NEW YORK—Online reviews help us decide where/what to eat, what to watch, what to buy and what to sell. They have become an integral part of who we are as consumers and business owners. They have a huge impact on how well businesses do or don’t do.
They have become the go-to way to make decisions about places we have never been and with the seemingly endless amount of options we have as consumers nowadays, they are one of the only ways to narrow down our choices as consumers. The infographic below shows how consumers read and use online review sites in numbers.
Facts: 68 percent of Millennials trust online reviews most, as opposed to 34 percent who trust television advertisements and on average they produce an uprise of 18 percent in sales. In addition, 90 percent of consumers read less than 10 reviews before forming an opinion about a business which means these decisions are being made quickly, without much hesitation.
Impact of Reviews: Online reviews have a huge impact on both businesses and consumers. The impact can be positive or negative. For example, for every star a business gets in their rating, their sales revenue will increase from approximately 5 percent to 9 percent. At the same time, 22 percent of consumers will not purchase a product after reading just one negative review about it.
Fake Reviews: A common misconception about online reviews is that they are all genuine reviews. This is simply not the case. Only 27 percent of consumers will trust an online review if they think it is authentic even though a whopping 30 percent of online reviews may be fake.
Travel, Health, Restaurants & Jobs: User reviews are used widely by travelers and 59 percent of consumers say that review sites have the most influence on their booking decisions. Another industry where online reviews are extremely present is the health industry. A whopping 84 percent of patients say that they use online reviews to evaluate doctors.
In addition, restaurants are another industry where online reviews are highly prominent. 61 percent of consumers have read online reviews about restaurants. This is more than any other business. Lastly, when people are searching for a job, it has been found that 83 percent of these job seekers are likely to base their decision on where to apply on company reviews and 76 percent of professionals claim to research a company online before considering a job opportunity.
Best Online Review Sites by Industry: There are tons of online review sites in the internet world but they are not all created equal. The best online review site is also different depending on what is being reviewed. For jobs, Glassdoor is in the top spot. For tech, CNET Radio is best. For hotels and motels, Trip Advisor is a good bet. For movies, IMDb. For restaurants, Yelp is number one. For health, Zocdoc comes in first.
Influence of Social Media on Online Reviews: It has become quite apparent that social media has a huge influence on consumers nowadays. In fact, 55 percent of consumers use Facebook as a place to learn more about brands and when retailers replied to negative reviews on social media and online ratings sites, a third of customers either deleted their original negative review or even replaced it with a positive review.
