Executive summary

Across every industry we studied, customers forgive a product problem far more readily than a service one. Wait times, unhelpful staff and unanswered complaints account for most of the negative feedback, and they are also the problems brands can fix fastest.

  • Service, not product, drives most negative reviews.
  • Response speed matters more than response length.
  • Regional differences are large and hidden by national averages.

How we did the research

We classified 2.4 million public reviews from Google Maps, app stores and booking sites, posted between January and September 2026, into a shared taxonomy of themes and sentiment.

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