Reviews, whether they are on Amazon, TripAdvisor, AirBnB, Feefo, Trustpilot, or any platform, are always subjective. They are someone else’s opinion. But more than that. To have an opinion, first we must have an expectation to which we can then compare it. And generally people don’t write a review when their expectation was met.

‘Bought tent, put it up, slept in it, and it worked’ is not a review someone spends time writing. We tend to take the time to write a review on the extremes of the scale. Either one star reviews or 5 star reviews. In many ways, what’s the point of a 3 star review?

The thing about reviews is that we rarely state what our expectations were to begin with. We often assume our expectations are the same as others, even though rarely they are. This is one of the reasons we can both experience the same thing and yet react to it differently.

Understanding feedback is all about expectations. What my team expects from me helps me understand their feedback about my performance. This is true about leadership, customers, products, and services whether they are in the digital or physical world.

Photo by abillion