A customer gives a contractor five stars after a successful roofing project in 2019. Seven years later, that review still contributes to the company's online reputation.
But how much should it influence your decision to hire that contractor today?
The review may be completely genuine. The customer may have received excellent service and been happy with the work.
The question is whether that experience tells you what to expect now.
Recent customer reviews generally deserve more attention when you're evaluating a business's current performance. Older reviews still have value, especially when you're looking for a history of consistent service.
Understanding the difference can help you avoid relying too heavily on an impressive but outdated average.
Why Recent Reviews Matter
A company is rarely exactly the same business it was five or 10 years ago.
Employees leave. Managers change. New owners take over. Businesses expand, add services or change how they work with customers.
Even without a major change in leadership, a company might perform differently as it grows.
Consider an HVAC contractor that built its reputation around a small team of experienced technicians. As demand increases, the company hires additional employees and changes its scheduling process.
Those changes might allow it to serve more customers. They could also lead to longer appointment windows, communication problems or inconsistent service while the business adjusts.
Reviews written during the expansion may tell you more about the current customer experience than comments from years earlier.
That's why the timing of customer feedback matters.
A High Average Can Hide Recent Problems
Imagine a plumbing company that collected 200 five-star reviews over several years.
Its overall rating looks excellent.
During the past six months, however, a growing number of customers have reported missed appointments, unexpected charges and difficulty reaching the company.
Those recent problems may have little effect on the all-time average because the company already has so many positive reviews.
A consumer who looks only at the average could miss the change.
The reverse can also happen.
A business with a poor reputation several years ago might have hired a new manager, improved its training or changed how it handles complaints.
An older average could make the company look worse than its current performance deserves.
Neither situation means the old reviews should be ignored. They simply need to be considered alongside newer information.
How Far Back Should You Read?
There isn't one time period that works for every industry.
For businesses providing frequent, relatively short services, such as auto repair shops or cleaning companies, recent reviews can give you a useful picture of everyday operations.
For businesses handling major construction projects, longer histories are also valuable.
A homeowner researching a roofing contractor might want to know whether customers were satisfied immediately after installation. Feedback written several years later can be useful, too, particularly when it discusses leaks, repairs or warranty work.
Start by reading reviews from the past 12 months, if enough are available. Then look further back to see whether the same patterns appear.
Don't judge a company based on two recent complaints when hundreds of other customers have reported positive experiences. Read what happened and consider whether the issues are relevant to the service you need.
Look for Changes in Customer Feedback
A single rating doesn't tell you everything about how a company is performing.
Pay attention to whether the details in its reviews have changed.
Some useful questions include:
- Are customers still praising the same things they praised several years ago?
- Have complaints about scheduling, pricing or communication become more common?
- Does the business respond to problems?
- Are recent reviews detailed enough to describe actual work?
- Has the company changed ownership, management or services?
If a contractor consistently received positive comments about communication in older reviews, but recent customers describe difficulty getting updates, that's worth asking about.
It doesn't automatically disqualify the company. It gives you a specific concern to discuss before hiring.
How ONE AllRatings Accounts for Review Age
ONE AllRatings considers review recency when calculating its super-composite Star Score.
Instead of treating every review as having the same influence regardless of age, OAR assigns greater weight to more recent customer feedback.
Its published methodology provides a specific example: Ratings from work performed within the past year are weighted three times more than ratings from work performed seven years earlier.
That approach reflects the idea that a company's current performance should play a greater role in evaluating it.
OAR also combines reviews from multiple sources and evaluates their trustworthiness, rather than relying entirely on one website's historical average.
Learn more about these considerations in the ONE AllRatings Rating Process.
Older Reviews Can Still Tell You Something Important
Recent reviews matter, but a long history can reveal things that aren't obvious from the past few months.
For example, a company that has consistently earned favorable feedback for a decade may have demonstrated the ability to maintain its service standards through staff changes, busy seasons and changes in customer demand.
Older reviews may also describe long-term issues that recent customers haven't encountered yet.
A roofing company might receive positive feedback immediately after completing an installation. Years later, customers could share information about how well the roof held up or whether the company honored its warranty.
That kind of feedback can be especially helpful for products and services expected to last many years.
The key is understanding what each review can reasonably tell you.
What if a Company Has No Recent Reviews?
A lack of recent reviews isn't proof that a business has stopped providing good service.
Some companies simply don't ask customers to leave reviews regularly. Others may have a small customer base or work on projects that take several months to complete.
Still, limited recent feedback means you have less current information.
Before hiring, consider asking for recent references from customers who received similar services.
You can also check how long the company has been operating, whether its credentials are current and whether recent projects are available to review.
These steps are particularly useful for expensive home improvements.
Use the Full History, but Give the Present More Attention
An old five-star review can be helpful. A recent five-star review can be helpful, too.
Neither should be judged entirely on its own.
Look for current patterns, compare more than one review source and read enough feedback to understand what customers are actually experiencing.
Older reviews help establish a company's history. Newer reviews can tell you whether that history still reflects the way the business operates.
When you're deciding who to hire today, both matter. The most useful approach is to consider the full record while paying closer attention to what's happened recently.