How Many Five-Star Reviews Cancel Out a One-Star Review?

It depends on the average you want to hold. Treat every review as its distance from your target. Aiming for 4.5, a 1-star sits 3.5 below and each 5-star sits 0.5 above, so about seven fives offset one 1-star.

Aiming for 4.0 instead, a 1-star is 3 below and a 5-star is 1 above, so roughly three fives offset it. The higher your target, the more a single bad review costs.

The defence is volume and recency: a business collecting genuine reviews every week barely feels the odd low score.

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