Why Are Reviews so Important?
Reading Reviews:
70% of customers look at multiple review sites when choosing a local business.
84% believe that reviews older than 3 months aren’t relevant.
32% of customer’s next step after reading positive reviews is visiting the seller’s website.
85% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations.
94% say an online review has convinced them to avoid a business.
Four out of five consumers have changed their minds about a recommended purchase after reading negative online reviews.
93% of people say that online reviews impact their buying decisions.
Leaving Reviews:
85% of consumers are willing to leave reviews.
50% of customers that were asked to leave an online review were asked in person during the sale.
66% of consumers have written an online review for local businesses – including 80% of 35-54-year olds.
Out of the group surveyed who left reviews, customers left an average of 9 reviews per year.
60% have written reviews for positive experiences, while just 25% have written reviews for negative experiences.
34% of people who left reviews wrote 2-3 reviews for local business.
Responding to Reviews:
89% of consumers read businesses' responses.
71% of consumers say they’re more likely to use a business that has responded to their existing reviews.
30% of consumers say they positively judge a business which publicly responds to online reviews.
40% of consumers received a response from a business after leaving a review.
Star Ratings and Their Importance
7% of consumers older than 55 would use a business that has less than 3 stars.
Only 53% of consumers would use a business that has less than 4 stars.
The average consumer reads 10 reviews before feeling able to trust a business.
Going from a 3-star to a 5-star rating delivers businesses 25% more clicks from Google.
A "One-Star" difference in reviews results in a 5-9% change in revenue.
Businesses without 5 stars risk losing 12% of their customers.
Only 53% of people would consider using a business with less than 4 stars.
3.3 is the minimum star rating of a business consumers would engage with and only 13% of
consumers will consider using a business that has a 1 or 2 star rating.
Consumers aged 55+ are the least likely to forgive a low star rating.
Online Presence
According to a Moz study, only 7% said they go past page one of search results when looking for information about something.
There’s a greater than 50% chance that a searcher will find any negative information, especially if the headline is somewhat revealing.
70% of customers prefer getting to know a company via articles rather than advertisements.
1 in 5 companies are unhappy with the way they’re portrayed on their Google page one.
70% of consumers will avoid buying a product if they don’t like the company behind it.
50% of potential sales are lost because consumers can’t find information they are looking for.
1 in 3 businesses say negative social media posts pose the greatest reputation threat.