Nasty 1-star Review Tactic

A warm welcome to the 12 new subscribers who’ve joined me last week.

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Praise is fleeting but brickbats we recall

When it comes to persuasion, research by neuroscientists has shown that people are often swayed more by negative reviews than positive reviews.

Numerous articles cover how you can turn a negative review into a positive, but that’s not what we are covering today. We will discuss an entirely different black hat tactic that some brands are applying to get traction.

On a personal note, I’m not saying this is right. All I’m doing here is making you aware that this exists.

With that aside, let’s get into it.

How do people go through reviews?

Customers often find themselves overwhelmed by the sheer volume of reviews available. So, they use a hack - rather than reading through every review, they concentrate on extremes - 1-star and 5-star reviews.

They also understand that there are a lot of fake reviews online. So they give more weight to the 1-star review.

Knowing this, some brands have recently started acting stealthily by placing 1-star reviews along with the usual 5-star reviews. The catch - the negative reviews are not entirely negative. With some copywriting magic, they are conveyed in such a way that the review also hints at something exceptionally positive.

a) Examples of staged 1-star reviews with a ring of positivity

• Notice how the top-left review of the restaurant also tells you that they have a great apple pie and it gets over fast.

• Observe that middle-image salon review also tell you that the salon is favored by influencers.

• Notice how you learned from the top-right hotel review that they have a balcony with a sea view. 

b) Example by a restaurant turning negative review into publicity

Promoting a negative review seems counterproductive. But sometimes, promoting a bad review could play to your advantage. A couple of years earlier, a coffee shop right next to a small art gallery, put up the following board in front of their shop.

Although I couldn’t find if it worked for them, if I had been there, I would have definitely tried their coffee.

We have an innate desire to seek the truth ourselves if what others say is true or not.

Until next time! 👋

Saurabh