Today, more and more consumers are turning to online reviews when making a purchase decision. Research shows that as much as 80% of buying decisions are based on a person’s perception of products they haven’t even seen. To get the most out of your online marketing strategy, you need to understand the power of these customer reviews. After all, they can make or break a brand. Let’s take a look at some key statistics and facts about online reviews so you can put them to use in your business planning.

The Importance of Online Reviews

Even if a vast majority of your potential customers use online reviews to make buying decisions, you won’t be able to get a good grasp of their satisfaction levels if you don’t have any data on the matter. You’ll have no idea if you’re doing something right, or if you need to make changes to your business.

While a single, positive review from a satisfied customer is great, you can also get a better picture of your business by looking at the number of reviews each product or company receives. 

Negative reviews are important, too — they can help you to identify product flaws so you are better able to fix them. But a high number of neutral or negative reviews can be a warning sign that you need to take a closer look at your business practices. If you see this happening to your brand, you should immediately address the issues the reviews are pointing to.

Statistics and Facts About Online Customer Reviews

Nearly 60% of Customers Turn to Google For Reviews

Google is the most popular website for consumers to leave online reviews, with 60% of consumers saying they turn to Google when looking for reviews of a product or service. Word of mouth and recommendations are still hugely important sources of information, however. More than half of consumers say they also trust printed reviews, peer recommendations, and firsthand experiences with friends and family.

31% Of People Read More Reviews During The Pandemic.

There’s no question that people are reading more reviews than they used to. The number of reviews is growing so quickly that it could take almost an entire decade for most people to read all the reviews that will be written in 2019. People tend to read reviews more during a crisis or a less-tolerated event, such as a product recall, a natural disaster, or a pandemic. 31% of consumers say they read more reviews during the pandemic. Women are also more likely than men to read reviews more often.

According To 83 Percent Of Customers, Reviews Must Be Relevant And Recent To Be Trusted.

Customers trust online reviews more than they trust printed reviews and reviews on any other social media platform. For a review to be relevant and recent, the person leaving the review must have used the product or had a good experience with the company. Otherwise, it will come across as less trustworthy. The average star rating consumers trust most is 3.5 stars, and they also prefer positive to negative reviews. 

When it comes to being relevant and recent, the review should be posted within 30 days of when the person received the product. A review that is more than 100 words long is also seen as more trustworthy, as are detailed reviews that include information such as pros, cons, and why the person left a review.

Better With More Reviews

While you can’t predict which reviews will be positive or negative, you can see a trend when it comes to the number of each. On average, nearly 46% of all reviews are negative, while about 53% are positive When it comes to the number of reviews a brand receives, the more positive ones in comparison to the number of negative ones, the higher the chance of a return customer. This is a fact that can’t be ignored when it comes to online marketing.

Most Likely To Convert

Reviews are likely to convert if they are between 2 and 5 stars. Anything higher than 5 stars is unlikely to convert.

Less Likely to Be From First-Time Customers

While most customers might visit your website once and leave a review, repeat visitors are much more likely to leave a positive review. The same is true for first-time customers. If they never purchased from your brand before, they are less likely to leave a review.

How Can You Use These Statistics?

If you want to boost your online presence and draw in more online leads, you need to focus on the reviews your customers are leaving. The best way to do this is by implementing an online review program. This allows you to publicly thank customers and incentivize them to leave even more reviews in the future. It also allows you to address any negative reviews and address complaints or issues they’re having. 

With more reviews, you have a better chance of improving your star rating and getting an average of 4 stars. In addition, more reviews also mean you’re more likely to rank higher on Google. Make sure your employees know what to do if a customer leaves a negative review, as it can hurt your business’s online presence. If you want to boost your online presence and draw in more online leads, you need to focus on the reviews your customers are leaving.

How To Get More Reviews

If you don’t have any reviews yet, you may be wondering how to get more reviews. In many ways, this process is similar to getting the first few reviews: you want to track them, respond promptly, and stay consistent. However, to get more reviews, you’ll also want to use the following tips.

Track your reviews

Make sure you track all reviews that come your way so that you can respond to each one and improve your business practices.

Respond promptly

Give your customers a reason to leave a review if you want them to. Let them know what you appreciate about their experience.

Stay relevant

Don’t stay stagnant in your business practices. When an area of your business becomes outdated or irrelevant due to technological advancements, it becomes an easy target for bad reviews. Look for opportunities to make your business more relevant, such as by incorporating new trends and technologies.

Brag about reviews

If you’re keeping track of them, you’ll have an even greater chance of responding to reviews and making improvements to your business. You can also brag about them to your customers and spread the word about how many reviews you’ve received. This may prompt someone who didn’t leave a review before to do so.

Make reviews easy to find

Make sure your business page is full of reviews, and you should make it as easy as possible for customers to leave one. This means you should have a clear process for how reviewers should leave reviews, and you should make sure they can do so easily.

Final Thoughts

Now you should be able to better understand how important reviews are to your online marketing strategy. To get the most out of this statistic, you need to know exactly how many of each kind you have. With that information in hand, you can better address any issues that are being reported about your product, and make adjustments as necessary.