Tag customer reviews by topic in Google Sheets
A review export is a list of opinions with no structure. Two columns give it structure: what the review is about, and how the reviewer feels. Then a pivot tells you what people love and what they hate.
Column C: topic
=HUNCHPICK(B2:B800, "price|quality|shipping and delivery|customer service|ease of use|other")In Excel: =HUNCH.PICK(B2:B800, "price|quality|shipping and delivery|customer service|ease of use|other")
Column D: sentiment
=HUNCHSCORE(B2:B800, "How does the reviewer feel about the product overall?", "angry|disappointed|neutral|happy|delighted", "label")In Excel: =HUNCH.SCORE(B2:B800, "How does the reviewer feel about the product overall?", "angry|disappointed|neutral|happy|delighted", "label")
Real outputs
| Row | A | B | C |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Review | Topic | Sentiment |
| 2 | Arrived two days early and the stitching is perfect. Already ordered a second one for my sister. | quality | delighted |
| 3 | Works as described but the app crashes every time I open the history tab. Support answered in a day. | quality | disappointed |
| 4 | Way too expensive for what it is. The materials feel cheap and the strap broke in a week. | quality | angry |
| 5 | It is fine. Does the job. Nothing special, nothing wrong. | quality | neutral |
| 6 | Love the design, hate the battery. Dead by 3pm every day. | quality | disappointed |
| 7 | Shipping took three weeks and the box was crushed, but the product itself is great. | shipping and delivery | happy |
Five of six land on quality, which says something about this product, and about the topic list: if most rows share a topic, split it. "quality: materials and build" and "reliability: crashes, battery, breaking" would separate the strap from the app.
A third column for one specific thing
=HUNCH(B2:B800, "Does the review mention price, cost, or value for money?")In Excel: =HUNCH.ASK(B2:B800, "Does the review mention price, cost, or value for money?")
On the six reviews above this returns 0.99 for "way too expensive" and 0.01 or 0.02 for the rest. A yes/no column is the right tool when one topic matters more than the others.
Pivot topic against sentiment. The cell "price × angry" with a count in it is the meeting you need to have.
Questions
Can a review have two topics?
Where do the reviews come from?
Run it on your own column
Copy the template (or use the Excel add-in), paste your key, point the formula at your data. Every formula here has its Excel spelling underneath. 100 rows free to start, then $29 for 5,000 rows. Credits never expire and there is no subscription.
Reference: HUNCH · HUNCHPICK · HUNCHSCORE
More guides
- Categorize support tickets in a spreadsheet Ticket triage
- AI formulas for Google Sheets: what returns a number, what returns text AI formulas compared
- Lead scoring in Google Sheets without a CRM Lead scoring
- Code open-ended survey responses in Google Sheets Survey coding
- Classify job titles in Google Sheets Job titles