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Read the rating distribution chart

Distribution of ratings sits under the tiles on your dashboard and shows how many 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 star ratings you collected. It answers a question your average score cannot: is a 4.2 built on steady fours, or on a pile of fives and a handful of ones?

What the chart shows​

Each row is one star level, counting down from 5 to 1. Every row has a bar, a percentage of all ratings in the period, and the number of ratings behind it.

The chart follows the period selector at the top of the dashboard, so switching to 3 months or 9 months redraws it. When there is nothing to show you see No reviews yet for this period.

Only visits where somebody actually chose a rating are counted. Scans where the visitor left without rating are excluded, which is why the totals here match Total reviews and not Scans. See Dashboard metrics explained.

Percentages always add up to 100

Each percentage is rounded to a whole number and the leftover is added back to the largest rows, so the column always totals 100. With few ratings a single row can look a percentage point off.

Reading the shape​

  • Top heavy, mostly fours and fives with a thin tail. This is what you want. Keep collecting, because volume now protects your average later.
  • Flat, ratings spread across three, four and five. Something is inconsistent rather than broken. Compare locations and days on the Reviews page.
  • Split, a stack of fives and a stack of ones with little in between. Usually two different experiences under one roof: a good product with a bad delivery, or one branch dragging the others down.
  • Bottom heavy, mostly ones and twos. Read the comments before you touch any settings. See Read private feedback from customers.

How the distribution drives your referrals​

Your star threshold cuts the distribution in two. Ratings on or above it are sent to your public review page, and everything below goes to the private feedback form.

That makes this chart the best way to predict what a threshold change will do. With a threshold of 4 stars, your 4 and 5 star rows are your referral pool. Move the threshold to 5 and only the top row is left, so you get fewer but stronger public reviews.

Work out the numbers here before you change anything in Choosing your star threshold.

Wait for volume before you judge it

Ten ratings make a noisy chart. A single unhappy customer is 10 percent of it. Look at the 3 month or 9 month view before you conclude that something changed.

When the chart looks wrong​

  • Ratings you do not recognize. Your own test scans are counted like any other. So are scans from staff trying out a new poster.
  • Fewer ratings than expected. Check whether the period is too short, then check Reviews missing from your dashboard.
  • A row at zero that used to have ratings. The chart only covers the selected period. Switch to 9 months to see the longer history.