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Bad review impact calculator
You just got a bad review. How far does the rating fall? Google shows one decimal, so often the displayed number does not move - but you may be one review from dropping. This tool shows both.
How the number is worked out
The new average is just a re-average: (c × n + the new review's stars) ÷ (n + 1). From there we work out whether the displayed one-decimal figure drops a step, and how many five-star reviews it takes to get the display back.
The conclusion nearly always points the same way: the more reviews you have, the less any single bad one matters. A one-star on 4.8 with 20 reviews takes you to 4.6. A one-star on 4.8 with 500 reviews leaves you at 4.8. That is why the most effective protection against bad reviews is not deleting them, it is having built the count beforehand.
What dropping a step means
Going from a displayed 4.5 to 4.4 looks like a tenth, but customers filter in whole steps — "4.5 and above". Crossing a step costs more than the decimal itself. So the tool tells you separately how far you are from the next step down; that number is worth remembering more than the new average is.
What a good review is actually worth in money is in What a good review is actually worth to you.
What to do after the sum
The first move is not to try to delete it. "It isn't true" is not a removal ground — far less is removable than owners assume. Run the review through Can this review be removed first; report it if you can, and take the other road if you cannot.
The other road is replying. A reply is not written for that customer; it is written for the ones reading afterwards. What to do first is in You got a one-star note. Now what?, and for the wording the Review response generator gives you three drafts.
Then back to the first paragraph: build the count. How many and how fast is the Star rating calculator; how your stars are spread is the Star rating distribution calculator; and how Google computes that average at all is in Why your rating does not move when you add 5-star reviews.
Where the recovery reviews come from
Working out how many you need is the easy part; actually collecting them is not. And right after a bad review is exactly when you must not rush a burst of them.
In practice, ten happy customers, and often not one of them writes a review — not because they do not want to, but because it is a hassle, and typing it out is worse. Review Helper cuts that step to thirty seconds: the customer scans your code, ticks a few things they actually experienced, and the page turns it into a sentence in their own words. Copy, paste, posted. We do not ghost-write and we do not post for anyone — what they write, and whether to post it, stays their call. Three free reviews for every Google listing, nothing to pay up front, no card needed. No monthly fee: you pay per use.