When one of us (Bart) wanted to buy a car seat for his new son, he went to Amazon.com, entered some search terms, and sorted results by the average star rating. He narrowed his choice to two options: One was substantially more expensive but had a higher average rating, 4.6 to 3.8. In the end, he went with this option, reasoning that the additional quality was worth the money given the importance of the purchase.
High Online User Ratings Don’t Actually Mean You’re Getting a Quality Product
Consumers are biased, and shoppers are clueless.
July 04, 2016
New!
HBR Learning
Customer Focus Course
Accelerate your career with Harvard ManageMentor®. HBR Learning’s online leadership training helps you hone your skills with courses like Customer Focus. Earn badges to share on LinkedIn and your resume. Access more than 40 courses trusted by Fortune 500 companies.
Learn how to keep your customers—and their most important needs—front and center.
Learn More & See All Courses
New!
HBR Learning
Customer Focus Course
Accelerate your career with Harvard ManageMentor®. HBR Learning’s online leadership training helps you hone your skills with courses like Customer Focus. Earn badges to share on LinkedIn and your resume. Access more than 40 courses trusted by Fortune 500 companies.
Learn how to keep your customers—and their most important needs—front and center.