Trust
- 84% of people trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations, compared to 80% in 2015. (Source: BrightLocal, 2016)
- 74% of consumers say that positive reviews make them trust a local business more. (Source: BrightLocal, 2016)
- 60% say that negative reviews make them not want to use a business. (Source: BrightLocal, 2016)
- Only 14% of consumers would consider using a business with a one or two star rating (Source: BrightLocal, 2016)
- 68% of consumers trust reviews more when they see both good and bad scores, and 30% suspect censorship or fake reviews when they don’t see any negative opinions presented. (Source: Reevoo, 2012)
- 86% of people will hesitate to purchase from a business that has negative online reviews. (Source: BrightLocal, 2017)
- By a massive 77% to 23% margin, consumer electronics buyers say they put more trust in consumer reviews than reviews from experts (Source: Weber Shandwick, 2014)
- 66% of consumers would not trust online review sites they’re not familiar with. (Source: Podium, 2017)
- 73% of consumers are more likely to choose a business that has online reviews compared to a business that has none. (Source: Critical Research 2017)
Relevance
- 73% of consumers think that reviews older than 3 months aren’t relevant any more. (Source: BrightLocal, 2016)
- 22% of consumers will only consider reviews written in the last 2 weeks. (Source: BrightLocal, 2016)
- 58% of consumers pay the most attention to overall star rating. (Source: BrightLocal, 2016)
- 93% of consumers say online reviews have an impact on their purchasing decisions. (Source: Podium, 2017)
Consumer Research
- 90% of consumers read 10 reviews or fewer before they feel they can trust a business. (Source: BrightLocal, 2016)
- Only 5% said they’d never searched for local businesses online. (Source: BrightLocal, 2016)
- 53% of consumers search for local businesses at least once a month, compared to 43% in 2015. (Source: BrightLocal, 2016)
- 69% of consumers search for a local business at least 6 times per year, compared to 60% in 2015. (Source: BrightLocal, 2016)
- Nearly 60% of consumers look at online reviews at least once a week, and 21% look at online reviews multiple times per week. (Source: Podium, 2017)
- BrightLocal found that reviews for businesses in the hospitality sector were the most read by consumers during 2016. Restaurants and cafes were read the most, with hotels/bed & breakfasts coming in second. (Source: BrightLocal, 2016)
- 20% of consumers just look at one review site before making a decision about a business. (Source: BrightLocal, 2016)
- 59% of consumers look at 2-3 different review sites before they make a decision about a business. (Source: BrightLocal, 2016)
- 87% of people say that a business needs a rating of 3-5 stars before they will use them (Source: BrightLocal, 2016)
- 23% of online shoppers are influenced by social media recommendations. (Source: BigCommerce, 2017)
- 69% of online shoppers want product listings to be enhanced with product reviews. (Source: BigCommerce, 2017)
- 72% of UK consumers are more likely to do business with a company after reading a positive review online. (Source: Trustpilot/Censuswide Survey, 2016)
Behaviour
- 50% of consumers reported being asked to leave a review about a business and did so. (Source: BrightLocal, 2016)
- BrightLocal reports that PCs were the most popular way of reading reviews in 2016 (78%), but Podium found that 59% of consumers asked would most likely use a smartphone or tablet to look up reviews in 2017. (Sources: BrightLocal, 2016 and Podium, 2017)
- 88% of consumers form an opinion by reading up to 10 reviews, and 73% form an opinion by reading up to 6 reviews (Source: BrightLocal, 2015)
- Customers are likely to spend 31% more with a company that has “excellent” reviews. (Original Source Unknown, Published by Invesp, 2015)
- When equally priced, consumers are 3.9 times more likely to choose the hotel with a higher rating than ones with lower ratings. (Source: PhocusWright, 2014)
- Studies show that products with positive reviews sold 200% more than those with no ratings. (Source: Web Republic, 2015)
- A perfect 5 star rating for a product is not necessarily the most desirable. Research shows that 4.2-4.5 is the ideal average star rating for purchase probability. It’s hypothesized that this is because a perfect 5 product is considered “too good to be true”. (Source: PowerReviews & Northwestern University)
- 68% of consumers are willing to pay up to 15% more for the same product or service if they’re assured they’ll have a better experience. (Source: Podium, 2017)
- 77% would be willing to leave an online review if asked. (Source: Podium, 2017)
