20 Online Review Stats to Know in 2019 (2024)

93% of customers read online reviews before buying a product. Find out how to use online reviews to connect with your customers, improve your brand image and encourage positive buying recommendations.

Your customers are talking online

Like it or not, in the confusing and busy world of online shopping, people want reassurance before committing to a purchase. Your potential customers are turning to online review sites to learn all they can about your service or product. Sites like Yelp, Google Maps and TripAdvisor allow customers to give advice, or to read past customer experiences directly from the source.

How powerful is this route to market is on customer buying decisions? The answer is very. 91% of 18-34 year olds trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations, and 93% of consumers say that online reviews influenced their purchase decisions.

Why do customers leave online reviews?

Online reviews give power to the customers to tell their side of the buying story. This provides social proof to other potential customers.

Social proof is the level of credibility that the public provides to a service or product. The more people that use, or enjoy a product, the more likely others are to follow. Positive public endorsem*nt of a brand by a celebrity can provide high social proof, which can directly impact sales. Likewise, a negative review can drive customers away.

There’s also evidence to suggest that online reviews are the primary way to choose where to shop locally. Nearly all consumers (97%) now use online media when researching products or services in their local area.

The value of positive reviews

Positive reviews remain a key way for companies to sell their product, with customers willing to spend 31% more on a business with excellent reviews. But there are other benefits too:

  • Increased consumer trust - As you’ll know, trust is hard to gain and easy to lose following a bad experience. 92% of B2B buyers are more likely to purchase after reading a trusted review.
  • Having a direct line to customers - Hearing feedback from customers will give you insights to help you improve the customer experience. You’ll soon be able to draw up a picture of the entire customer journey, and find out areas you perform well and others that need improving. With most review sites, you can also respond back to the customer and start a dialogue to find out more, and close the loop to ensure their issues are resolved.
  • Appearing higher in search engine rankings - Online customer reviews gain more weighting (6.47%) in organic local searches. What customers say in their reviews also mattered - ‘Negative Sentiment in Google Reviews’ is a negative ranking factor.

The cost of negative reviews

On the contrary, negative online reviews have a devastating effect on your brand.

In fact, businesses risk losing as many as 22% of customers when just one negative article is found by users considering buying their product. If three negative articles pop up in a search query, the potential for lost customers increases to 59.2%.

If you have a star-rating for your company, negative change to this can have serious consequences. A loss of a half-star rating means a restaurant is 19% less likely to have full seats during peak dining times (UC Berkeley). Likewise, a one-star decrease in a Yelp rating could lead to a 5-9% decrease in revenue (Harvard Business School).

Which review platforms do customers use?

General review sites

Social review sites

  • Placing a review on Facebook company pages
  • Reviewing a company by video on YouTube

Industry-specific review sites

Be aware of the danger of fake reviews

Fake online reviews are dangerous as they don’t help you or the customer get what you’re after.

Malicious fake reviews impact the credibility of your brand by reporting bad service where there is none. To real potential customers, this can be enough to turn them off a sale.

If customers can spot one fake review, it calls into question the trustworthiness of all the other genuine reviews.

You can spot fake reviews by a few tell-tale signs.

  • If the reviewer does not provide profile information, or has inconsistent reviewing methods (lots of reviews or none at all), you could be dealing with a computerized spam persona.
  • This is more likely if they have included links to third-party websites or products, in an attempt to draw away customers to competitors or unprotected sites.
  • The review messages will be repeated as new reviews for other companies. The messages may be non-specific, created in a different language or misleading.

You can report these reviewers to the platform administrators, so they can remove the review as soon as possible.

5 ways to use online reviews to your advantage

What can you do to help promote positive reviews and work with your customers?

1. Ask for online reviews from your customers

If you’re not already working to improve your online reviews, you can start now by educating your customers on the importance of leaving reviews - and encouraging them to do so, optimizing your listings on each platform, and providing excellent customer service.

Instead of waiting for customers to volunteer a review, you can ask customers if they would like to leave one on a site of your choosing - one study found that 68% of customers will leave a review if they’re asked.

This could happen automatically at the point of purchase, through a personalized email campaign or a satisfaction survey. This way, you can direct the reviews to an online review platform that suits you and allows for direct communication to customers.

Don’t solicit good reviews in exchange for money on ethical grounds. If you’re found out, it can damage your credibility and consumer trust.

2. Respond to online reviews from your customers

Periodically check review sites to check if there have been any reviews recently, and make sure you respond back to each one. If a customer is taking the time to write a review - positive or negative - you can't ignore it.

Be careful about how you respond to the customer. Check that your message and tone is on-brand. It’s true that 89% of consumers read businesses' responses to reviews, so they will be watching how you react.

Thank the customer for their view, and where there are negative comments, offer to take this case off-line to investigate further. This shows you’re proactive about giving good customer service and that you take their views - and experience - seriously.

3. Be transparent about your online reviews

Show you’re a transparent, customer-focused company that cares about what their customers say by sharing your online reviews.

Some companies put their Trust Pilot ratings on their websites, using HTML widgets, and others create a testimonials page. Whatever your way, complement your sales with real reviews.

If you want more online reviews, make it easy for customers to do so by giving them direct access to these review sites. This way you can learn from their feedback.

From a consumer’s viewpoint, a company that offers online review opportunities is a company that is confident in providing high-quality products and great customer service.

4. Share online reviews in your communications

Use the positive reviews you have in your company communications. Try the following:

  • Promote reviews that mention a product by name, so you can link this to the product’s homepage. When new customers see the review, they can click on the link to learn more, and this will help to endorse the product naturally. A company can say a product is good, but it means more coming from fellow customers.
  • Use the reviews in your recruitment material. Harvard Business Review found that a bad reputation costs a company at least 10% more per hire.
  • Share customer success stories internally where you have closed the loop and turned a bad experience into a good one. This will help to humanize the brand and show employees the value of taking action on poor experiences.
  • You can also help resolve the need for reassurance by increasing the visible reviews for customers at the point of purchase. For example, where the cost of a product is great, like in IT software sales, people will use more reviews to feel comfortable before investing in the purchase (64% of software buyers want to read at least 6 reviews before purchasing)

5. Have a physical shop presence if possible

Consider this: According to Google/Nielson, 93% of people who use mobile to research go on to complete a purchase of a product or service. Does your brand have a physical shop presence?

If you’re unable to get shop space, you can use your online shop or sales process to mimic the person-to-person experience. You can ask for a review once an order has been placed.

Alternatively, get third-party endorsem*nt to sell your product in the real world. 49% of consumers depend on influencer reviews and recommendations, so find someone that reflects your brand and can connect with your target audience.

20 Online Review Stats to Know in 2019 (2024)

FAQs

How many online reviews is good? ›

Even just one review is great, but the more the merrier. Businesses who have 200 or more reviews have twice as much revenue compared to others. Average local business has 39 Google reviews. Hotels have an average of 309 reviews.

What percentage of reviews should you respond to? ›

Increasing your response rate is something you can do immediately to improve your online reputation score. Strive to respond to 100% of negative reviews and at least 20% response of positive reviews. Over time, set goals for maintaining these rates consistently and improving upon them.

What percentage of people leave reviews online? ›

About 5%–10% of consumers write reviews, influencing around $400 billion of the total e-commerce sales revenue. 84% of people trust online reviews as much as they trust recommendations from friends. 82% of shoppers specifically seek negative reviews.

What is a good review score? ›

A study by the Spiegel Research Center determined that ratings of 4.2 - 4.5 are the most trusted. This is a great goal to aim for, and realistic as well. Mistakes happen in every business in every industry. It's a waste of time to stress over a single negative review or an unattainable perfect rating.

How many Google reviews is enough? ›

For new businesses, a minimum of five reviews that are mostly positive can be enough to help your business engage more customers. Fewer than five, or no reviews at all, is not going to be as effective - if at all.

Do the number of reviews matter? ›

First things first: review quantity does indeed matter to shoppers. Our research found that 99% of consumers pay attention to the number of reviews available for a product, at least to some extent. So, how many reviews do shoppers want? In an ideal world, 43% indicate a given product should have more than 100 reviews.

How many 5 star reviews do I need to negate a 1 star review? ›

Assuming that only one of every 10 happy customers leaves a positive five-star review, and knowing that it takes four five-star reviews to make up for each one-star review, you can figure it takes 40 positive customer experiences to make up for a single bad review.

Should I reply to 5 star reviews? ›

A 5-star rating is always a good thing, even if it's unaccompanied by an actual review. Replying to 5-star reviews shows that you care. Samples of how to reply to customer positive feedback: “Thanks for sharing your rating with us and the community.”

How much do customer reviews matter? ›

Reviews give your business credibility

They had an experience, good or bad, and want to share it. And guess what? People are going to listen. In fact, studies show that close to 90% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations.

What percentage of customers read online reviews? ›

Surveys show that 95% of consumers read online reviews before they shop and 58% say they would pay more for the products of a brand with good reviews.

How many people actually leave a review? ›

Around 81% of consumers say they've left a business review around four times a year or less. Only around 20% of customers say they've never left a business review. However, the vast majority of consumers are more likely to read reviews than leave them.

How effective are customer reviews? ›

Online reviews are important because they help showcase your company's reputation, they increase sales and improve search rankings for your website. And get this—did you know that reviews influence 90% of potential customers better than a sales pitch?

How do you score a rating scale? ›

The easiest way to calculate a rating scale is to simply add up the total score. To do this, start by adding a Calculation field to your form, and make sure that it's set to internal view only. And that's it!

How is review rating calculated? ›

The process of calculating an average numeric rating is to get the total of all section ratings. Then, this total is divided by the number of sections in the performance document. So, if there were four sections in the document, the calculator would divide the total number of numeric ratings by four.

How do I get 100% Google reviews? ›

The proof is in the data!
  1. 10 Ways to Get More Google Reviews. ...
  2. Ask Customers Directly for Feedback. ...
  3. Send a Follow-Up Email. ...
  4. Leave Behind a Leave-Behind. ...
  5. Add a Review Link to Your Website to Get More Google Reviews. ...
  6. Follow-Up Your Customers Multiple Times. ...
  7. Keep Your Cool When You Get a Bad Review.
15 Mar 2019

What happens if you get too many Google reviews at once? ›

Does Google Remove Reviews? Yes, Google does sometimes remove reviews, though it's not very often. Unlike Yelp, Google quickly realized that removing too many reviews might alienate their users and discourage them from posting new reviews.

How many 5 star Google reviews do I need? ›

Your goal should be to get to a 5 star overall score as fast as possible. To do that, you'll need 25 more 5-star reviews. And when google updates your review score you will have 5 stars.

Do 1 star reviews matter? ›

Several one-star ratings are tanking your overall average, hindering your brand image, and damaging your rankings. With Google's changing algorithm, having negative reviews can only cause more problems.

How many Google reviews make a difference? ›

Consumers research and read reviews before making purchase decisions. In fact, they read a minimum of 10 reviews before feeling confident in making a decision. The more Google customer reviews you have, the more likely a purchase is to be made. Google rewards businesses that have frequent and positive reviews.

Why does the number of reviews matter? ›

Search engines generally notice when customers are talking about your business a lot. That's why the number of reviews is an indication of your business's credibility and reputation.

Can you remove a 1 star review on Google? ›

To ask Google to remove or delete an inappropriate review from your Business Profile, report the review. Google can remove reviews that violate Google's policies.

Can a negative review be removed? ›

File a Legal Removal Request for the Bad Review of Your Business. There's one final option that exists to remove negative Google reviews of your company, but it will only apply to a limited number of cases. Google allows individuals to formally request that content be removed if it's illegal.

How many flags does it take to remove a review? ›

It only takes 1 flag to remove a Google review as long as you give Google enough evidence that the review violates Google's policies. Google removes reviews based on whether they violate policy, not based on the number of times a review gets flagged as inappropriate.

How many stars is a good review? ›

This is why the most beneficial rating range falls somewhere between 4.2 and 4.5 stars. It's that golden area where reviews are still overwhelmingly positive, but investigative customers wary of their spending will still be able to find negative opinions to prove the trustworthiness of the seller.

What does a 1-star review mean? ›

What does a 1-star review mean? A 1-star review means your customer rated their likelihood to recommend your product a 1 or 2 out of 10. This isn't a run-of-the-mill, things-could-be-better situation. They've had a passionately bad experience. 1-star reviews are emotional.

Is 3 star a good review? ›

A THREE STAR REVIEW IS A POSITIVE REVIEW

I've noticed that many people and readers (including some in the publishing industry) consider three stars to be a negative review. I actually don't see three star reviews that way. I consider a three star review to be more of a positive-neutral review.

How much do people trust online reviews? ›

16.6% of shoppers wholeheartedly trust third-party review sites – like Yelp – for product reviews, while 41.7% of shoppers somewhat trust third-party sites more. 7.9% of consumers need to believe a reviewer “actually uses and likes the product” before they place their trust in that online review.

What is a good sales to review ratio? ›

That means out of every 100 sales, you should expect 1-2 reviews. You should be able to aim for a 5% review rate, or one review every 20 sales.

How many reviews is good for a product? ›

Products are 270% more likely to sell with as few as five reviews—however, one study found that shoppers want to see at least 40 reviews to justify an average star rating. So, while you don't need a review from every single customer, the more you can secure, the better.

What are the statistics of social media? ›

Summary: Social Media Statistics

There are currently 4.59 billion social media users worldwide. Facebook is the most popular social media platform. Among US adults, 84% of those aged 18–29, 81% of those aged 30–49, 73% of those aged 60–64, and 45% of those aged 65 and above are active social media users.

What percentage of users read online reviews before making a purchase decision? ›

12. As many as 89% of global customers read reviews before making a purchase. Customers like to make an effort and read a few online ratings and reviews before deciding whether or not they will spend their money on the item they're eyeing.

Can I delete a review I left? ›

Edit a review from your browser:

In the left-hand menu, scroll down until you find the relevant review. Click on the “More” icon (three horizontal dots) From there, you can select “Edit” or “Delete”

Can you delete a review you made? ›

Google reviews aren't forever — you can delete any review you've written. Deleting a Google review you wrote is quite simple, you just have to know where to start. For those who own a business and are dealing with a false or spammy review, you can flag it to Google for removal.

Is it illegal to leave fake good reviews? ›

Is It Illegal to Write a Fake Review? Fake reviews are a violation of the terms of service of all business review sites. This means that any attempt to manipulate your brand reputation — or harm that of your competitors — through fake reviews can result in legal action against you.

What are the seven most effective customer feedback methods? ›

Here are 7 effective (and some outside-the-box) ways to collect customer feedback using your business's social channels.
  • Post a link to a survey on social sites and blogs. ...
  • A Facebook post autoresponder. ...
  • A direct message ask for feedback. ...
  • Social media contests. ...
  • Instagram stories. ...
  • Social monitoring.
21 Nov 2019

How do reviews influence consumers? ›

Customers are more likely to purchase from a website that has customer reviews than a website that doesn't. Displaying reviews on your website gives potential customers more confidence in their purchasing decisions and reduces doubts, leading to a higher conversion rate.

Why are reviews so powerful? ›

Positive reviews reassure potential customers that they can trust your brand, your products, or your services. The data backs this up. Up to 84% of consumers noted that reviews were important in their purchasing decisions.

What are the 5 rating scale? ›

ScaleRating
5 points (Pass)Excellent. Exceptional Mastery. Much more than acceptable.
4 points (Pass)Very Good. Full Performance Behaviours. Above average.
3 points (Pass)Good. Acceptable. Satisfactory Average
2 points (Fail)Weak. Less than Acceptable
1 more row

What are the 5 performance ratings? ›

This is more often than not a 5 point rating scale (5– Outstanding, 4– Exceeds Expectations, 3- Meets Expectations, 2- Needs Improvement, 1- Unacceptable).

What is a 5 point rating scale examples? ›

The 5-point Likert scale contains 5 response options that will consist of two extreme sides and a neutral option linked to the middle answer options. Examples of a 5-point rating scale for measuring satisfaction are: Very Satisfied, Satisfied, Neutral, Dissatisfied, and Very Dissatisfied.

How do you judge online reviews? ›

Here are a few tips for better assessing online reviews.
...
How Can I Tell If An Online Review Is Valid?
  1. A Company Should Have Good And Bad Reviews. ...
  2. Reviews Show Up For A Wide Variety Of Time. ...
  3. Reviews Should Have A Wide Variety Of Comments. ...
  4. Reviewers Should Have Posted More Than One Review. ...
  5. Companies That Care Usually Respond.
18 Sept 2019

What are the 5 ways you can evaluate sources? ›

Common evaluation criteria include: purpose and intended audience, authority and credibility, accuracy and reliability, currency and timeliness, and objectivity or bias.

What are 3 ways to evaluate information? ›

For this reason, it is especially important to evaluate information on the Internet.
  • Accuracy: The reliability, truthfulness, and correctness of the content. ...
  • Authority: The source of the information. ...
  • Relevance: The importance of the information for your needs. ...
  • Currency: The timeliness of the information.

What is a 3 point rating scale? ›

3 Point Rating Scale

This simple scale captures the 3 levels of not meeting expectations, meeting expectations and exceeding expectations. Simple is not necessarily a bad thing as you will achieve high levels of consistency across your performance rating data.

Are 5 star reviews good? ›

As for the reviews themselves, 80 percent of customers said they found four- and five-star ratings to be most trustworthy. That's a major win for any business that's managed to obtain a stellar online reputation.

What is a good number of reviews on Amazon? ›

The average review rate on Amazon is 1-2%. That means out of every 100 sales, you should expect 1-2 reviews. You should be able to aim for a 5% review rate, or one review every 20 sales. This is actually easier than you think, since most Amazon sellers do not have a strategy for getting reviews.

How many reviews does it take to achieve a meaningful average rating? ›

"Around 20 [and running up to 50] is the optimal number of reviews for a product to have to give consumers the confidence that this product has been tried enough by enough people," he told MarketWatch. He has also found that customers who read reviews often click the bad ones first.

How do you rank higher on Google reviews? ›

How to improve your local ranking on Google
  1. Enter complete data. Local results favor the most relevant results for each search. ...
  2. Verify your locations. ...
  3. Keep your hours accurate. ...
  4. Manage & respond to reviews. ...
  5. Add photos. ...
  6. Add in-store products. ...
  7. Relevance. ...
  8. Distance.

How many 5 star reviews do I need to overcome a 1 star? ›

Your company or product rating (typically out of five stars) reflects an overall average of good and bad reviews. So if your goal is to maintain an overall rating of four stars, you'll need four five-star reviews to make up for every one-star review.

What is a 1 star review? ›

Getting the obvious out of the way, a 1-star review is the worst kind of review you can receive from a customer. It highlights that someone endured the worst possible service known to man, rude staff, a poor product/outcome, and would not recommend the business to their worst enemy.

Is 4.5 A good rating? ›

A 4.5-Star Rating is Just Right. According to online reviews statistics, 70% of people use rating filters when searching for businesses. The most common filter applied is to see only companies with 4-star ratings and higher.

How do I rank on Amazon? ›

Submit a Review
  1. Go to the product detail page for the item. If you've placed an order for the item, you can also go to Your Orders.
  2. Click Write a customer review in the Customer Reviews section.
  3. Select a Star Rating. ...
  4. (Optional) Add text, photos, or videos and click Submit.

How do I increase my review rating on Amazon? ›

How to get reviews on Amazon in 2022
  1. Use Jungle Scout's Review Automation feature. ...
  2. Use Amazon's “Request a Review” button. ...
  3. Enroll your product in the Amazon Vine Program. ...
  4. Use third-party automated email responders. ...
  5. Create a contact list for emails. ...
  6. Utilize product inserts. ...
  7. Mitigate negative reviews.
28 Mar 2022

What does 16 plus rating mean? ›

Young Adults (16+): Recommended for older teenagers ages 16 and up. Equivalent to TV-14 (TV). Adults (18+): Recommended for adults ages 18 and up. Equivalent to R, NC-17, NR, and UR (MPA) and TV-MA (TV).

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