Flawed Star Ratings Are 'Misleading Shoppers'

Star ratings have been a mainstay of online shopping for years - but new research suggests customers are relying on them too much.

Analysis of 300,000 ratings across 1,300 products on Amazon in the US uncovered a "substantial disconnect" between the number of stars awarded by the public and the quality rating given to a product following objective, independent testing.

The study also found that star ratings play a considerable role in a shopper's decision even when an item has a statistically insignificant number of reviews.

For example, many consumers give the same prominence to a dishwasher with two five-star ratings as a rival product with hundreds of ratings and an average score of 4.8.

Those who leave star ratings are also more likely to give an artificially positive review to expensive products or items from well-known brands, even if their quality is poor.

Amazon has dismissed the findings, and said star ratings from consumers are valuable because they reflect experiences from everyday use - as opposed to some professional reviews.

Despite this, Ben de Langhe, an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Colorado, said: "You should rely much less on reviews than you currently do."

The findings were published in the Journal of Consumer Research.