Shoppers go looking for the bad reviews. PowerReviews data cited by the Spiegel Research Center says 82% of shoppers specifically seek out negative reviews Reported (vendor data). If they can’t find any, they don’t conclude the product is perfect. They conclude something is being hidden.

Perfect looks fake

In the Spiegel Research Center’s analysis of PowerReviews data, purchase likelihood peaked for products rated between 4.0 and 4.7 stars, then fell as ratings approached 5.0 Reported (vendor data, analyzed by a university research center). The researchers’ reading: negative reviews “establish credibility and authenticity.” It’s observational, so treat the range as a guide.

There’s experimental support. Danit Ein-Gar, Baba Shiv and Zakary Tormala (2012) found in four studies that adding a small dose of negative information to an otherwise positive description made people like a product more, which they called the blemishing effect. The conditions matter: it worked when the negative came after the positive and when people weren’t reading closely Published. A product page fits both. Lead with the summary and the praise; put a real critical review one tap away.

A 4.6 with visible one-stars is more believable than a 5.0 with none.

The case: Fashion Nova

In January 2022, the FTC announced that the fast-fashion retailer Fashion Nova would pay $4.2 million to settle charges that it blocked negative reviews. From late 2015 through November 2019, according to the FTC, the company used a third-party review interface that automatically posted four- and five-star reviews and held lower-rated ones for approval that never came. Hundreds of thousands of lower-rated reviews were never published. It was the FTC’s first case about a company concealing negative reviews. The same day, the FTC sent letters to ten companies that provide review-management services and published guidance on collecting and showing reviews Filed.

The lesson is in the mechanism. Nobody had to delete a review; a moderation setting did the work. Most review apps have one. Find yours.

What you may remove, and how

You can hold back some reviews, but the rules are narrow and must apply to positive and negative reviews alike:

• US. The FTC’s 2024 rule bans implying the reviews you show are most or all of those submitted when you’ve suppressed negative ones, with exceptions for content such as defamation, trade secrets and clearly false reviews Published. Its 2022 guidance adds: don’t subject negative reviews to more scrutiny Published.
• UK. The Competition and Markets Authority’s April 2025 guidance says publishers must not suppress genuine negative or positive reviews or selectively promote either Published.
• EU. Since May 28, 2022, traders showing reviews must tell consumers whether and how they check that reviews come from real customers. In a January 2022 sweep, the European Commission and national authorities found 104 of 223 major sites didn’t explain how reviews were collected and processed Published.

Write a moderation policy, publish it next to the reviews, apply it to every star level, and log every removal with the reason. Appendix B has a starting draft.

Answer them

A reply to a one-star review is written for the next hundred shoppers. Thank them, state the fact without arguing, say what you changed, and offer a person to talk to, within two business days. Never offer anything for changing or removing the review.

Do this

• Open your review app’s moderation settings today. Turn off any auto-hold by star rating, publish every genuine review in the queue, and add a “most helpful critical review” next to the most helpful positive one on your top product pages.