Why do I need patient reviews?

Let’s hear from our angels and devils

Across most online review platforms, ratings follow a heavily skewed “J-curve” distribution: Lots of 5-star reviews, a decent number of 4-stars, then a sharp drop in the middle, with 1-stars usually outnumbering 2- and 3-stars because unhappy customers are more motivated to post reviews. People who are “meh” tend to not rush to their keyboards to provide feedback. But when the 2s and 3s do post, they’ve usually got a story, which is interesting feedback for your business. If you’re listening.

In other words, it’s angels and devils. With your angels far outnumbering the (perceived) devils. That means get more reviews: The more reviews you get, the higher your rating will go.

Not only will your overall ratings go up, your brand will become inured from the random bomb-throwing reviewer with their sharp-edged 1-star post. If your brand has 7 reviews, a 1-star review takes you down. If your brand has 300 reviews, a 1-star review does not make a dent.

By the numbers

A typical cross-platform distribution looks roughly like this:

Rank star rating typical share of reviews

1 5-star 45–60%

2 4-star 20–35%

3 1-star 5–15%

4 3-star 5–10%

5 2-star 2–7%

‍

One large review dataset broke down this way:

‍Star rating percentage

5-star 33%

4-star 28%

3-star 19%

1-star 11%

2-star 9%

(from A Comparative Study of Sentiment Analysis on Customer Reviews Using Machine Learning and Deep Learning by MDPI)

Of course, your experience may vary. Your organization’s inherent skill and attention to patient/customer experience are the major drivers. Beyond that, the exact percentages vary by platform and industry:

• Amazon and ecommerce skew heavily positive.

• Restaurants and hospitality tend to have more 4-star reviews.

• App stores and telecoms often show a stronger split between 5-star and 1-star reviews.

• Healthcare reviews are usually polarized because patients either had a very positive or very negative experience. Still, 5-star and 4-star reviews dominate over 1- 2- and 3-star reviews. Collect them.

A few patterns consistently show up across industries:

• 5-star reviews dominate almost everywhere.

• 4-star reviews are the second most common.

• 2-star reviews are usually the rarest.

• 1-star reviews often exceed 2- and 3-star reviews combined because angry users are more likely to leave feedback. (storescore.net)

Collect and thank your angels. Don’t be the guy or gal that was given a bouquet of flowers and didn’t respond.  Listen to and respond respectfully to your devils. The entire world of your customers/clients/patients and potential customers/clients/patients is watching and judging.

It’s easy to win them over with a smart, strategic reputation management program. And the dividends pay virtually forever, unlike an ad campaign where your benefit stops as soon as your budget runs out.

Another thing to keep in mind: ratings are not real life. Nobody is 5-stars all day every day. Nobody is the worst thing that ever happened to your industry. Take all the feedback knowing polarization rules over nuance, but it’s not the whole story of who you and your business really are. Reviews and reputation management at large are one — very telling — indicator of the health of your business.

A final note: Most customers/clients/patients do not leave reviews. Like 90%-plus. The field is immensely fertile. There is a massive opportunity to solicit feedback for this (almost) everlasting user-generated content. The jooj is here to help. We can lead your reputation management / review program or teach you how to manage it.