Amazon is experimenting with removing customer star ratings from its product search results page, which the company says could make it easier for shoppers to scan its selection of products. Either that, or Amazon is inadvertently admitting that most of its reviews are fake / paid for and wants to put less emphasis on them.
Amazon told Fortune that the “limited test” only affects a small set of products and only affects the search results page, while the star ratings and review count totals are still available on the individual product pages.
Judah Bergman, founder at Jool Baby, shared a screenshot on LinkedIn of what this new streamlined results page looks like.
Amazon spokesperson Maria Boschetti confirmed to Fortune that the change is a test and not the result of a software bug, but did not offer any information about the results of the testing so far, or about how long the company plans on conducting the tests.
Last year in August, I reported (story #5) that Amazon was testing a star rating system in India, Germany, and other regions that showed a product's weighted average rating as single yellow star next to its image in search results. It also only showed the percentage of 5-star ratings the product had received, as opposed to the number of 5-star reviews. The system made it difficult for customers to tell at a glance whether a product's average rating was 5 or 3.5 because both scenarios were represented by a single small yellow star.
It's not uncommon for Amazon to test new ways to display ratings and other user interfaces, and testing a feature doesn't indicate that Amazon will be rolling out the new system to everyone.
Do you think hiding star ratings on search results is a good or bad thing for customers? Hit reply and let me know.