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The increasing digitization of the world has made reviews the primary way for customers to gauge a business. Customers rely on reviews to make better-informed decisions, and companies can directly receive feedback and engage. Below you can find customer review statistics that show the importance of positive online reviews.
Reviews as a Deciding Purchasing Factor
- About 95% of shoppers read the customer reviews before making a purchase online. (PowerReviews, 2016)
- 78% of consumers were satisfied with their final purchase after reading online reviews. (Broadly, 2017)
- 72% of consumers wait to read reviews before they take action and decide to purchase. (TestimonialEngine, 2017)
- Customers are 71% more comfortable purchasing after reading reviews. (3D Cart, 2020)
- Reviews have a more significant impact on the purchase likelihood of higher-priced items (380% more likely) than cheaper ones (190% conversion rate). (Spiegel, 2021)
- 66% of buyers seek information outside of vendor materials during the purchasing process. (CMI and SmartBrief)
- Buyers are 270% more likely to purchase a product that has five reviews than a product with no reviews. (Spiegel)
- Between two products with similar ratings, buyers are more likely to buy the product with more reviews. (PsychologicalScience)
Impact on Businesses
- Businesses that have more than 82.5 reviews earn 54% more revenue than average, whereas companies with less than 82 reviews earn 15% less revenue than average. (Search Engine Land, 2019)
- 15% of Google’s ranking algorithm are derived from online reviews of local businesses. (Ubreall, 2021)
- On average more than 25% of a brand market value is directly linked to its reputation. (Deloitte, 2015)
- Companies with more than nine new reviews every day earn 52% more than average. Businesses with 25 or more new reviews make 108% more than average. (Search Engine Land, 2019)
- Businesses that claim their free listings on at least three review sites earn an average of 36% more revenue. (Search Engine Land, 2019)
- 63% of customers are willing to pay 15% more for the same product or service only to ensure they are a better experience. (Podium, 2021)
Trends in Customer Reviews
- 65% of shoppers want to see more user-generated content in reviews like photos and videos. (PowerReviews, 2019)
- Businesses average 82.5 reviews across all reviewing platforms.(Search Engine Land, 2019)
- 67% of consumers say they wouldn’t use companies if their reviews said they didn’t follow COVID-19 guidelines. (BrightLocal, 2022)
- Customers do not entertain reviews that are older than three months. (BrightLocal, 2022)
- 40% of customers only find reviews that are not older than two weeks relevant. (BrightLocal, 2022)
- Almost all (97%) of consumers use online media when making local purchases. (PRNewswire, 2010)
- Last year 93% of consumers searched online for a local business.(BrightLocal, 2022)
General Customer Reviews Statistics
- Shoppers rated categories like electronics (82%), appliances (80%), and computers (80%) as the most important categories for reviews. (PowerReviews, 2016)
- Industries in which consumers read most reviews are: restaurants, hotels, medical, automotive, and clothing stores. (BrightLocal, 2022)
- Most shoppers (66%) read between 1-10 reviews before making a purchase. (PowerReviews, 2016)
- On average, local businesses have 39 customer reviews on Google, with 74% of businesses have at least one review. (BrightLocal, 2022)
Trust in Online Reviews
- It is estimated that around 10-30% of all online reviews are fake. (100Reviews, 2018)
- 95% of consumers believe reviews are fake or have been censored by the company if they do not have any negative reviews. (HubSpot, 2017)
- 79% of consumers stated that they trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation from a friend or family. (Statista, 2022)
- Three in four customers avoid and do not trust advertisements. (Edelman, 2019)
- A business needs to have at least 40 online reviews before customers believe its average star rating. (BrightLocal, 2022)
- Customers are 15% more likely to purchase when the reviews are from verified users rather than anonymous reviews. (Spiegel, 2017)
- 83% of shoppers found businesses with genuine reviews from customers on their landing page to be more trustworthy.(BrightLocal, 2022)
Responding Affects Brands
- 33% of customers who got a response from a company after leaving a negative review turned around and left a positive review, while 34% deleted the original negative review. (Mackcollier, 2011)
- Consumers spend 49% more money purchasing from businesses that reply to reviews. (Search Engine Land, 2019)
- 75% of businesses do not respond to any reviews. (Search Engine Land, 2019)
- When companies reply to online reviews, it makes customers feel they care about them (41%), they have excellent customer service (35%), and they are a trustworthy brand (22%). (Bazaarvoice, 2013)
- Businesses that replied to at least 30% of reviews experienced an 80% higher conversion rate than businesses that responded to 10% of reviews. (Uberall, 2019)
- 53% of consumers expect a reply to their review within seven days; however, 63% say they never got an answer from a business. (ReviewTrackers, 2022)
- Businesses that reply to at least 25% of their customer reviews average 35% more revenue. (Search Engine Land, 2019)
- 96% of consumers read business’s replies to reviews. (BrightLocal, 2022)
- Seven out of 10 buyers changed their perception of a brand after the business replied to an online review. (Marketing Charts, 2013)
- Replying to just one customer reviews increases a business’s revenues by 4%. (Search Engine Land, 2019)
Positive and Negative Customer Reviews Statistics
- Most businesses receive on average 19% bad reviews. (Search Engine Land, 2019)
- Employers with bad reviews and reputation have to spend 10% more per hire. (Harvard Business Review, 2016)
- Four out of five customers have changed their mind about a purchase after reading a negative review online. (PRNewswire, 2011)
- If a business has positive reviews, customers spend 31% more. (Broadly, 2017)
- Companies whose reviews are 15-20% negative earn 13% more in annual revenue than businesses whose are 5-10% negative.(Search Engine Land, 2019)
- Negative reviews can make 92% of consumers less likely to use a local business. (BrightLocal, 2022)
- Customers spend more than five times as long on a business’ website when they interact with negative reviews. (Forbes, 2019)
- After reading a positive review, 54% of consumers visit a local business’ website. (BrightLocal, 2022)
- 82% of shoppers seek out negative reviews; among consumers under 45, it jumps to 86%. (PowerofReviews, 2016)
As seen by the customer reviews statistics above, online reviews are a significant factor in the customer’s decision-making process. Businesses need to embrace and invite customers to leave reviews and implement them in their marketing strategy.
Written by shortlister editorial team
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