Over 98% of people read online reviews, which play a crucial role in shaping how your business or product is perceived.
Whether you are running an online store or a local shop, reviews are key to building and maintaining your brand image. Since more than 49% of consumers trust online reviews when making a purchase, having a positive online reputation is essential.
This article covers the latest facts and figures about online reviews and their impact on consumers and their purchasing decisions.
Online Review Statistics 2025 (Top Picks)
- 95% of customers read online reviews before making a purchase.
- Almost 49% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations.
- 93% of consumers report that online reviews influence their purchasing decisions.
- 62% of consumers avoid brands involved in review censorship.
- Fake reviews are considered a major issue by 67% of consumers.
- 41.7% of shoppers prefer third-party review sites.
Online Reputation Statistics
If you want to run a business in 2025, having an excellent online presence is critical.
With 72% of consumers claiming that positive reviews make them trust a local business more, online reviews are most effective in building an excellent online reputation.
Around 95% Of Consumers Check Online Reviews Before Buying
83% of consumers believe reviews only hold value if they’re recent and relevant. Plus, 67% won’t trust a high rating unless a good number of reviews backs it.
The pandemic also had an impact, with 31% of shoppers reading more reviews, showing just how much they rely on them when making choices. Even though 57% of U.S. shoppers say online reviews help guide their decisions, for them to really matter, they need to meet certain standards—like being objective, relevant, and up-to-date.
93% Of Customers Read Online Reviews While Buying A Product
With more than 84% of millennials not trusting traditional advertising, a study found that 9 out of 10 people read online reviews before purchasing a product online.
People also feel more comfortable if the product they wish to buy has reviews with images from legitimate consumers.
Source: Global Newswire
More Than 49% Of Consumers Trust Online Reviews
Online reviews play an essential role in the sales cycle and brand establishments since more than 9 in 10 buyers tend to make buying decisions based on an online review.
A local consumer survey revealed that 49% of consumers trust online reviews just as much as personal recommendations.
37% of consumers tend to trust consumer reviews as much as suggestions from social media influencers.
Source: BrightLocal
62% Of Consumers Do Not Support Brands That Practice Review Censorship
Due to the impact of online reviews, it is typical for brands and businesses to hide the bad side of their services.
Customers today expect total transparency and originality from the businesses that they buy from.
More than 62% of the consumers reported that they do not support brands that hide online reviews of their products.
Source: Trustpilot
60% Of Consumers Believe That The Number Of Reviews Matters A Lot
Regarding online reviews for business and sales development, the more reviews, the better.
60% of consumers trust businesses with a significant number of reviews. However, this number has dropped since 2020.
A higher number of reviews is considered to validate a business’s legitimacy, and trust is built among consumers to buy from the business.
Source: BrightLocal
Roughly 75% Of Consumers Leave An Online Review For Local Businesses To Help Them Improve
Online reviewing is a closely knit web where consumers help consumers and businesses altogether.
A survey reported that nearly 75% of the consumers left an online review for some local businesses to help them improve.
Only 34% say they submit online reviews for satisfactory encounters, while only 7% do so for negative ones.
Source: BrightLocal
Around 41.7% Of Shoppers Use Third-party Review Sites To Know About A Product
Due to the biased reviews on the selling or the official platform, it can be difficult to find a balanced review that solves buyers’ doubts.
A survey showed that 16.6% of shoppers totally trust third-party review sites like Yelp.
Around 41.7% reported somewhat trusting the third-party review sites.
In addition, 7.9% of consumers need to believe a reviewer before they place their trust in an online review.
Source: BizrateInsights
58% Of Consumers Are Ready To Pay More Or Travel Further To Visit Companies With Good Reviews
A study by Podium showed that more than 58% of consumers were happy to pay more money if they could buy a product with good reviews.
41% of Americans also believed that reviews are among the most important considerations when browsing for local businesses.
Source: Podium
More Than 50% Of Internet Users Post Online Reviews Every Month
With the rapid increase in internet users and eCommerce in the last decade, customers are actively participating in online reviewing more than ever.
A study concluded that more than half of all internet users have reported having posted an online review in the past 30 days.
Consumers aged 25-34 are the most likely to post an online review, with 53% of that age group posting an online review.
Source: GWI
Fake Review Statistics
Today, fake reviews are a major issue for shoppers and businesses, making it harder to know which feedback can truly be trusted.
In this section, we’ll explore the latest statistics on fake reviews, their impact on consumer behavior, and how they’re affecting businesses’ reputations and trust in online platforms.
67% Of Consumers Think Fake Reviews Are A Problem
With 92% of millennials identifying fake reviews now and then, it is mandatory to ensure the authenticity of the reviews.
A study showed that 67% of consumers are fed up with fake reviews.
72% of consumers believe fake product reviews are becoming a norm
Google reported the most, with 10.7% fake reviews, followed by Yelp and TripAdvisor, with 7.1% and 5.2 % fake reviews, respectively.
Source: AgilityPr
82% Of The Buyers Have Read A Fake Review In The Last Year
To exploit the benefit of online reviews, many fake reviews are posted daily by bot accounts or third-party review services.
A study found that around 82% or 4 in 5 consumers have read a fake review in the past year.
92% of people who noticed the fake reviews were between 18 and 34 years old.
Several people also reported that it’s nearly impossible to distinguish between an authentic and a fake review.
Source: Invesp
Google Review Statistics
A significant number of consumers turn to Google for reviews before making a purchase, highlighting the trust people place in the feedback they find there.
In this section, we will get into the latest statistics and insights on Google Reviews and explore how they influence user decisions.
Google Is Responsible For 73% Of All Online Reviews
Google, Yelp, TripAdvisor, and Facebook are the top platforms, with 88% of the total online reviews that consumers trust.
Google houses 73% of all reviews, while Yelp accounts for 6%.
TripAdvisor and Facebook account for 3% of the online reviews.
Source: Review Tracker
Google Is Used By 81% Of Consumers To Check Out Local Businesses
Since most of the online reviews are posted on Google, consumers from every niche log on to Google to read reviews.
With over a billion users per month, Google Maps has the most significant number of reviews, with reviews for various places, businesses, hotels, and localities.
A survey revealed that more than 81% of consumers read reviews specifically on Google.
53% of consumers reported reading Yelp reviews helped them.
Source: BrightLocal
Customer Review Statistics
40% Of The Travelers Found Tripadvisor’s Long-form Reviews Helpful
TripAdvisor is an online review site that focuses mainly on travel reviews, and it accumulated over 2 billion reviews in February 2022.
A report from TripAdvisor indicated that travelers found descriptive long-form reviews more helpful in finding a desired accommodation.
The most reviewed restaurant on TripAdvisor ever was Pastéis de Belém in Lisbon, Portugal, with over 52,600 reviews.
43% of users rated Tripadvisor as the most reliable platform for consistent feedback
TripAdvisor reviews are 3x longer than the reviews on other travel review sites. The average online hotel review on the platform is 688 characters or about 90-160 words long.
Source: TripAdvisor
The Average American Consumer Reads 10 Reviews Before Trusting A Business
It has become a norm to check online reviews of an enterprise before conducting any kind of business with it.
A Statista study suggested that an average American reads around 10 online reviews before they trust a business. Another 31% of consumers tend to read more than 10 reviews.
Source: Statista
54.7% Of Consumers Read At Least Four Product Reviews Before Purchasing A Product
Due to the availability of hundreds of online reviews, a consumer is unsatisfied by reading one review.
According to a survey, more than half, over 54.7% of consumers read at least 4 product reviews before making a purchase.
The remaining 44% reported that they read 3 or fewer reviews.
Source: BizrateInsights
55% Of Amazon Sellers Reported Receiving Less Than 100 Reviews Per Month
Due to the large seller base and product categories, Amazon’s sales highly rely on online product reviews.
A survey conducted by eComEngine on more than 200 Amazon sellers concluded that 55% of sellers received less than 100 reviews per month.
45% of the sellers surveyed received fewer than 30 reviews each month.
84% of the sellers felt that reviews are extremely critical to their Amazon business.
Source: eComEngine
The Word Count Of Online Reviews Has Dropped By 65% In The Last Decade
In order to provide brief descriptions and information about products, the reviews used to be longer in length.
In 2010, a typical review comprised more than 600 words.
However, currently, the reviews are stitched around 200 words or less.
Though the reviews are becoming shorter, the number of reviews is increasing exponentially.
Source: BrightLocal
86% Of Employees And Job Seekers Research Company Reviews Before Applying
Company reviews are not only helpful for other businesses but also for employees or job seekers.
A study by GlassDoor reported that 86% of job seekers and employees research company reviews to get an idea about the company before applying.
The research also reported that 86% of women and 67% of men in the United States will not join a company with bad reviews.
Source: GlassDoor
75% Of Businesses Don’t Address The Negative Reviews
A big mistake many businesses make is not responding to negative reviews and losing valuable customers.
Around 75% of businesses are known to ignore negative reviews and lose customers forever.
On the other hand, businesses that respond to at least 25% of their reviews make 35% more in earnings.
Source: Keeping
93% Of Facebook Users Don’t Trust Reviews On The Platform
With over 3 billion users, Facebook is the biggest social media in the world and has its own marketplace.
However, 93% of Facebook users reported that there is a large number of fake reviews on the platform, and the trust in reviews on Facebook is nearly obsolete.
The remaining 7% of Facebook users believed there was nothing wrong with the reviews on the platform.
In recent years, Google, Yelp, and Amazon reviews also showed a low trust factor.
Source: BrightLocal
Other Significant Statistics
- 82% of consumers research products online before visiting a store to make a purchase.
- 53% of merchants and brands report that online reviews positively impact sales.
- Only 2% of consumers have never read an online review.
- Customers generally accept a minimum rating of 3.3 stars.
- Yelp receives approximately 26,830 new reviews per minute.
- 43% of consumers prefer items with more than 100 reviews.
- 53% of consumers expect a prompt response to negative reviews.
- 52% of travelers avoid booking hotels without any reviews.
- 7 in 10 consumers use rating filters when searching for goods or businesses.
Conclusion: 95% Of Customers Check Reviews Before Buying A Product
Online reviews now play a major role in shaping consumer choices and influencing buying decisions. With 95% of customers reading reviews before making a purchase and 93% saying reviews impact their decisions, it’s clear that feedback from others is a key factor in the process.
As more consumers turn to third-party sites, with 41.7% preferring them for reliable feedback, businesses must prioritize maintaining a strong and trustworthy online presence. Reviews have the power to either build or harm a brand’s reputation, making it essential for companies to actively manage and respond to feedback to stay competitive in today’s market.
