In the vast world of e-commerce, the reviews of the products have become an essential component in guiding consumers' purchasing decisions. Amazon, the undisputed leader in this sector, has always relied on the star rating system to help customers make informed choices. But recently, the e-commerce giant has decided to make some changes significant to this system.
Amazon changes course and creates havoc: increasingly confused users don't like the golden star very much
Until poco time ago, when we searched for a product on Amazon, it was easy to understand its evaluation thank you five stars, filled according to the weighted average of the evaluations. This system, simple e intuitive, has been a point of reference for millions of users for years.
But now, Amazon has introduced a novelty: instead of five stars, we see a single golden star, flanked by a numerical rating ranging from 0 to 5. This number does not represent the average of the reviews, but the percentage of five-star ratings received by the product. For example, if a product has 70% of its reviews five stars, we will see the number 3.5 next to the gold star.
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But where did the other information go?
Not to worry though, the weighted average of reviews has not disappeared. Amazon has decided to place it in parentheses, next to the new rating. This average is calculated through a sophisticated machine learning model that takes into account various factors, such as the date of the review or if the purchase was verified. In general, the value shown tends to reflect an average of all ratings received.
The problem is that with this new system, it becomes less immediate to understand the distribution of evaluations. For example, it's not immediately clear if a product has received many negative ratings as well as positive ones. To get a complete overview, you will need to explore the product page further. This change by Amazon has raised a lot of discussions among users. While some enjoy the novelty, others find it less intuitive.
Through | Android Police
