Thinking about leaving a four-star review? Don’t.

We’re serious, and here’s why: four stars doesn’t mean “really good, but not perfect,” anymore. Not sure who needed to hear that, but it had to be said. Think about it. Four stars used to stand for “no complaints here,” but no one told that to the internet – especially Google.

Somewhere in the last decade, the best rating you could give (five stars) stopped conveying "flawless" and got watered down to something closer to "yeah, I'd send my family and friends here." Once that shift happened, everything below it — including a perfectly nice four — started reading less like "great" and more like "something happened here, and they're too polite to say what."

It’s happened in other places, too. A DoorDash “tip” is not a reward to your driver for good service, but instead an enticement for your order to be picked up not last – even if there is already a service fee. An Airbnb “cleaning fee” covers a professional cleaning, but guests are almost always given a long chore list before checkout. Familiar words, changed connotations.

Why are we so angry about four-star reviews, specifically?

Because we know the people leaving them probably don’t even know they’re doing something wrong. In fact, when Google’s rating system first came out four stars did actually mean for stars. According to the company’s own figures, the average business rating on the platform has gone from about 3.75 stars to more than 4.1 today. So think about that. The “good” 4-star rating you thought about giving really means you were given below average service.

That lost point means a lot in today’s star-driven landscape around online reviews, which is why Turn On My Brand exists. We’re ready to help our clients raise their ratings in authentic, personal ways.

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Here’s how we’d love for the public – and business owners to think about the star system in 2026:

5 Stars – Highly recommend to my family and friends

4 Stars – Don’t. Do. It. (Seriously give five stars if you’re trying to be supportive, but do note anything that fell short in the review itself.)

3 Stars – I probably won’t be back, but it’s OK if you check it out.

2 Stars – I had a bad experience here.

1 Star – There is something fundamentally wrong here, and everyone should know about it.

Gathering more ratings is a process involving people and should be treated that way. Even when that means working to change people’s minds when it comes to writing their own reviews.

Want to learn more? Reach out to us anytime (And, DoorDash, we’re here whenever you want to run a campaign on how we should all think about tips differently in this day and age.)