As we live in the digital world, we depend more on online activities. Checking online reviews is one of them.
Before buying anything, visiting a business, or visiting a doctor, we all check online reviews before doing these activities.
Online reviews have become a source of people’s trustworthiness. Most people frequently trust online reviews.
With the customers, online reviews are essential for businesses too. For businesses Building customers’ trust in their brand is the main advantage of online reviews.
In this article, we will see all the crucial aspects of online review statistics, from how many people depend on online reviews to how negative/positive online reviews impact consumers. Without wasting time, let’s see it.
Online Review Statistics (Top Picks)
Online reviews have become increasingly important for businesses. Here are some statistics that showcase their impact on consumers and businesses.
- More than 90% of shoppers made their purchase decision after watching online reviews of that product.
- 97% of shoppers read online reviews to search for local businesses.
- 60% of customers in the United States pay attention to the number of reviews when reading online reviews about local businesses.
- 17% of online shoppers in the United States always read online reviews before purchasing a product.
- 19% of shoppers in the United States think that before purchasing a product, it is extremely important to read online reviews of the product.
- 22% of consumers expect to have 51 to 100 online reviews of a product before buying.
- On average disappointed consumer tells 9 to 15 people about their bad experience. Out of those people, 86% of people quit buying from that same business.
- 26.8% of customers say around 50 reviews are most likely to be legitimate regarding a business’s trustworthiness.
- 12% of shoppers always leave a review, while 23% leave half of the time, and 30% leave only sometimes.
- 42% of shoppers aged between 55 to 64 years old use online reviews for brand and product research.
- 38% of customers say they are not suspicious at all of the fake reviews when reading online reviews on Better Business Bureau.
- Positive online reviews can increase shoppers spending by 31%.
- 86% of shoppers will think twice before buying anything from a website that has negative online reviews.
- 72% of consumers like negative reviews because they think they help them to make the buying decision.
General Online Review Statistics
- More than 90% of shoppers made their purchase decision after watching online reviews of that product.
- Shoppers said they don’t buy a product with 3.3 or fewer ratings.
- 97% of shoppers read online reviews to search for local businesses.
Here is a table showing the role of online reviews in the activity of customers discovering new local businesses.
| Category | Share Of Respondents |
| Big Role | 21% |
| Moderate Role | 41% |
| Slight Role | 25% |
| No Role | 12% |
- 60% of customers in the United States pay attention to the number of reviews when reading online reviews about local businesses.
Here is a table showing customers in the United States pay attention to which things while reading online reviews about local businesses.
| Things To Pay Attention | Share Of Respondents |
| Overall average star ratings | 85% |
| The businesses have a higher than average star rating than other businesses | 76% |
| Recency | 73% |
| Number of Reviews | 60% |
| Frequency of new reviews | 50% |
| The businesses have more reviews than other businesses | 39% |
| How many different reviews sites the businesses has reviews on | 34% |
Source: FinanceOnline, truelist.co
How Many People Depend On Online Reviews?
Many people rely on online reviews, from booking online tickets for movies and dramas to visiting a restaurant. The influence of online reviews is increasing day by day.
Online reviews can change the decision of consumers. That is why it has become necessary for businesses to maintain their online presence well.
In this section, we will see the important statistics about how people are dependent on online reviews and how many people are getting influenced by online reviews.
- 17% of online shoppers in the United States always read online reviews before purchasing a product.
Here is a table showing when shoppers in the United States are looking for a new product, then how often they read online reviews.
| How Often Do Shoppers Read Online Reviews | Share Of Respondents |
| Always | 17% |
| Most of the time | 41% |
| About half of the time | 18% |
| Sometimes | 17% |
| Never | 7% |
- 19% of shoppers in the United States think that before purchasing a product, it is extremely important to read online reviews of the product.
Here a table shows, according to shoppers of the United States, how important it is to read online reviews before final purchase.
| How Important Is It To Read Online Reviews | Share Of Respondents |
| Extremely Important | 19% |
| Very Important | 38% |
| Moderately Important | 29% |
| Slightly Important | 11% |
| Not at all important | 2% |
- 19% of consumers always trust online reviews.
Here is a table showing the trust of consumers in Online Reviews.
| The Trust Of Consumers In Online Shopping | Share Of Respondents |
| Always | 19% |
| If the review is authentic, then I trust | 19% |
| I only trust some of the businesses, not others | 15% |
| If there are many reviews of customers, then I trust | 25% |
| I am always doubtful about online reviews | 16% |
| I do not trust online reviews at all | 6% |
- 40% of the consumer only care about online reviews, which are posted two weeks before.
- 49% of shoppers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations.
- An average of shoppers read about ten online reviews before trusting a product.
- Text reviews are the most famous form of online review, with 43%.
Here is a table showing the most famous form of online reviews.
| Form Of Online Reviews | Share Of Respondents |
| Text | 43% |
| Photo | 33% |
| Video | 24% |
- 22% of consumers expect to have 51 to 100 online reviews of a product before buying.
Here is a table showing consumer expectations regarding the review volume of a product.
| Number Of Reviews | Share Of Respondents |
| 1 to 25 | 18% |
| 26 to 50 | 17% |
| 51 to 100 | 22% |
| 101 to 500 | 20% |
| 501 to 1K | 11% |
| 1K to 5K | 9% |
| 5K to 10K | 2% |
| More than 10K | 1% |
Source: Statista, Finance Online, luisazhou.com, truelist.co, searchenginejournal.com.
How Many People Leave Reviews Online?
People always share their experiences and opinions online through online reviews. People’s online reviews help others while buying products or checking online reviews related to that product.
People share their reviews by themself, or sometimes businesses tell them to leave their reviews by email, SMS, etc.
In this section, we will see all the essential statistics related to how many people leave reviews, how they leave reviews, etc.
- Only 5% to 10% of shoppers actually write reviews.
- 80% of the total online reviews come from follow-up emails sent by businesses.
- 52% of internet users aged between 25 to 34 years old post reviews online globally.
Here is a table showing the percentage of internet users that post reviews online globally by age group.
| Age Group | Share Of Respondents |
| 16 to 24 years old | 47% |
| 25 to 34 years old | 52% |
| 35 to 44 years old | 45% |
| 45 to 54 years old | 34% |
| 55 to 64 years old | 28% |
- 12% of shoppers always leave a review, while 23% leave half of the time, and 30% leave only sometimes.
- 41% of customers say that email is the main way that they have been asked to leave online reviews.
| The Ways Via Then Customers Have Been Asked To Leave Online Reviews | Share Of Respondents |
| Via email | 41% |
| In-person/During the sale | 35% |
| When receiving a receipt or an invoice | 35% |
| SMS text | 27% |
Source: Statista, luisazhou.com, searchenginejournal.com,
Effectiveness Of Online Review Statistics
Online reviews affect people’s purchasing behaviour in positive and negative ways.
But it is important to notice here that online reviews have become a part of the decision-making process in our day-to-day life.
In this section, we will discuss some of the important statistics about the effectiveness of online reviews.
- One online review can increase the click rate to the ‘buy’ button by 65%.
- 88% of shoppers said reading online reviews every time while online shopping influences their purchasing decision.
- On average disappointed consumer tells 9 to 15 people about their bad experience. Out of those people, 86% of people quit buying from that same business.
- Displaying online reviews on your website can increase the conversion rate by 270%.
- Higher-price products with online reviews can increase the conversion rate by 190%.
- An average of 1 to 3 online reviews consumers read before buying products.
Here is a table showing the number of online reviews consumers read before buying something.
| The Number Of Online Reviews | Share Of Consumers |
| 0 | 8.7% |
| 1 to 3 | 36.4% |
| 4 to 6 | 31% |
| 7 to 8 | 9.1% |
| More than 10 | 14.6% |
- 26.8% of customers say around 50 reviews are most likely to be legitimate regarding a business’s trustworthiness.
Here is a table showing how many online reviews a business need to establish trustworthy ratings.
| The Number Of Online Reviews | Share Of Respondents |
| 1 to 10 | 22% |
| 11 to 50 | 26.80% |
| 51 to 100 | 18.90% |
| 101 to 500 | 14.10% |
| 501 to 1000 | 5% |
| Doesn’t matter | 12.90% |
Source: luisazhou.com, truelist.co.
E-commerce And Online Review Statistics
Online reviews in the e-commerce industry are very crucial for customers as well as for businesses. Customers make their buying decision by reading online reviews, and businesses maintain their online presence and gain the trust of consumers through online reviews.
Online reviews can influence the conversion rate of products. In this section, we will see all the important and interesting statistics about e-commerce and online reviews.
- 42% of shoppers aged between 55 to 64 years old use online reviews for brand and product research.
Here a table shows people who used online reviews for brand and product research by age.
| Age Group | Share Of Respondents |
| 16 to 24 years old | 31% |
| 25 to 34 years old | 36% |
| 35 to 44 years old | 37% |
| 45 to 54 years old | 40% |
| 55 to 64 years old | 42% |
- If the websites of consumer appliances and electronics display their ratings and reviews on their site, then the product’s conversion rate changes by 38%.
Here is a table showing the change in conversion rates of websites that display ratings and reviews by product category.
| Product Category | Change In Average Conversion Rate |
| Musical Instruments | 47.30% |
| Consumer appliances and electronics | 38% |
| Gifts and gadgets | 32% |
| Multicategory/Department store | 30.50% |
| Shoe | 28.50% |
| Accessories and Apparels | 23% |
| Beauty and Health | 19.20% |
| Furniture | 19% |
| Sporting Goods | 16.30% |
| Garden and Home | 16.30% |
| Music, DVDs, and Books | 16.20% |
| Manufacturing | 13.90% |
| Food And Beverage | 13.80% |
| Bags and Luggage | 13.30% |
| Toys, Games, and Videogames | 11.80% |
| Machinery and Tools | 8.70% |
| Education | 8.10% |
| Baby Products | 8.10% |
| Software, Computer, and Networking | 7.4% |
| Motor and Automotive sports | 5.8% |
| Consumer Packaged goods | 3.6% |
| Office Supplies | 1.9% |
- 70% of shoppers purchased a product of Electronics/Computer/Phones after reading online reviews.
Here a table shows shoppers purchasing a product after reading online reviews in the United States by type of product.
| Type Of Product | Share Of Respondents |
| Electronics/Computer/Phones | 70% |
| Home Appliances (Refrigerator, washer, etc.) | 57% |
| Restaurants | 54% |
| Trucks, SUVs, Cars, etc. | 50% |
| Home Furnishing (Towels, Mattress, Furniture) | 39% |
| Travel (Hotels, Airlines, etc.) | 39% |
| Clothing | 33% |
| Music/Books | 32% |
| Retailers | 30% |
| Entertainment | 26% |
| Toys/Games | 25% |
| Food or Wine | 24% |
| Other | 1% |
- 89% of shoppers said checking online reviews is part of their purchasing journey.
- 36% of all online reviews are informing about their purchase decision.
Source: Statista, luisazhou.com.
Online Review Platforms Statistics
There are many platforms where we can see online reviews. But there are many leading online review platforms, such as Google, Facebook, Yelp, TripAdvisor, Better Business Bureau, etc.
People are leaving millions of online reviews on these platforms. But the trustworthiness of people on these platforms varies.
In this section, we will see discuss the statistics of the number of reviews on platforms, which platform is trustworthy the most, etc.
- 88% of all online reviews are on just four sites.
- Google, Facebook, Yelp, and TripAdvisor make up 88% of all online reviews.
- Facebooks make up 3%, Yelp 6%, and TripAdvisor 3% of all online reviews.
Here is a table showing some of the online review platforms used to evaluate the local business in the last 12 months.
| Online Review Platform | Percentage Of Users To Evaluate The Local Business In The Last 12 Months. |
| 81% | |
| Yelp | 53% |
| 48% | |
| TripAdvisor | 36% |
| Better business bureau | 31% |
| Apple Maps | 13% |
| Healthgrades | 12% |
| Trustpilot | 7% |
| None of the above | 3% |
- 81% of buyers search on Google for local businesses.
- More than 53% of consumers used Yelp in 2021.
- Yelp had over 244 million reviews in 2021.
Here is a table showing the number of Online reviews on Yelp from 2009 to 2021.
| Year | The Number Of Online Reviews |
| 2009 | 8.83 million |
| 2010 | 15.12 million |
| 2011 | 24.82 million |
| 2012 | 36 million |
| 2013 | 52.76 million |
| 2014 | 71.23 million |
| 2015 | 95.21 million |
| 2016 | 121.02 million |
| 2017 | 148.3 million |
| 2018 | 177 million |
| 2019 | 205 million |
| 2020 | 224 million |
| 2021 | 244 million |
- 48% of consumers read online reviews in 2021.
- In 2022, TripAdvisor had more than 1 million reviews and ratings.
Here is a table showing the total number of TripAdvisor reviews and ratings from 2014 to 2022.
| Year | Number Of Reviews And Ratings |
| 2014 | 200 million |
| 2015 | 320 million |
| 2016 | 465 million |
| 2017 | 600 million |
| 2018 | 730 million |
| 2019 | 859 million |
| 2020 | 884 million |
| 2021 | More than 1,000 million* |
| 2022 | More than 1,000 million* |
*The sources mention that the number of reviews and ratings was more than 1 million
- The average online review about hotels on TripAdvisor has 688 words.
- Around 22% of travellers will post intrusive online hotel reviews.
Source: explodingtopics.com, Statista, websitebuilderexpert.com.
Fake Online Review Statistics
Fake online reviews are those reviews that are posted to mislead the reader about service, product, etc. These reviews can be posted by customers or by businesses.
Businesses that can not build customers’ trust post fake reviews about their services and products, etc.
In this section, we will discuss all the important statistics about fake online reviews.
- In 2021, over 2.7 million fake reviews were detected and removed.
- Out of these fake reviews, 46% were 5-star ratings.
Here is a table showing the total fake reviews that were detected and removed by star ratings.
| Star Ratings | Removed Reviews |
| 1 star | 29% |
| 2 stars | 8% |
| 3 stars | 8% |
| 4 stars | 8% |
| 5 stars | 46% |
- 10% of customers say they are not suspicious at all of the fake reviews when reading reviews on Google.
- 38% of customers say they are not suspicious at all of the fake reviews when reading online reviews on Better Business Bureau.
- 37% of customers said that they are very suspicious when reading online reviews on Facebook.
Here is a table showing how customers are suspicious of fake online reviews when reading reviews from some of the top online review platforms.
| Level Of Suspiciousness | Share Of Respondents |
| Very suspicious | 12% |
| Fairly Suspicious | 33% |
| A little suspicious | 45% |
| Not suspicious at all | 10% |
- Amazon
| Level Of Suspiciousness | Share Of Respondents |
| Very suspicious | 37% |
| Fairly Suspicious | 33% |
| A little suspicious | 23% |
| Not suspicious at all | 7% |
- Yelp
| Level Of Suspiciousness | Share Of Respondents |
| Very suspicious | 26% |
| Fairly Suspicious | 33% |
| A little suspicious | 30% |
| Not suspicious at all | 11% |
| Level Of Suspiciousness | Share Of Respondents |
| Very suspicious | 18% |
| Fairly Suspicious | 34% |
| A little suspicious | 36% |
| Not suspicious at all | 12% |
- Apple Maps
| Level Of Suspiciousness | Share Of Respondents |
| Very suspicious | 12% |
| Fairly Suspicious | 34% |
| A little suspicious | 37% |
| Not suspicious at all | 17% |
- TripAdvisor
| Level Of Suspiciousness | Share Of Respondents |
| Very suspicious | 12% |
| Fairly Suspicious | 30% |
| A little suspicious | 43% |
| Not suspicious at all | 15% |
- Better Business Bureau
| Level Of Suspiciousness | Share Of Respondents |
| Very suspicious | 12% |
| Fairly Suspicious | 17% |
| A little suspicious | 33% |
| Not suspicious at all | 38% |
Source: Statista, searchenginejournal.com.
Positive Online Reviews Statistics
Positive online reviews positively impact customers’ buying behaviour. If the customer gets a positive experience from the service or product, then they are leaving a positive review.
But businesses also can post positive reviews about their services and products to influence customers’ shopping behaviour.
In this section, we will see all the important statistics about positive online reviews.
- Positive online reviews can increase shoppers spending by 31%.
- 57% of consumers only trust businesses that have a rating of 4 stars or more than that.
- 48% of consumers can trust businesses having three starts.
- A 1-star increase in every product can boost revenue by 5% to 9% of that business.
- A single online review of a product on a website page can boost the conversion rate by 354%.
Source: luisazhou.com, Finance Online, truelist.co
Negative Online Review Statistics
Negative online reviews help customers make their buying decision more nicely.
If one customer experiences bad service or gets the wrong product, that customer leaves a negative review. That review can help other customers to make their buying decision.
In this section, we will see all the necessary statistics about the impact of negative online reviews on customers’ behaviour and many more.
- 86% of shoppers will think twice before buying anything from a website that has negative online reviews.
- One negative comment can cost businesses or websites up to 30 customers.
- 75% of all businesses do not respond to negative online reviews.
- 53% of consumers expect fast responses to negative online reviews.
- 33% of customers expect a response to negative online reviews in 3 days.
- 53% of consumers expect responses to negative online reviews within a week.
- 72% of consumers like negative reviews because they think they help them make the buying decision.
- Negative online reviews can drive away 40% of consumers.
- Consumers spend 4x more time on the same website if they see negative online reviews.
Source: explodingtopic.com, luisazhou.com.
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Conclusion: Online Review Statistics (2023)
Online reviews changed the way how customers buy products or services today. Almost every customer nowadays checks online reviews before buying anything.
Online reviews influence the E-commerce industry the most. Customers and businesses both are using online reviews for their benefit.
But some of the fake reviews from businesses and customers can mislead the reader. These fake reviews can lead customers to buy the wrong product and take bad service.
There are two types of reviews, positive and negative reviews. Both help people to make their buying decision.
These statistics are continuously changing. For more latest statistics, keep visiting this article. We will be updating this article from time to time.
FAQs
According to Luisa Zhou, 74% of customers say online reviews make them trust businesses or brands. 73% of customers say if businesses have positive reviews, then it becomes easy for customers to trust the business or brand.
Customers who experienced bad service or wrong products are likelier to leave than those who experienced good service or good products. People are more likely to talk about their bad experiences.
Yes. Reviews can increase sales by 18%. Customers are more likely to buy products from a site where online reviews are available.
Yes. Review marketing is part of an online marketing strategy. This strategy deals with increasing the number of reviews.
