4 ms·

Star ratings in general are just poor. In a 1 to 5 star rating, 3 is average but most people would perceive 3 stars to be above average. People tend to leave re

Star ratings in general are just poor. In a 1 to 5 star rating, 3 is average but most people would perceive 3 stars to be above average. People tend to leave reviews only when they are displeased with the product, really pleased with the product or get something in return for making the review, in this case free products. I tend to just filter on reviews that are 2 or 3 stars and use those to work out the cons of the product. These reviews are the most likely to be honest and can often give you the information that other reviewers forget to mention. Unfortunately, 2 and 3 star reviews are the least likely to be posted so you can only find them on products that have been reviewed hundreds of times.

fireattack 8y ago
Really? I think most people perceive anything less than 4 stars (or even 4.5 stars for some) as "bad". I for one won't buy anything that are "merely" 3-stars.
- malnourish 8y ago
  I think the issue, for me, is not that 3 stars is bad. I probably use a number of products each day that are legitimately 3-star worthy. It's that 3 stars on Amazon et al are an amalgam of 1 and 5 star reviews. There is then a risk, is this product bad but propped up by low reviews? Can I expect poor quality control? Etc
- themodelplumber 8y ago
  True, I gave a tech book 3 stars once and the author contacted me to request that I reconsider, explaining that anything less than 5 stars could doom a brand new tech book on Amazon. He offered personal support and training in return for raising the score. It didn't work, but it also convinced me that he has a good point regarding the score: Reviews are difficult ground due to their subjective nature, and a lot of reviewers are simply qualitatively bad at writing reviews. If an author just sits back and does nothing, they are risking their brand on the individuals who take the time to write reviews, and that set of individuals could be--even randomly--pretty bad. For example: I've seen many, many 1-star "product was damaged in shipping" and similar e.g. "received wrong product" one-reviews for products that were absolutely stellar. Getting into even more tricky ground, I've seen 1-star "product is unscientific" reviews left on books containing information that is mainly intractable to science, like studies in history.
  - Ensorceled 8y ago
    So, when you were giving the book 3 stars, how did you judge the book? Did that match what you then learned (3 stars dooms a book). Did you intend to doom the book or feel it should be doomed?
    - themodelplumber 8y ago
      Upon reconsideration I felt that for some readers it should be doomed, while for others it was probably a worthwhile purchase, and I made that clear in my review. Book recommendation is not as straightforward as people think.
      - Ensorceled 8y ago
        Agreed. I have no problems with books being doomed by reviews, I want to avoid dreck as much as the next reader.
- j-c-hewitt 8y ago
  Conversion rates in competitive categories on Amazon usually drop by 50% or more when star ratings drop from 4.26 to 4.24. You could have a product converting at 10% go down to 4% or less after the rating drop. The perception difference is absolutely gigantic even if the actual difference is inconsequential.
minimaxir 8y ago
From the distribution of reviews scores, even when separated by category, the majority of ratings given are 4-5 stars (from one of my 2017 analyses: https://minimaxir.com/img/amazon-spark/category_breakdown.png https://minimaxir.com/img/amazon-spark/category_breakdown.pn...) My full analysis of Amazon rating values is here (https://minimaxir.com/2017/01/amazon-spark/ https://minimaxir.com/2017/01/amazon-spark/), although it may be obsolete and it's not possible to get better/more recent data anymore.
combatentropy 8y ago
When I write a review, I want to give 3 stars to most products, products that are good. I want to reserve 4 and 5 stars for things that exceed expectations. But when I read a review, I want to see 5 stars. Anything less than 5 stars means something was wrong. Why did the reviewer hold back? I think it's mostly because there are so many products with 4-5 stars. It makes products with just 3 stars look bad, even if it's 3.5. For what it's worth, my interpretation as a writer is what the websites meant. Here are Amazon's labels for stars: 1. I hate it. 2. I don't like it. 3. It's okay. 4. I like it. 5. I love it. Even closer to my interpretation is Yelp's: 1. Eek! Methinks not. 2. Meh. I've experienced better. 3. A-OK. 4. Yay! I'm a fan. 5. Woohoo! As good as it gets! I don't think I've ever had anything where afterward I said, "This is as good as it gets." Still, if I leave fewer than 5 stars, I'm sure the proprietor would feel hurt and wonder what went wrong. This is one reason I don't usually write reviews.
- marcodave 8y ago
  I don't remember where, but I read from a blog article that 5-star reviews are unreliable, when used by the general public, due to ignorance on how to properly rate. The proper way would be to ditch 5-star reviews in favor of just "thumbs up" and "thumbs down", youtube-style

fireattack 8y ago

Really? I think most people perceive anything less than 4 stars (or even 4.5 stars for some) as "bad". I for one won't buy anything that are "merely" 3-stars.

malnourish 8y ago
I think the issue, for me, is not that 3 stars is bad. I probably use a number of products each day that are legitimately 3-star worthy. It's that 3 stars on Amazon et al are an amalgam of 1 and 5 star reviews. There is then a risk, is this product bad but propped up by low reviews? Can I expect poor quality control? Etc
themodelplumber 8y ago
True, I gave a tech book 3 stars once and the author contacted me to request that I reconsider, explaining that anything less than 5 stars could doom a brand new tech book on Amazon. He offered personal support and training in return for raising the score. It didn't work, but it also convinced me that he has a good point regarding the score: Reviews are difficult ground due to their subjective nature, and a lot of reviewers are simply qualitatively bad at writing reviews. If an author just sits back and does nothing, they are risking their brand on the individuals who take the time to write reviews, and that set of individuals could be--even randomly--pretty bad. For example: I've seen many, many 1-star "product was damaged in shipping" and similar e.g. "received wrong product" one-reviews for products that were absolutely stellar. Getting into even more tricky ground, I've seen 1-star "product is unscientific" reviews left on books containing information that is mainly intractable to science, like studies in history.
- Ensorceled 8y ago
  So, when you were giving the book 3 stars, how did you judge the book? Did that match what you then learned (3 stars dooms a book). Did you intend to doom the book or feel it should be doomed?
  - themodelplumber 8y ago
    Upon reconsideration I felt that for some readers it should be doomed, while for others it was probably a worthwhile purchase, and I made that clear in my review. Book recommendation is not as straightforward as people think.
    - Ensorceled 8y ago
      Agreed. I have no problems with books being doomed by reviews, I want to avoid dreck as much as the next reader.
j-c-hewitt 8y ago
Conversion rates in competitive categories on Amazon usually drop by 50% or more when star ratings drop from 4.26 to 4.24. You could have a product converting at 10% go down to 4% or less after the rating drop. The perception difference is absolutely gigantic even if the actual difference is inconsequential.

minimaxir 8y ago

From the distribution of reviews scores, even when separated by category, the majority of ratings given are 4-5 stars (from one of my 2017 analyses: https://minimaxir.com/img/amazon-spark/category_breakdown.png https://minimaxir.com/img/amazon-spark/category_breakdown.pn...) My full analysis of Amazon rating values is here (https://minimaxir.com/2017/01/amazon-spark/ https://minimaxir.com/2017/01/amazon-spark/), although it may be obsolete and it's not possible to get better/more recent data anymore.

combatentropy 8y ago

When I write a review, I want to give 3 stars to most products, products that are good. I want to reserve 4 and 5 stars for things that exceed expectations. But when I read a review, I want to see 5 stars. Anything less than 5 stars means something was wrong. Why did the reviewer hold back? I think it's mostly because there are so many products with 4-5 stars. It makes products with just 3 stars look bad, even if it's 3.5. For what it's worth, my interpretation as a writer is what the websites meant. Here are Amazon's labels for stars: 1. I hate it. 2. I don't like it. 3. It's okay. 4. I like it. 5. I love it. Even closer to my interpretation is Yelp's: 1. Eek! Methinks not. 2. Meh. I've experienced better. 3. A-OK. 4. Yay! I'm a fan. 5. Woohoo! As good as it gets! I don't think I've ever had anything where afterward I said, "This is as good as it gets." Still, if I leave fewer than 5 stars, I'm sure the proprietor would feel hurt and wonder what went wrong. This is one reason I don't usually write reviews.

marcodave 8y ago
I don't remember where, but I read from a blog article that 5-star reviews are unreliable, when used by the general public, due to ignorance on how to properly rate. The proper way would be to ditch 5-star reviews in favor of just "thumbs up" and "thumbs down", youtube-style