By Daniel, founder of Adlicio · Sep 28, 2026 · 7 min read
Short answer: pull the reviews from the place buyers review your competitor (Amazon for products, Google Maps for local businesses, Trustpilot or G2 for services and software), rank the complaints by how often they come up, and turn each complaint your product really solves into an ad angle: the complaint, what the buyer wants instead, the claim you can prove and a hook in the buyer's own words.
Your competitor's reviews are the cheapest market research you can get. Thousands of buyers have already written down what disappointed them, in plain words, with a star rating attached. Every repeated complaint your product fixes is an angle your competitor cannot run.
Below is the method, then three real examples. We ran all three in Claude with the Adlicio connector on September 27, 2026. The quotes are from real public reviews; reviewer names are left out.
Step 1: Go where buyers review your competitor
Your competitor sells
Where the reviews are
A physical product
Amazon, Walmart, Etsy, the brand's own store
A local service (dentist, med spa, gym, restaurant)
Google Maps
An online service or a brand
Trustpilot, BBB
Software
G2, the App Store, Google Play
Pick the page with the most recent reviews. For a product with several sizes or versions, check which version each review is about.
Step 2: Pull the reviews
Reading 400 reviews by hand takes an afternoon. Faster options, by job:
✓Any platform, inside Claude or ChatGPT: connect the Adlicio MCP server and ask in plain words. It pulls Amazon, Google Maps, Trustpilot, G2 and 25+ more sources.
✓Thousands of reviews in bulk: a data provider such as Apify or Bright Data, then your own analysis.
Step 3: Rank the complaints, not the praise
Read the 1 to 3 star reviews first, then the 4-star reviews that contain a "but". Group what people say into themes and count how often each theme comes up. The themes at the top of that count are your candidates.
One warning: a sample of critical reviews shows what people complain about, not how common the problem is. A product can have 4.7 stars and still have one complaint that shows up in half of its bad reviews.
Step 4: Turn each complaint into an angle
For each top complaint, write four lines:
✓The complaint, in the buyer's words.
✓What the buyer wants instead.
✓The claim you can prove. Only use a complaint your product really solves, and be ready to show it.
✓The hook, built on the buyer's own words.
Skip any complaint you cannot beat. An angle you cannot prove costs you trust and, on some ad platforms, the ad.
Example 1: Amazon, the Instant Pot Duo
Adlicio pulled 402 reviews from the Instant Pot Duo listing (rated 4.7 from about 184,000 ratings). Claude ranked the complaints in the critical reviews:
Complaint
A real review
1. Won't seal or build pressure
"It doesn't seal unless you pound on it."
2. Dies young, and support won't help
"This lasted only 16 months."
3. Sauté is too weak to brown anything
"I'm trying to sauté sausage and garlic, but it's just steaming"
4. False "Burn" errors
"it says BURN FOOD and there's an uncooked meal in the pot."
5. The newer design feels cheaper
"new pot is cheaper built for more money."
6. Confusing to set up
"You need at least a good hour or two to understand how to begin using."
Angle for a rival pressure cooker (only if yours really seals every time): complaint the lid needs force to seal; want a pot that seals on the first try; proof a seal test on video; hook "It seals. You don't have to pound on it."
Example 2: Trustpilot, DoorDash
Adlicio found 140 DoorDash reviews on Trustpilot, and Claude analyzed the 87 most recent. Almost all were 1-star:
Complaint
Share of the 87
A real review
1. Refunds refused, even with proof
about 35
"They will give no more refunds, even with photo proof."
2. Missing and wrong items
about 20
"How does a picture of closed bags prove what was actually inside them? It doesn't."
3. Late, wrong address or never delivered
about 15
"Been waiting close to four hours for my groceries to be delivered"
4. Prices, fees and billing errors
about 15
"A $15 meal costs $28."
Angle for a rival delivery service (only if your refund policy really works this way): complaint refunds get denied even with a photo; want money back without a fight; proof your written refund policy; hook "Wrong order? Send a photo. Get your money back."
Example 3: Google Maps, the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Adlicio scraped 212 Google Maps reviews of the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Claude tagged each review by what it complained about:
Complaint
About
A real review
1. Feeling unsafe
30 reviews
"homeless people literally every 20 feet in the middle of the sidewalk" (2★)
2. Dirt and the smell
30 reviews
"there was a strong smell of urine in several parts" (1★)
3. "Just a sidewalk"
25 reviews
"I just felt like I had been deceived by the media." (2★)
4. Hustlers and the CD scam
20 reviews
"They offered to donate CDs and then demanded a tip" (1★)
The few good notes on conditions came from people who went early in the morning. Angle for a local tour operator that runs early tours: complaint crowds, hustlers and grime; want the Hollywood photos without the hassle; proof the tour starts before 8 am; hook "See the stars before the hustlers wake up."
The same four steps work for any local business. For a dentist or a med spa, pull the Google Maps reviews of the three competitors nearest to your client and compare their top complaints.
Mistakes to avoid
✓Counting a critical sample as a share of all buyers. Say "the top complaint in the bad reviews", not "most buyers hate it".
✓Naming the competitor in the ad without checking the rules. Comparative claims must be true and provable, and ad platforms have their own policies.
✓Pasting reviews into ads word for word. Use the buyer's words to shape your hook. Quoting a review in an ad has its own rules on some platforms, Amazon included.
✓Only reading one platform. A complaint that shows up on Amazon and on Reddit is stronger than one that shows up in one place.
✓"Use Adlicio to pull the [Amazon / Google Maps / Trustpilot] reviews for [competitor] and show me what people hate most, ranked, with real quotes."
✓"Turn the top 3 complaints into ad angles for [your product]. Only use the ones [your product] really solves, and give each one a hook in the buyers' words."
For Google Maps, a small pull of 50 reviews or fewer costs 2 credits and a full pull 4. See Google Maps reviews in Claude.
FAQ
How many reviews do I need? Usually 50 to 200 critical reviews show the main themes. When the same complaint keeps coming back in new words, you have enough.
Which reviews matter most? The 1 to 3 star reviews, and the 4-star reviews with a "but". Five-star reviews tell you what to keep, not what to fix.