Request Attribute Ratings of the Subpar

There are many ways in which a purchased experience can fall short of the purchaser’s definition of perfection. Particular attributes might have flaws or the way in which they all fit together isn’t quite right. Researchers at University of Alberta and University of Pennsylvania find that numerical ratings of subpar experiences are more positive if the customer has also been asked to evaluate each of the attributes.
     In one of the studies, participants were asked to remember a restaurant or rideshare experience which had both good and bad attributes. All of the participants were then asked to give a single overall rating of their experience using a five-star scale. Some of the participants were also asked to give a rating on a five-star scale for the attributes. With the restaurant, this included food, service, ambiance, and value. With the rideshare, the attributes were driving quality, driver quality, vehicle quality, pick-up/drop-off locations, and navigation/route.
     Those who also rated the attributes gave somewhat higher overall ratings. In other studies, the researchers found similar results for airflight, Airbnb, dental care, and painting gallery experiences.
     The design of their studies allowed the researchers to attribute this positivity push to people’s preference for being nice to service providers. Unless the experience was thoroughly terrible, customers who rated one or more attributes of the experience down felt a need to avoid doubling down on the criticism when they assigned the overall rating.
     Shoppers pay more attention to overall ratings than to attribute ratings because they like to simplify their decision making. So it’s logical for marketers to prefer positivity in received ratings. Asking customers to rate attributes along with the overall rating helps accomplish this. The increase in ratings in the studies was equivalent to about only a third of a star on a five-star rating scale, but the researchers point out this translates to roughly a 30% chance of changing a two-star rating into a three-star rating, for example.
     Still, the positivity push is a distortion from the actual customer opinion. While expecting our shoppers to look at overall ratings, we should peruse the attribute ratings so we can meaningfully improve the experiences for our future customers. A caution here from the findings is to check that your list of attributes covers all important aspects of the experience and that you ask each rater to give an assessment on all the attributes.

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Image at top of post based on photo by Siyuan from Unsplash