We analysed the online reviews of the UK’s most popular trainers to understand what customers really think about their beloved sneakers. Here’s how we did it.
To determine the most hated trainer in the UK, we began by generating a list of the top 30 trainer brands by researching industry reports and lists online. Subsequently, we then identified the 15 most popular trainers from each brand, in total generating a list of 450 trainers across all 30 brands. Click here to see the full list of trainers and brands.
Recognising variations in trainer names (e.g., “Air Force 1” vs. “AF1”), we generated as many keyword variations as possible for each trainer. This comprehensive list was then analysed using SEMrush to obtain Google search volumes for each variation. This process enabled us to sort trainers from most to least popular based on search volume, resulting in a refined list of the top 30 trainers. Click here to see the Google search data.
With our final list, we extracted the reviews for each trainer from prominent online retailers such as Amazon, JD Sports, Footlocker and the brand websites. We evaluated the sentiment of the reviews, identifying both positive traits (e.g., “comfortable”) and negative traits (e.g., “poor quality”). We extracted 10-15 positive and 10-15 negative traits for each trainer.
We compiled all the data into a final table that integrated search volumes and review sentiments. This comprehensive dataset, with numerical values representing the presence of positive and negative traits, enabled a detailed analysis of each trainer by understanding what percentage of each trainer review contained a specific trait. For example, “25% of the Air Force 1 reviews mentioned that they were comfortable”.
By filtering the data and analysing the percentages, we identified the most hated trainer in the UK and other significant insights.
Click here to see the full sentiment analysis datasheet.