Negative online reviews have become the number one factor in consumers forming a bad opinion about a product or services. Data show that nine out of 10 consumers base purchase decisions on reviews and 80% of those buyers will change their purchasing decision based on negative evaluations. This is why having positive reviews for your business is so important to your success.
Here are a few stats for you about online usage:
92% of consumers now read online reviews: That is a lot of people reading a lot of reviews. Having positive reviews on your website can make customers feel positive about your business and your products.
63% of customers are more likely to make a purchase from a site which has user reviews: Whether your reviews are positive or negative, 63% of customers are purchasing from sites with reviews.
40% of consumers form an opinion by reading just one to three reviews: This is where one negative review can hurt your business. Making sure that you have positive reviews is important when only one to three reviews are being read by potential customers.
Star rating is the number one factor used by consumers to judge a business:
Only 14% of consumers would consider using a business with a one or two star rating. 57% of consumers would use a business with a three star rating.
94% of consumers would use a business with a four star rating. This just shows how important star rating can be to your consumer and the influence it is towards them making purchases.
Only 12% are prepared to read more than 10 reviews: If your lineup of reviews are not very positive then you have some work to do! Making sure that you have positive reviews in your top 10 is a must if only 12% of online researchers are reading past 10 reviews.
95% of consumers suspect censorship or faked reviews when they don’t see bad scores: This is a double edged sword in the world of online reviews. 86% of people will hesitate to purchase from a business that has negative online reviews
There will always be people that don’t like your product, or had a bad experience. Negative comments are NOT the end of the world, but it does show that your company is realistic and not censored.
Over half of young people aged 18 to 34 say they trust online reviews more than the opinions of friends and family: If this is your demographic that you are marketing to, then it shows how much your reviews can influence potential customers. With the younger generations online influences are a major factor when making decisions. Making sure that your reviews are positive has the potential to bring in consumers, or make them pass on your products.
Consumers who read reviews on a smartphone are 127% more likely to buy than those who read reviews on desktops: Making sure that your online presence is mobile friendly is a definite must. If a possible consumer goes to your website and can’t even view it from their mobile device, that’s a huge missed opportunity for a large number of possible customers.
Reviews produce an average of 18% uplift in sales: Over time that 18% uplift in sales can be very valuable to your business.
The three online platforms dedicated to reviews with the most global traffic are: Yelp, Tripadvisor and Foursquare: The number of reviews posted every minute by Yelp users is 26,380. That’s quite a large amount of reviews. As a business owner it might be hard and overwhelming to manage and read all the reviews that are coming into your business, especially if you are listed on more than one review website.
LOJO has a great Review Management service. They can help to recover unhappy customers early to prevent negative reviews, monitor customer reviews and turn positive reviews into automated SEO-friendly Web and social media content.
