Five stars isn’t perfect

When looking at the rating for your business on Google or your product on Amazon, what’s the ideal score you should have? Most think that a 5.0 rating is the goal, but it probably shouldn’t be.

When consumers see a score of a perfect 5.0 on a product or business, they instantly become skeptical of it. There are cases where some business or product could be a legit 5.0, but according to a study out of Northwestern University, a score of between 4.2–4.5 is the most trusted.

In fact, many users (myself included) will look specifically for the bad reviews to see what people’s complaints were about and how well those issued were addressed by the business.

From the business side, bad reviews can often give you great feedback on areas where you can improve.

Go after bad reviews?

That’s not to say you should intentionally try to get bad reviews for your company, of course, but having a few 3 and 4 star reviews mixed in with your fives is likely more beneficial than you think.

Trust me, I know the feeling of getting a less-than-5.0 review, and it stinks, but at the end of the day it might make your business even more appealing to the next person that comes along.

Originally published at https://www.mickmel.com on November 28, 2020.