We all strive for perfection in one way or another, and the review rating on your GigSalad profile is probably no exception. When we launched our new decimal rating system, a few feathers were ruffled as folks saw their “perfect” rating change to things like 4.97, 4.89, or 4.95. We understand why that might be upsetting, but as with any change we make, we put lots of thought and experimentation into it. And having any rating over 4 stars can actually be helpful to you!
Why we changed our rating system
At GigSalad, we are constantly speaking with our users to discover ways to improve our product. During these conversations, we learned that event planners were having trouble differentiating between multiple vendors with 5-star ratings. They found it to be inauthentic and it made it difficult to choose someone. Our Product Manager, John Bacon, led many of these conversations and explains why we made this change:
“In speaking with clients, we found they had more trust in review scores that had nuance. As long as a review score was close to 5, it didn’t need to be perfect. But when every member of the site had a “5” rating, clients questioned the accuracy and dependability of our review system.”
How ratings are calculated
The weight of your reviews is based on an internal algorithm that uses a few different factors. Those include how recent they are and if they’re verified or not. When a booking is completed on GigSalad or marked as booked, the corresponding review is considered verified. While any review will be good for your profile, verified reviews will carry more weight in your overall rating.
⭐ Read this: The Importance of Verified Reviews
Why 5.0 isn’t necessarily the best
This concept may be hard to embrace, but not having 5.0 on your profile doesn’t mean you’ve failed. It’s great to strive to be better, but having 4.95 or even 4.5 stars just shows that you’re human. It also shows that your reviews are verified, meaning that your future clients can feel secure that your rating is authentic and not stuffed with fake reviews.
Take this example: If you saw 10 TVs with perfect 5-star reviews, those ratings wouldn’t help you make a choice. But if you saw ratings like 4.96, 4.89, or 4.92, you’d know those were all good choices and would likely read individual reviews to learn more about each TV.
It’s too good to be true
According to a 2017 study from Speigel Research Center, people are wary of perfect 5-star ratings. In fact, it seems that ratings even as low as 4 stars were more worthy of a purchase:
Across product categories, we found that purchase likelihood typically peaks at ratings in the 4.0 – 4.7 range, and then begins to decrease as ratings approach 5.0. Put differently, products with an average star rating in the 4.7 – 5.0 range are less likely to be purchased than those in the 4.2 – 4.7 range. This suggests that shoppers see ratings at the far end of the spectrum as “too good to be true.“
Negative reviews can be useful
It’s clear that authenticity is important to someone shopping online. In fact, the same Spiegel study found that 82% of people actively seek out negative reviews! The perfect ratings make people skeptical, so they want to find out the real experiences by looking through the reviews with lower scores.
Even though a less-than-perfect rating is just fine with potential clients, we know that having a bad review can be upsetting. It’s important to learn how to respond to negative reviews rather than pretending they don’t exist. That way, when people are digging into your rating, they can see how you dealt with an event that didn’t go as planned.
👉 Read this: How to Handle Reviews: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Embracing the decimal
As far as the decimal rating system goes, we are far from the first to implement it. Most online platforms like Amazon, Uber, and Airbnb use the decimal system to give a more accurate rating to their products and vendors. It’s becoming common practice among top brands, and we want to make sure we’re in line with what potential clients expect to see when they visit a marketplace like GigSalad.
We understand that change is never easy, but rest assured that we always have our users’ best interests at heart. Updates like these are never implemented without testing the impact on leads, bookings, and user experience. Embrace your less-than-perfect score — it just means you’re human. And it’s what the people want! 😁
Megan is the Director of Customer Experience at GigSalad and has gained 9+ years of insight on what makes a great event on both sides of the booking process. Her favorite things include books, true crime podcasts, coffee, hiking, puns, and making people laugh.
What is my rating?
Thank You, Marsh
http://www.marshproductions.com http://www.therfactor.com
Hi Marsh, you currently have 1 unverified review at 5.0 stars. You can see your rating on your Dashboard here. Thank you!
Hello:
I agree no one should ever get a 5 as that depicts there is NO ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT. We can all improve with some extra effort. No one is Perfect. Our ratings for Olde Thyme Harmony quartet have always been 4.5 or better.
It is nice to get those rating but we continually strive to perform better musically and visually to make our performances even better.
Don Horton
BAAS & Contact
Olde Thyme Harmony Quartet
Some one is putting fake reviews on all my listings with low star rating to lower my star ratings. These are about people and events we never were involved in. Google won’t remove them because the review doesn’t say anything negative. How can I get google to remove fake reviews?
We couldn’t agree more with this article
HOLD IT MEGAN PRICE! HOLD UP JOHN BACON!!
I’m going to have to disagree on this one. I understand the concept, but I can’t agree with the conclusion. As a former teacher, I always chuckle when getting a 4 or 4.5 review. I know that the reviewer is a teacher, principal or product manager as we are all taught NOT to give a perfect grade….leave room for improvement. (Most teachers actually tell us that privately after the show or in a private email.) I do not expect a “regular” client to rate me for less than I worked so diligently for —a high grade!
Perhaps you are writing about something else in event planning. As an entertainer I expect a high grade if I put the best on the table. Your stats are just that stats….anyone in marketing will disagree with you as marketing is based on opinions and focus. For most people given a choice between a 5 star action movie and a 4 star action movie, the 5 star will be chosen. This applies to any kind of film except for children’s films when the children are given the choice.
Thank you for your article, it’s interesting….but I’ll keep working for my 5 stars.
I realize that due to the Virus most of my gigs this year have been cancelled. People are very concerned about
being in any event with a group of people. So, I’m not too optimistic about booking gigs for 2021.
Ed Svoboda, Leader
Red Raven Orchestra
Omaha, Ne
I have to agree with our friend Kyambo Nduma’s comment above. Like anything else the more you practice your art the better you get with time. With this new system the beginner has just as much chance to get the job over the seasoned 25 year veteran of his trade. After several years of 5 star ratings with Gigsalad I had a client who thought just like you. He was the first only client to give me 4 out of 5 stars. I ask him if he could recommend what I would need to do to have received a 5 star rating and he said “nothing you were great!” “I never give 5 star ratings.” So my 5 star rating went to 4.5 that was a few years ago and since then have had several 5 star reviews to add to all the other 5 star reviews. Still 8-9 years later no movement still 4.5 all because the guy just didn’t believe in giving 5 star reviews? wth? Anyone who has had a near perfect show before would understand why we strive for perfection and nothing less. How you can measure a near perfect show to a perfect show is kind of ridiculous. lol I mean stick with the review the client gives us and if someone gets 5 stars all the time they should have 5 stars. When you do the same thing for many years whether it be playing an instrument or “fill in the blank” you get very good at what you do. That’s why we have video so when you’re looking for an particular act and they all have 5 stars? You simply pick the one that you like best after checking out the videos of the 5 star acts you like. Maybe just do away with the 5 star system alltogether. Let people watch the videos listen to the audio and read through the reviews to make their decision. I’ve been with Gigsalad for 9 or 10 years and have received dozens of 5 star reviews and one 4 star review still haunts me every-time I see it. Knowing there was nothing I could do about it. But then what should you expect in this new generation where everyone gets a trophy attitude.
Hi Roger, we can certainly appreciate the frustration over a 4-star review “just because.” I did want to point out that your rating is actually 4.97, not 4.5, because your recent, verified reviews are carrying more weight. That is an awesome rating! Your track record with us is great, so we hope you won’t let that .3 percent get you down. We appreciate your membership and are proud to have a vendor like you on our platform!