The peer review process…if you haven’t heard of it, you’re not alone.
In fact, few online marketers use what is perhaps the single easiest method for determining the success or failure of any marketing promotion…long before they ever go ‘live’.
The Peer Review process is a concept of Michael Masterson and the team at American Writers & Artists Inc. (AWAI). AWAI is the world’s premier authority on developing top-notch copywriters for the direct-response industry.
The purpose of the peer review process
In a nutshell, peer reviews are a quick and systematic method for determining whether a specific approach to sales copy will work in a promotion or not. Plus, they reveal solid suggestions for improving a promotion when it would have otherwise struggled.
The basic premise is that once you or your writer create an initial headline and lead, it should be presented before an informal panel of peers for critique.
This panel could be made up of other members of your marketing team. Or, any group of people that can imitate your ideal prospect and give feedback on how the copy affects them. It’s not about the details. But about overall impression, and how the copy makes you feel after hearing or reading it for the first time.
Of course, one key principle of every peer review is for participants to critique the submitted copy as if they were a prospect receiving it for the first time. And, to judge it without overanalyzing it and without harsh criticism.
Basic peer review process guidelines…
1. Copywriter submits a headline and lead to be reviewed separately by a group of his peers.
2. Group members silently read the copy—each headline and lead separately—and then rate it out loud on a 4-point scale. 4 being 100% certain you’d read further and 1 being 100% certain you would not read further.
3. If the copy cumulatively scores less than 2.8, writer is asked to revisit the copy before being reviewed further.
4. If the copy scores 2.8 or higher, any member can suggest specific improvements to the copy. Then, remaining members vote on whether those suggestions make the copy stronger, weaker, or neutral.
5. The copywriter chooses whether to use their suggestions when he goes back to complete the full draft promotion.
This is the Peer Review process in a nutshell. Designed to improve any copy before it is send out to your list.
For a more detailed look at the AWAI Peer Review process, grab your copy of the cutting-edge marketing book called Copy Logic! The New Science of Producing Breakthrough Copy (Without Criticism).
In it, Michael Masterson and Mike Palmer reveal their key strategies for improving sales copy—including how to set up and implement the full Peer Review process—as well as other methods for producing some of the most powerful, profitable copy the world had ever seen.
Have you used the Peer Review process for improving your copy? Please tell us about it in the comment section below.
About the author: Jerry Bures
Jerry Bures is a direct-response web copywriter and marketing consultant. Since 2010, he has helped natural health, self-help and business opportunity clients—as well as local small businesses—become more visible, credible and profitable online. Read more.
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