Consumer Demand for Ratings and Reviews

* 74% agree – including 14% who strongly agree – that they choose companies and brands based on what others say online about their customer service experiences, the survey shows. (Society for New Communications Research, May 2008)
* 77% of online shoppers use reviews and ratings when purchasing. (Jupiter Research, August 2006)
* 58.7% of shoppers said they used product reviews to make decisions. Reviews rated higher than clearance sale pages (56.4%) and featured sale pages (51.3%). (Shop.org, November 2007)
* Compared to a base group that didn’t read or contribute product reviews at all, people who read a review were 30% more likely to purchase a product and visitors who wrote a review were 80% more likely to convert, based on analysis across several Coremetrics clients. (Coremetrics, reported in BtoB, March 2007)
* In an online survey of 4,000 consumers, 70% said they had done internet research on “everyday grocery products,” and 63% said they had done so for health and beauty products. (Prospectiv, 2007)
* Among the 46% of respondents who had posted or planned to post reviews about their online shopping experience, 88% said those reviews either were, or would be positive. (Nielson, 2007)
* Almost two-thirds (62%) of consumers read consumer-written product reviews on the Internet. (Deloitte & Touche)
* Seven in 10 (69%) consumers who read reviews share them with friends, family or colleagues, thus amplifying their impact. (Deloitte & Touche)
* More than eight in 10 (82%) of those who read reviews said that their purchasing decisions have been directly influenced by those reviews. (Deloitte & Touche)
* 55% of surveyed Internet users consulted other people’s opinions online, making reviews the #1 resource for product research. (Avenue A/Razorfish “Digital Consumer Behavior Study,” October 2007)
* In a study of 2,000 shoppers, 92% deemed customer reviews as “extremely” or “very” helpful. (eTailing Group)
* 59% of their users considered customer reviews to be more valuable than expert reviews. (Bizrate)
* 63% of consumers indicate they are more likely to purchase from a site if it has product ratings and reviews. (Major consumer electronics retailer/iPerceptions study)
* 81% consider the availability of customer reviews to be “very important” (33%)”somewhat important” (48%). (Major consumer electronics retailer/iPerceptions study)
* 86.9% of respondents said they would trust a friend’s recommendation over a review by a critic, while 83.8% said they would trust user reviews over a critic. (MarketingSherpa)
* When asked to note their most trusted information source, 60% of Canadian online buyers said consumer reviews compared to 31% who said newspapers or magazines. (J.C. Williams Group)
* 84% of consumers earning more than $150,000 annually visit sites where customers review and rate products and services including restaurants. (The Luxury Institute)
* 71% of UK online shoppers seek out ratings and reviews. (NetExtract, 2007)
* 39% of those who bought from sites with reviews cite the reviews as the primary factor influencing the purchase decision. (Foresee Results Study, 2006)
* 70% of online consumers said they use the Internet to research everyday grocery products. (Prospectiv, 2008)
* 67% of UK consumers research products via the Internet before shopping in a store. (Accenture, 2008)

http://americanreputation.com & http://myamericanreputation.com

Cheers,
The AmericanReputation Team – 2008-2009