- Small Business Statistics
Research Summary: If you’ve ever been scrolling through an online retail store, you might have noticed that you pass right through anything rated below four stars. The fact is that online reviews hold crucial sway over what customers choose to purchase.
If you want to find out more about just how important online reviews are, here are some crucial insights our research uncovered:
-
95% of online shoppers read online reviews before purchasing.
-
91% of 18-34-year-old consumers trust online reviews just as much as a personal recommendation.
-
93% of people say reading online reviews has affected their buying decisions.
-
81% of people read online reviews before visiting a business in person.
-
Products with at least five reviews have their conversion rate increased by 270%.
For further analysis, we broke down the data in the following ways:
Consumer Decision-making | Consumer Trust | Benefits of Online Reviews | Negative Reviews | Customer Reviewers
Reviews and Consumer Decision-making
Online reviews have a huge impact on customer decision-making, and this is evident in the statistics. To find out more about the impacts, here are some key facts:
-
67% of weekly online shoppers say they always read online reviews before purchasing.
This is compared to 54% of monthly online shoppers and 38% of shoppers who only go online once in a while.
Share of Online Shoppers Who Always Check Reviews
Online Shopping Frequency Share of shoppers who always check reviews Weekly 67% Monthly 54% Rarely 38% -
Customers will spend 31% more on a business with positive reviews.
Positive reviews and a positive overall experience are crucial when trying to get customers to spend more money. For example, a customer with a positive experience will spend 140% more than one with a negative experience.
-
54.7% of online shoppers will read at least four online reviews before purchasing from a business.
However, a further 31% of shoppers will read even more than ten reviews, signifying how important it is for businesses to encourage customers to leave reviews.
-
80% of reviews are the result of follow-up emails.
Customers may not remember or know how to leave a review if companies don’t follow up with an email asking them to. This is why it’s so important to companies to request feedback from their customers.
Reviews and Consumer Trust
Positive online reviews allow customers to trust a brand. After all, if the last person who bought the product had a good experience, why wouldn’t they? To understand how online reviews impact customer trust, here are some essential statistics:
-
49% of customers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations.
And given that at least 88% of customers trust personal recommendations, that means online reviews are a great tool for building trust.
-
46% of shoppers are suspicious of products with only 5-star reviews.
This is especially true for products with only a few 5-star reviews, as shoppers are much more likely to trust the high rating when there are at least ten reviews.
-
52% of customers don’t trust star ratings without accompanying review content.
If a review doesn’t include a description or pictures, customers are far more likely to believe the review is fake. This can ultimately break down customer trust.
-
People trust customer reviews 78% more than direct marketing.
Not only are online reviews less expensive than Ads, but they’re also more effective, with customers trusting online reviews far more than company-sponsored advertising.
-
96% of customers don’t trust advertising.
Honestly makes you wonder why companies spend billions each year just to steal five seconds of your time before a YouTube video.
-
85% of shoppers don’t think reviews older than three months are relevant.
When looking through reviews, 71% of shoppers consider recency. Of that share, 34% look for reviews that are between one week and one month old.
Benefits of Online Reviews
Having a plethora of online reviews, especially positive ones, is a fantastic way for businesses to raise sales, increase trust, and pull in new customers. To dive deeper into the various benefits of online reviews, here are the facts:
-
Having 50 or more reviews on a product increases its conversion rate by 4.6%.
More importantly, having high ratings also matters. For example, a rating increase of merely 0.1 can boost a product’s conversion rate by up to 25%.
-
32% of customers say online reviews are the most important factor in driving their purchase.
This makes online reviews the most important factor in driving online purchases, ahead of free shipping (24.5%), coupons and discounts (22.1%), and loyalty or rewards programs (6.5%).
Top Factors That Motivate Online Customer Purchases
Factor Share of customers who say it’s important Online reviews 32.0% Free shipping 24.0% Coupons and discounts 22.1% Loyalty/rewards programs 6.5% -
Businesses that respond to 25% of their reviews earn 35% more on average.
At a minimum, businesses that respond to at least one review earn 4% more on average. Additionally, consumers find that businesses who respond to reviews are also 1.7x more trustworthy, on average.
Negative Reviews
Negative reviews are extremely detrimental to businesses. They can reduce sales and profits and just generally drive customers away. Here are some examples of the harm these reviews can cause:
-
96% of shoppers specifically seek out negative reviews.
-
97% of people read how a business responds to its negative review.
-
53% of people expect businesses to respond to a negative review in less than a week.
-
45% of people are more likely to visit a business if it responds to bad reviews.
-
95% of consumers are more likely to write negative reviews than positive ones.
-
It only takes one negative review to lose 22% of interested customers.
Customer Reviewers
Not every customer will leave a review, but the ones who do are essential for business. To understand customer reviewers more, here are some key facts:
-
Only 5%-10% of customers leave online reviews.
Though this number does increase drastically for local businesses, where 74% of the customers of those businesses will leave online reviews, either way, a typically small share of consumers is responsible for driving the benefits of reviews.
-
“Verified buyer” reviews increase the chances of making a sale by 15%.
Many customers are weary of whether or not reviews come from genuine customers or bots and other nefarious sources. That’s why verified reviews are far more valuable than non-verified ones.
-
22% of travelers will post an unsolicited online review of a hotel.
This number goes up significantly when guests are encouraged by the hotel to leave a review, as 80% of consumers will post a review for the hotel they stayed at when encouraged to do so.
Online Reviews FAQ
-
How effective are online reviews?
Online reviews are very effective for increasing sales and building customer trust. For example, products with at least five reviews have their conversion rate increase by 270%, which will ultimately lead to higher sales and revenue.
A lot of this increase in conversion rate is caused by building customer trust. 91% of 18-34-year-old consumers and 49% of consumers overall trust online reviews just as much as a personal recommendation.
Ultimately, online reviews are a cheap and easy way to drastically increase positive outcomes for businesses.
-
What percentage of people use online reviews?
95% of people use online reviews before purchasing a product. Additionally, 81% of consumers use Google to check out local businesses in the US, meaning that online reviews are just as valuable for physical stores as online shops.
The share of people who use online reviews is much lower worldwide, though, with only 36% of global internet users aged 25 to 34 using online reviews for product research.
-
Do online reviews increase sales?
Yes, online reviews increase sales. On average, product reviews increase sales by up to 18% and also increase conversion rates specifically.
As an example of what kind of difference this would make if a business typically made $200,000 in sales in one year, that number would go up to $236,000 through online reviews alone.
-
Are online reviews trustworthy?
Online reviews are somewhat trustworthy, with 78% of people trusting reviews more than direct marketing. However, many consumers worry about whether or not a review is fake, deceptive, or bought. This is why verified reviews are so valuable. On average, verified reviews increase the chances of making a sale by 15%.
Other factors that may harm a customer’s trust in reviews include
-
Products with low ratings
-
Products with only 5-star ratings
-
Products with only a few reviews
-
Reviews that lack content
-
Reviews that are too old
-
Conclusion
Online reviews play a crucial role in ensuring the success of a business, whether that business is online or not. The fact is that 95% of online shoppers read online reviews before purchasing, and having reviews on a product increases its conversion rate by an average of 270%.
Of course, it’s important to value and build customer trust. Reviews are typically a great way to build trust, but trying to use fake reviews to gain an edge and have the opposite effect. The only thing worse than a fake review is a bad review, so customer service is also essential.
In the end, it’s vital for businesses, small and large, to grow their online reviews. Whether done through emails that encourage customers, or other follow-up methods, these inexpensive investments will go a long way.
References
-
Channel Signal – 78% More People Trust Reviews Than Ads. Here’s Why.
-
Bizrate Insights – The Impact of Customer Reviews on Purchase Decisions
-
WP – Impact of Negative Reviews: How Negative Reviews Affect Your Business Revenue
-
Cobalt – Let’s Face It: Negative Reviews Drive Customers Away
- Small Business Statistics
Author
Jack Flynn is a writer for Zippia. In his professional career he’s written over 100 research papers, articles and blog posts. Some of his most popular published works include his writing about economic terms and research into job classifications. Jack received his BS from Hampshire College.
