5 ms·

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.

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.