AMAZON PRIME DAYS ARE HERE!

Time to order things that were artificially expensive and are now on sale! What things do you want or need, and are you buying them? My choice was a new phone charger station.

I wanted to remove three cables from my desk and replace them with one for my phone, Apple Watch, and AirPods.

The last time I bought one, I went for the most popular with the highest reviews. It was cheap but also a piece of crap that lasted less than a year. The current phone charger is over 10 years old, and I can only imagine that technology has improved since then, right?

So I decided to do a bit more research on Amazon. This time, I was going to buy a more expensive one ($50-$100), but it was on sale for 40-50% off.

I started with design. Which one would fit on my desk and add more function? How many watts did it have? Was it eye-pleasing or ugly? What tech items (phone, earpods, watch) do I need to grab, and what could be hidden or less accessible?

(The answer to the last question is that I grab or access my phone most often, my AirPods next, and my watch is charged once a day.)

Finally, I went to the reviews but read only the three-star reviews. Why only 3 🌟? Read On…

Reviews or Real Views?

Be honest, how many times do you get asked to give a review of a product or service you bought? What percentage of those do you actually fill out? If so, are you more likely to provide a five-star or one-star review, or something in between?

Only about 5% to 10% of customers who are asked to leave a review actually do so. This is the typical range for most industries and platforms.

B2B or services tend to receive a higher percentage, while healthcare is among the lower. According to some research I did, here is a sample vs industry:

• Services and Consulting: ~32%
• Food and Drink: ~18%
• Jewelry: ~18%
• Home and Furniture: ~16%
• Fashion and Apparel: ~12%
• Electronics and Gadgets: ~11%
• Beauty and Cosmetics: ~10%
• Health Care: ~7%
• Toys and Games: ~6%
• Stationery and Office: ~4%

That means around 11% of the people who were asked provided a review of the charger I bought.

Here is another fact (made up by AI)…

Percentage of People Who Leave Positive vs. Negative Reviews

• More people are willing to leave a positive review than a negative one.
• The percentage varies by source and context, but the trend is consistent across studies.

Statistics

• 67% of consumers say they would consider leaving a review after a positive experience, compared to 40% who would consider leaving a review after a negative experience.
• In practice, about 34% of consumers actually leave positive reviews, while only 7% leave negative reviews.
• Among those who write reviews, 56% do so for excellent (positive) experiences, while 41% do so for unsatisfactory (negative) experiences (excluding broken products).

And one more:

Average Percentage by Star Rating

• 5 Star: 60%
• 4 Star: 20%
• 3 Star: 10%
• 2 Star: 5%
• 1 Star: 5%

• 5-star reviews are by far the most common, making up the majority of all ratings.
• 4-star reviews are the next most frequent, but occur much less often than 5-star ratings.
• 3-star, 2-star, and 1-star reviews are relatively rare, each accounting for a small portion of total reviews.
• This pattern holds true across a wide range of industries and review platforms.

• Customers are more likely to leave a review after a positive experience.
• Many platforms and businesses encourage satisfied customers to rate their experience, skewing the distribution toward higher ratings.
• Negative experiences are less frequently reviewed, but when they are, the reviews tend to be more detailed and impactful.

Then I asked one more question. “What Percentage of 5-Star Reviews Are Fake, Bot-Generated, or Paid?”

• About 46% of identified fake reviews are 5-star reviews.

• This means a significant share of 5-star reviews may not be authentic.

• On major platforms, up to 47% of reviews are flagged as suspicious, though not all are 5-star.
• On Google, 10.7% of all reviews are estimated to be fake—the highest among major platforms.
• On Amazon, about 43% of reviews on top products are fake, with a high proportion being 5-star.

• Recent analyses suggest that 10–30% of reviews on certain platforms (especially software/business review sites) may be AI-generated, with 5-star reviews being disproportionately represented among these.

• The Federal Trade Commission and other watchdogs have found that businesses purchasing fake or paid reviews overwhelmingly request 5-star ratings.

That's a lot of AI data, but I tend to believe it (or at least it's a good jumping off point for decision-making).

Homework?

Over the years, I have been drawn to reviews as a litmus test for determining whether a product is good or bad. My biggest problem is I am lazy… and I have been burned by that. Being lazy, I would rate a product based solely on the total number of reviews… Bad Idea.

Have you ever bought a product on Amazon, only to find out it's not returnable? I have.

Amazon will direct you to the manufacturer's support when items are non-refundable or non-returnable. Especially anything that has an integrated battery, like a recent battery backup system I bought. It was not working when I first tried it, and I had to go down the tech support chat rabbit hole to get it fixed and working correctly.

Buried in the fine print of the description is a notice of that. Additionally, if you scroll down on some items, you will see a notice stating that the items have a high rate of return, but this is not reflected in the reviews.

Why 3 🌟 Reviews?

I have found that 2-3-4 star reviews tend to be more real, shorter, and to the point. More importantly, they tend to be people who liked the product but found a flaw.

Here are a few examples from when I was looking for the charger:

• “Looks good, good idea for all charge point but when set on front angle unit will not hold a phone in a case. phone must be in a flat position to keep from sliding off to be properly charged. my unit ‘s base was cracked. had to return. good idea for a phone without a case.”
• “The magnet isn’t strong so any slight touch near the charging station and my phone falls. Other than that it’s great.”
• “Charges great but magnet is very strong when trying to remove my phone. Also it moves back to portrait style on its own only after a short time on landscape therefore defeating the benefit of having it use standby.”

Granted, you have to take any one review with a grain of salt, but if you see repetition, you know it's a known issue.

The benefit of 3-star reviews is that there are fewer of them to sort through, and chances are, they are real people leaving real feedback.

The Bottom Line

The main point I am trying to convey is that you may or may not be able to find starred reviews for your competitors, but it's worth looking for them. If you find them, you will see the good and bad in what they do and how you and your business can improve on what the reviewers are saying. Perhaps it can even guide you towards talking points that prospective customers may find appealing.

Additionally, you should take company testimonials with a grain of salt, as approximately 50% of them are likely either fake or authored by AI, or may even contain a hint of rewritten truth.

When it comes to getting the best deals on Amazon Prime Days… caveat emptor (“let the buyer beware”).

Happy shopping.

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Comment below and share your thoughts, ideas, or questions about business-to-business sales and marketing today! Do you have a sales or marketing communications strategy that works for you? What tips or techniques can you share that work for you and your business?

To learn more about this and other topics on B2b Sales & Marketing, visit our podcast website at The Bacon Podcast.