Rating and Review System – What and Why
For products and services rating & review has been part of our life for a long time; it was never systemized but continuously.
Been there, which means earlier before buying any services or products we use to ask for reviews and ratings from our friends and relatives who had used those services or products before Then the age of the internet came in, everything and anything you can buy online. A marketplace to sell or purchase services or products were not just restricted to a local market, everything Was worldwide, but there was a gap between buyers and sellers. As both, the buyers and sellers, can’t see each. Others or know each other hence it was challenging to trust either one. As products and services were worldwide, it was rare that our friends or relatives used the same product or service, and that’s how an online rating & Review system has emerged. At the digital age, ratings play a vital role, helping users to trust sellers and getting a view from a person who had used the service or products. Now Let’s learn what’s Rating & review system.
What is Rating?
Before we write about bookish definition of Rating/Rating System, let’s check a realistic example from amazon, how people rate a product.
So what’s the Rating system? Rating is the measurement based on quality and quantity given by customers or viewers. A rating can be given based on different criteria. Most cases rating is executed on a simple one principle and based on five stars. Besides single criteria and five-star Rating, it may be multi-criteria and 1-unlimited number of a star for complex implementation.
The most well-known eCommerce web site amazon creates its rating system with five stars. where
- 1 star is poor/ below expectations
- 2 star is average
- 3 star is as expected
- 4 star is above expectations
- 5 star is excellent
What is Review?
When someone takes service from online, then she or he writes something about that service. Therefore, in a straightforward case, what the user writes about a product or any service, is called Review. Star Rating is a type of reviewing in a numeric scale, but the text Review confirms textual expression. There are several types of Reviews. For Example:
- User Review
- Book Review
- Music Review
- Recording Review
- Bought Review
The user or consumer writes the Review for a product or a service. A consumer review of a product might help to know how well or wrong the product is. A review is a significant factor in business.
How rating systems drive user engagement
Ratings serve various purposes for different products and different users. Before you choose which rating system to utilize in your product, it is important to think about what user ratings may accomplish. For Example.
1. User ratings
User ratings help you customize the content that every user sees. Each Rating is a data point that may be connected to sophisticated algorithms to automate personalization. And this personalization becomes more precise with recommendations with time, the more a user rates, the smarter your product becomes. This is particularly essential for content-based products like Netflix Or YouTube that rely on predictive content personalization to deliver content to the right users.
2. User reviews
Aggregate ratings or user reviews help inform users and guide decision-making—regardless of whether or not you have a personalization algorithm in place. For instance, a brand new user on Amazon will still benefit from average user reviews even if they don’t receive personalized offers. This system is most useful for e-commerce apps that involve longer buying decision time.
3 .User feedback
Any rating system doubles as user feedback for your Team. This feedback helps companies understand if the content they offer is valuable, and provides insight into how you can improve offerings with time. In this way, evaluations can benefit products regardless of whether or not they’ve sophisticated personalization built-in.
Why we have so many rating systems?
Which rating system you choose depends on which one of those factors is most important to your product. A 5-star rating & review system may be perfect for influencing complicated buying decisions, while a simple thumbs up/down may be better for your algorithm.
Why we’ve five stars or why only five stars why not ten or more stars? Why do different sites have different rating systems? Let us get deep into it. Ever wondered why shopping sites don’t make it easier to review/rate product/service, why we need to use stars? YouTube is using like or dislike, and it is much easier right? So why our shopping sites aren’t following it?
The challenge with this format is, what about people who are feeling OK neither they liked nor disliked the product/service, what if the buyer not just liked the product/service, but loved it, or the buyer just hated the product/service and the buyer wants to express it? To overcome these challenges shopping sites have multiple stars with an option to add a comment about how was their experience with the product/service, then why not YouTube has stars?
Let us discuss the distinction between different types of rating and review systems.
1. Like/Dislike review system
Youtube famously ditched its classic 1-to-5 star rating system for a binary thumbs up/thumbs down rating system in 2009. Initially, Youtube did have a 5-star rating system, But people were rarely using anything then 1 star or five stars. YouTube Team noticed this pattern and decided to change it to like or dislike. Users rarely gave video 2-, 3-, or 4 stars, which resulted in a J shaped curve, a quite common side effect of utilizing a 5-star rating system in the wrong context.
While a rating system could Have improved user participation for YouTube, which makes the change to a binary system may not be the right choice for your product. Remember, the best choice for your product is dependent on your goals. Let’s take a closer look at each of the different rating systems
2. Percentage review system
Then there’s a percent (%) reviewing system where users speed movies/products/services from 5 stars and based on people. The rating average percentage is displayed.
3. Star rating system
Star ratings help users make complex decisions. A star rating system can help people feel more confident about their decisions. E-commerce platforms commonly use this kind of rating system because it helps guide buying decisions—especially on large platforms where the selection of items for sale could be otherwise overwhelming. And stars ratings are often accompanied by qualitative reviews, which further aid deeper considerations. This is not only important for retail purchasing decisions, like on Amazon, but also for complex decisions with real-world consequences. Think: Booking.com (choosing a hotel room), fetch (finding a petcare), Opencare (choosing a dentist), etc.
Now let’s talk about some extensive WordPress CMS base rating & review Plugins.
Rating & Review Plugin for WordPress
1. CBX Multi Criteria Rating & Review for WordPress
This is full featured multi criteria rating system. Our target was creating a rating system something like amazon but inside wordpress eco system. The plugin is coded thinking developers in mind so that it can be extended as need. Plugin is packed with necessary shortcodes, widgets, easy templates system, custom and easy php functions, huge settings.
2. CBX 5 Star Rating & Review for WordPress
This is full featured single criteria or simple 5 star quick rating rating with review system. Our target was creating a rating system something like amazon but inside wordpress eco system. The plugin is coded thinking developers in mind so that it can be extended as need. Plugin is packed with necessary shortcodes, widgets, easy templates system, custom and easy php functions, huge settings.
