The Positives of Negative Reviews

A one-star review hurts.

It makes you look bad and pulls down your overall average.

But it also helps people buy.

Negative reviews help consumers manage risk. They give us the worst-case scenario when we’re considering to buy. We then decide if those negatives matter to us.

A two-star review for a dress that reads, “Only comes in black” wouldn’t matter if my wife was looking for a black outfit for New Year’s Eve.

More importantly, negative reviews build credibility. Anything with an average rating of five stars looks fake. In the Internet-age where everyone can express their opinion, it’s inevitable that someone somewhere disliked it. A five-star average looks manipulated and that means you can’t trust it.

Embrace your bad reviews. You won’t look perfect, but you’ll look real. And that’s what customers prefer to see.