Show Your Work: Disclosing How You Tested

Two reviews can reach the same verdict and deserve very different amounts of trust. One writer used a backpack on a dozen commutes and a weekend trip in the rain. The other unpacked it, admired the zips and wrote the post that evening. Both say “recommended”. Only one of them has earned it, and the reader cannot tell which unless someone says.

That is what a testing note is for. It is a short, plain account of how you formed your opinion. It takes a few minutes to write, it rarely needs more than a paragraph or two, and it may be the most persuasive part of the whole post. Here is how we approach it.

Why the method matters as much as the verdict

When readers ask “should I trust this?”, they are really asking three smaller questions. Did this person actually use it? Did they use it the way I would? And do they have any reason to be kinder about it than it deserves?

A testing note answers all three before the reader has to wonder. It also protects you. If someone later finds a flaw you missed, a clear note shows the gap was in your circumstances, not your honesty: you tested in a mild climate, say, or on a small kitchen counter, or with one particular model of phone. Readers forgive limits they were told about. They rarely forgive limits that were hidden.

There is a quieter benefit too. Writing the note forces you to look at how thin or thick your experience really is. Sometimes that is the moment you realise you need another week with the thing before you publish.

What to include in a testing note

You do not need a lab to be thorough. You need to be specific about what you did. A useful note usually covers:

• Duration and frequency. “Daily for six weeks” and “twice over a weekend” lead to very different kinds of verdict.
• Conditions. Where, with what and by whom. Your hob, your commute, your old tablet, your toddler, your hard tap water.
• What you compared it with. If you set it beside something else, name that thing and say how you compared them.
• What you measured, if anything. Times, weights, distances or counts you actually recorded, and how you recorded them.
• Which version. The model, edition, size or software version you used, because these change.

Keep it factual. The testing note is not the place for opinions. It is the ground the opinions stand on.

Be honest about the limits

Every test leaves things out. Saying what you did not do is just as important as saying what you did. A few honest lines here go a long way:

• “I haven’t tested long-term durability. I’ve had it for two months.”
• “I only tried the medium size.”
• “I didn’t contact customer support, so I can’t speak to it.”
• “I read the paperback, not the audiobook.”

It can feel like admitting weakness. In practice it does the opposite: it tells the reader you know the difference between what you checked and what you are guessing. That distinction runs through every honest review, and we look at it more closely in How to write an honest review people can use.

Avoid inflating your method with grand words. Calling three evenings of use “extensive testing” invites doubt about everything else. Plain, modest descriptions read as more credible, not less.

Disclose your relationship to what you review

How you got the thing matters as much as how you tested it. Readers deserve to know about anything that might tilt your view, even slightly. That includes:

• A free sample, a review copy or a loan from the maker or a shop.
• Links that earn you money when someone buys.
• A personal or business connection to the people who made it.
• A gift, a discount or an invitation that came with the product.

None of these automatically makes a review dishonest. Many careful writers work with review copies. What matters is that the reader knows and can weigh it. The PepPick community guidelines ask writers to be clear about who they are and where their links lead, and a short disclosure is the simplest way to do exactly that.

Say it in normal words, near the top, not in tiny print at the bottom. “The publisher sent me a copy. They haven’t seen this review.” is clear, calm and enough. Where rules on advertising disclosure apply to you, follow them as well. A friendly sentence is not a substitute for anything the law asks of you.

Where to put it in the post

There is no single right place, but there are two that work well.

1. A short note right after the introduction. Best for single reviews. Readers see your footing before they read your opinions.
2. A dedicated “How I tested” section. Best for long comparisons and ranked lists, where the method applies to every entry. Give it its own heading so it shows up in the post’s table of contents and is easy to find.

If you write many reviews in the same area, you might also describe your general approach once on your blog’s start-here introduction, then keep each post’s note short and specific: what was different this time.

A sample note you can adapt

Here is the kind of note we would be happy to read on any pick. Swap in your own details:

How I tested: I used this jacket on my daily cycle commute for five weeks in autumn, mostly in light rain and a few heavy showers, and on two weekend walks. I compared it with the jacket I have worn for the past three winters. I bought it myself at full price, and I don’t earn anything if you buy one. I haven’t tested it in snow or below freezing.

That is four sentences, and it answers almost every question a sceptical reader might have. It also sets you up for later: if you are still wearing the jacket next winter, you can add a line and tell readers how it held up. We cover that habit in How to update an old recommendation.

Show your work, keep it plain and let readers decide. That is most of what trust is made of.