At first glance, a 4.7 rating on Google seems great. But if your direct competitors have ratings between 4.6 and 5.0 – then it’s no longer a 1 to 5 rating. The realistic range in that context is from 4.6 to 5, which means that 4.7 is not an excellent rating – but rather an averagely bad one .
However, many companies still use Google reviews as the sole indicator of the quality of the user experience. This is a problem for several reasons:
📉 Three big weaknesses of Google reviews
- Inaccuracy – Only about 1% of consumers leave a review. This means that the assessment is based on a very small sample, which is often not representative.
- Manipulation – Recently, there have been more and more AI-generated campaigns that raise or lower ratings, as well as unfair campaigns from competitors.
- Incomparability – Google’s rating does not take into account competitive context , nor deeper aspects of the user experience such as emotional impact, loyalty, or service consistency.
🔍 What is the alternative?
If you want to understand To get a true picture of the consumer experience , you need to use objective methods such as:
- Mystery shopping ,
- Online brand image and consumer loyalty research ,
- In-depth research into emotional value ,
- and comparative analysis with competitors .
✅ Conclusion
Google reviews can be a good signal – but they are not enough .
Without deeper insight, companies risk making decisions based on incomplete or incorrect data.
Want to find out what your user experience looks like in the eyes of real customers?
Contact us – we help companies see what Google doesn’t show.