This may simply blow your mind as a business owner… BUT, did you know many buyers now think it's now BAD to have only 5 stars in 2020? I mean FML because we have STRIVED for that! But this scenario might actually make sense…

Let’s start from the beginning:

If you have sold online for a while, you have likely realized that the feedback system seems relatively (or completely) stacked against you; you bust your ass to get 40 great reviews then, out of nowhere, some lowlife loser weirdo who surely hates butterflies, warm summer evenings and rainbows, nails you with a 1-star fake review and BAM! Your “score” drops to an undeserved 4.3 stars and you can’t figure out how on earth one bogus review, swimming in a sea of awesome, happy, normal-people-who-love-tacos reviews, sabotaged your entire perfect life… now you’re just “slightly better than average” and nothing more. Sigh!

...and guess what? You’re not alone in wondering “How the F does this feedback score thing work? How does a single a**hole destroy 38 months of perfection?”. In fact, the majority of online sellers are just as confused as you are. Here’s just a couple sellers questioning the review score system:

CONFUSED SELLER #1:

CONFUSED SELLERS #2 & #3:

You know how long it took me to find those 3 confused people? Like 28 seconds worth of Google search.

So...we can’t stop bad feedback, especially when it comes to totally fake reviews, BUT you might be shocked to discover that people are now SKEPTICAL of 5-star businesses (yeah, you DID read that correctly). Remember the beginning of this article when I said something like, “did you know it's now BAD to have 5 stars in 2020?”.... Yep, I was serious. Let’s dig a little deeper here…

I read a couple weeks ago that most Millennial shoppers no longer read the 5-star reviews OR the 1-star reviews all because of the Amazon Paid Review Scam.  If you're not familiar with the Amazon Paid Review Scam, def read our investigation on it - it's really disgusting and would make an incredible Netflix Documentary. So, since people now auto-assume that 5 star reviews are possibly paid, you know what they look for? The 3-and-4-stars because they find those to be “most honest”. (*mind blown*)  I truly can't imagine a day where we TRY to get a 4-star.  

So, in my state of confusion I spoke with my employees. I asked them, “What’s your opinion on bad reviews? Let’s say you want to buy something, but it only has 4 stars due to bad reviews. What now?” 

Would you believe the answer was “When I see bad reviews, I see if the company responded to the review. If the company responded and explained the situation, it usually means the bad reviewer is a crazy customer.”

I then contacted a couple friends and asked them the same question.  They also said that they prefer to read the "not 5-stars" and see what the complaints are and if the company replied. 

Out of everyone I questioned, not a single person was turned-off by some bad reviews.  Not only are they unphased by it but they expect to see some.  

I then began thinking about this - BigBrandWholesale.com has 4.9 stars on Facebook (8-31-20) but 5 stars on Google.  Ironically, on Facebook people do not tend to question if our company is "real" but on Google they do.  I am pretty sure that this is directly related to only having perfect reviews.  

IN CLOSING

As a seller, we have to no longer live in total horror of a not-5-star review.  If you have been selling online for a long time, this is going to be mentally difficult because we spent 14+ years doing everything in our power to avoid a bad review... and buyers have come to expect this and even can rely on extortion because buyers know your biggest fear is a 1-star.  But.... not any more.  I am NOT saying to "Aim for some bad reviews!" - that's simply idiotic.  But you no longer have to lay awake at night, terrified that a bad review will destroy you.