The article “Online Reviews Are Biased. Here’s How to Fix Them” points out the problem that online reviews about products or services generally tend to represent the extreme views, in which customers with very good or bad experience are more motivated to leave a review. Instead, those with normal experience barely write reviews, which explains why two or three stars reviews are rarely seen online. To fix such polarized reviews online in general, the author offers two approaches. The first one is prosocial incentives. By reminding customers that their reviews can also help others who are seeking jobs, it is found that customers are more likely to leave an unbiased review. The second approach is a monetary incentive, which offers customer money to write reviews. In the study conducted by the author, most participants are paid 20 cents per review with some get paid more. Compared to prosocial approach, results from monetary tends to be more biased unless the incentive is high enough.
https://hbr.org/2018/03/online-reviews-are-biased-heres-how-to-fix-them
Now that you’ve pointed it out, it made me think back to some of the reviews I read, and how it’s true that I almost never see 2-3 star reviews. However, I don’t know feasible or how willing a company would be to pay people to write reviews – it’s too easy of a way to make money and I think the concept is good, but hard to turn into a reality. In addition, I think the way reviews work now is, if the product is really good, people want others to know about it. And often, the numbers indicate this too. You’ll often see on Amazon a product with 20 reviews and an almost exact same product with 500 reviews. Again, this goes back to the product – if it’s really good, while not everyone will, people will share their good experiences.
https://www.spectoos.com/5-real-motivations-behind-people-write-customer-reviews/
I think the rating system cannot be fixed as it is. No amount of incentive will make people do a rating if they’re indifferent towards a product and that’s what a lot of purchases are. This is why youtube moved away from video rating. No amount of asking or incentivizing was going to make people give 2-3-4 star ratings. People appreciate dichotomy. Most online ratings should switch to the rating system of Steam: Recommended and Not Recommended. They then average the scores to give it a rating somewhere along the lines from “Overwhelming negative” to “Mixed” to “Overwhelmingly positive.” With stars, everyone has a different definition of “OK.” Sometimes the only definition of okay is 5-stars, like with Uber. Sometimes 3-stars is the standard average. I think by switching to a simple rating system (thumb up or down) then translated into a more concrete Positive or Mixed review it helps people make better buying decisions.
https://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/steam-user-ratings-changes/
https://www.addictivetips.com/windows-tips/how-to-make-sense-of-steam-game-reviews/
https://www.e-marketingassociates.com/blog/understanding-and-adapting-to-bias-in-online-reviews-a-guide-for-businesses
This article says that people regularly use online reviews as a gadge to purchase or not purchase a specific item. Reviews help potential buyers decide if they trust a specific company or not, if the quality of the product is good or not, if the return policy is as easy as it seems or not. So many different unknowns are answered by a simple online review of a company. It sways the opinion and decisions of potential buyers. This is due to a theory called “herd instincts.” “Herd instincts” means that an individual is swayed one way or another due to the previous customer reviews pointing to either good or bad experiences.
To improve business’ online reviews, they should provide incentives for all individuals to make positive/neutral reviews of their experience. Another improvement to make with the business is to reflect on the product that the business is offering, and making sure that it is providing satisfactory customer experiences. The last improvement to make is, actually pay attention to the reviews online to make sure that customers are happy. If this is the case, it is a win-win situation for both the customer and business: the customer is happy and the business is benefitting in many ways.
So, make sure that you are posting unbiased reviews for companies. Your review could be the reason that business shuts down. Try to write a review without emotion. Try to write it with truth and integrity of your experience.