Amazon has recently overhauled its rating system, and the new layout seems to show every item as a one-star product. This adjustment might require some time for customers to adapt.
The process of shopping on Amazon was straightforward. You’d hop onto the website, search for your item of choice, and decisively use the star-rating as a guide—product listings with less than 4.5 stars warranted caution, while anything below 4 was typically avoided.
The old system was efficient and effective. It was a breeze to determine a product’s credibility with just a quick look at the star display. It was as user-friendly as can be.
Which begs the question: What prompted Amazon to switch it up?
Upon visiting Amazon now, you may be taken aback to find that product listings no longer showcase a line of five stars. In its place, a lonely single star occupies the space, accompanied by a numeric average rating.
This change raises some eyebrows. For the seasoned Amazon shopper, this new visual could falsely indicate that an item is subpar at first glance. Not long ago, I almost dismissed a well-regarded cleaning product thinking it was substandard before I realized it boasted a high 4.8-star average.
As those in the tech and design fields can attest, even minor tweaks in user interface design can lead to big user experience changes. Take for instance Apple, who, in an experimental move with the iOS 17 beta, shifted the position of the iPhone’s ‘end call’ button, leading to users mistakenly initiating FaceTime calls instead of hanging up. User feedback was swift and Apple promptly reverted to the original design.
Adding to the controversy, it seems Amazon’s current rating display was chosen as the more favorable option out of two they were considering. The other design under trial would indicate the percentage of five-star reviews instead—not the most transparent measure for discerning customers looking to gauge overall satisfaction.
Speed and simplicity are Amazon’s cornerstones. Users generally aren’t there for leisurely browsing—they expect a quick and straightforward shopping experience. Any extra time I spend deciphering ratings is time that could’ve been spent elsewhere, even if it is for necessities like new jeans.
