hope you can finally see that I didn’t make up all those book reviews on Amazon!
http://www.thekissbusiness.co.uk Karin H

Hi Ed

I get the distinct impression Mr Pollock does not read – reread – his reviews on Amazon and therefore has been “blissfully” unaware of the defamatory contents of his own review and the amount of protest and testimonials it triggered. Ah, bless him.

Blessed are the ignorant? Not sure, but am sure that Mr Pollock does not deserve all the attention bestowed upon him.

We know your truthful, honest and ethical. You can’t win over everyone though. Best not waste any more time on Pillock – sorry Pollock – and just enjoy all the 5star reviews you do deserve.

Karin H.
http://www.edrivis.com Ed

Thanks Karin you’re very kind (to me anyway! )
http://www.sunbeltsellsbusinesses.co.uk David

Perhaps Mr Pollock CAN’T read! Hee Hee!
http://www.automatedmarketing.co.uk InfusionSoft

This happened to my book too – silly reviews by people making opinions before they even gave it a chance. I have your book on my lap right now and you have nothing to worry about – It was great to hear you speak this week too.

I look forward to networking with you and maybe helping you with your InfusionSoft Application.
Matthew Pollock

Hi Ed! Well, I have to eat humble pie!

It is as you said… a long period of no reviews. Then the sudden appearance of 22 reviews, all during the working week, almost all from people who had never reviewed another book, and all positive, caused me to be suspicious, mistakenly it seems.

In self defence I would say that the pattern was highly unusual. Most books, even quite famous ones, take a long time to garner reviews. Most books are not exclusively reviewed by people who’ve never reviewed any other book. Most books are not reviewed by a sudden rush of people, all at once, there having previously been total silence. And most books are not reviewed during a period in which there’s a note on Amazon, saying that the book is not available for sale.

My apologies that I rushed to point out the pattern, from which people could have drawn conclusions which, it turns out, would have been erroneous.

I am frankly surprised that Amazon allows authors to email their contacts to ask for reviews, because this would tend to bias the sample towards positive reviews. But if Amazon does allow it, so be it. As you say, it hadn’t occured to me that this had happened, and now that you explain it, everything falls into place. Again, my apologies.

Clearly Ed has a large base of support from real people, for which congratulations!
http://www.edrivis.com Ed

Hi Matthew – thanks for your message, I really appreciate it.

Also I do totally see where you’re coming from regards loads of positive reviews suddenly appearing from nowhere.

In my own defence I never realised I’d get so many glowing reviews so quickly… (guess I underestimated the power of e-mail marketing!

No hard feelings and I wish you all my best,

Ed.
http://norwichchiropractic.co.uk Rosemary Folker

Hi Ed,
I think the more well known you become (and you are becoming well known), the more vulnerable you become to some people wanting to bring you down. Plus there’s the tall poppy syndrome. Most want to see you succeed because you are a great guy and have fabulous information to share, which we can all benefit from should we decide to put your advice into action. There can be, however, a small minority, for whatever reason of their own (jelousy – who knows?), who want to put you in your place. How dare you do so well?!

I wouldn’t give it anymore energy Ed. Anyone who sticks their head above the parapet and by that I mean being more prominent than most people, or more successful, more knowledgeable etc, is bound to get shot at occasionally. It comes with the territory. I would advise (and I don’t mean to sound patronising) that you concentrate on and appreciate the people who love what you do. By all means, address genuine concerns that people may have but not someone who hasn’t even read your book!

For what it’s worth, my husband and I think you’re great – very knowledgeable, honest, lovely to talk to – what more can I say without making you blush? And by the way, we gave you a review and we are definitely real!
http://www.merriemarketing.com Kim O’Rourke

Rosemary’s absolutely right: there seems to be an issue in this country with the ‘general’ public not liking people who succeed. The US celebrates success, and the UK winge and moan at anyone who earns a good salary (how dare they earn £60K…£100K…get a bonus of £2m…) BUT this country does celebrate people who win big time on the lottery. Madness – the people who earn big bucks (whether salaried or self employed) generally do so because they’re not scared to put their head above the parapet, work hard for long hours, become experts in their fields, and e-a-r-n their money. Lottery winners don’t do anything other than spend £1 on a ticket then sit on the sofa to watch the lottery draw on Saturday night with great expectations that come to nothing. And I bet if you did some analysis then these are the people who moan at the ones who get off their backsides and work hard…they don’t so it does boil down to jealousy.

Sorry, on my soap box now. But, Ed – you keep doing what you’re doing. We all think your great – and your practical, very useable information helps us to become tall poppies too.

Kim.
http://www.thekaizenbusiness.com Jim

Ed— I wouldn’t worry about it too much, have you seen any books on Amazon with all 5 stars?

-Jim
http://www.thefoodies.org Joanne Roach

I think this is a good example of a tendency which I really dislike.
Brits are reknowned for being self-deprecating. It’s a thing I like very much about us, having lived in other places too, I love our ability to laugh at ourselves.

But I really regret that lots of people confuse this positive quality with a tendency to criticise for the sake of looking worldly wise. People are very suspicious of achievement and seem to start from a position that all success, especially stellar, MUST be corrupt or immoral and then ask to be convinced otherwise.

Us Brits like to think of ourselves as healthy cynics, less gullible than other folk, but in reality a lot of it is essentially sour grapes dressed up as clever insight. And while self deprecation and a celebration of achievement are not mutually exclusive, disparagement and celebration are, and this whole affair seemed to slip into the latter.

The problem is that many people put infinitely more effort in to tearing something down than in to building things up. It is dead easy to disparage something and much less easy to spend some time to actually produce something positive. If you check some reviewers’ reviews they clearly spend a lot of their life thinking of something terribly clever to say in criticism of someone else.

I do agree that we should point out when we have evidence that something is deceiving people, or is of poor value. But I wish we spent the same amount of time rewarding the other people and things that have improved our lives. We are extremely privileged in this country and there are lots of things to be grateful for. When we criticise something we should always be mindful to our motives – are we REALLY saying it to help someone else? Or if we’re honest, is it really about how we want to appear?

I was very disappointed when Matthew responded to the first message being taken down by immediately replacing it with another, taking no account of the counter comments. However I have just checked in here and seen that Matthew has now taken some time to come here and say that his attack was misjudged and ill informed. I applaud him for that. Most people in his position make a lot of noise when they are looking clever and slink away quietly when they are proven wrong and I think it shows a lot of character to hold your hands up and say you made a mistake.

PS I notice the original reviews, both positive and negative, have been put back up on Amazon. I’m not sure Amazon know what they think about this kind of issue. I do agree with Matthew that their policies towards prompted reviews is very unclear. I know of a writer who produced an annual anthology on commission for a publisher. The anthology had been out of print for some years. When it was revamped and relaunched with a slight twist, the previous writer (who the new publishers had not asked to write the new version) waged a really vicious war on the new version, with suddenly lots of reviews – all with suspiciously similar writing styles and identical gripes – appearing on Amazon slagging off the new version and calling for the old writer to be brought back. On the flip side, you can often detect a ‘house style’ in positive reviews which any one in publishing can recognise as having been written by the marketing department. But on the whole the review system on Amazon works very well and I think we just have to accept that human nature, both positive and negative, will show up anywhere.
http://www.edrivis.com Ed

@Rosemary – I’ve not heard of tall poppy syndrome before – I’ll remember that one! And thank you so much for your kind comments… you’re very kind!

@Kim – Again thank you so much for the great feedback. I’ve got to say comments like this are more than enough for me to want to forget all about the negative stuff!

@Jim – Good point. No, very few with 5 stars.

@Joanne – Thanks for your feedback, and yes I agreee it’s sad that here in the UK success seems to be perceived as bad by many people. And yes bang on… it amazes me how some people seem to put so much effort and spend so much time being negative. Just think what they could achieve if they redirected that energy elsewhere!

Thanks for all your comments and feedback.