Updated December 11, 2024
Online review statistics show that customer reviews help shoppers make decisions and businesses earn more traffic. But that’s just the start of it.
To illustrate just how important reviews are for consumers and businesses alike, we did our own research plus a whole lot of digging to find and share some of the most compelling review statistics you need to know today.
Consumers value reviews and read them to learn about a business, gauge its quality and credibility, and help them make a decision about it. Stats to know:
67% of consumers trust Google-based reviews the most, followed by Amazon (47%), Yelp (41%), and Facebook (34%). 3
More than half of consumers look to social media for local business recommendations, with 52% consulting Instagram, 42% consulting TikTok, 40% consulting Reddit, and 39% consulting YouTube. 4
3 out of 4 people say online reviews are extremely or very important when choosing a healthcare provider. 6
2.2X more people rely on online sources than doctor referrals to choose a primary care provider. 8
61% of consumers will look at 2-3 review sites before making a decision about a business, while only 23% will look at 1 review site. 11
Consumers are most likely to look for healthcare provider reviews on Google (58%), the practice’s website (34%), WebMD (31%), and Facebook (16%). 7
Over half (57%) of all consumers read restaurant reviews online, but millennials read the most, with 61% searching online for reviews. 9
Close to half (46%) of customers are influenced to visit a restaurant after reading positive reviews, while 29% of customers will stay away from a restaurant after reading negative reviews. 10
Most consumers (56%) use Google to search for restaurant reviews, and 51% consider it the most useful platform for this information, more so than review platforms such as OpenTable and Yelp. 11
When travel planning, 82% of consumers say reviews are extremely or very important when booking accommodations, 77% when booking attractions, and 70% when booking restaurants. 12
90% of consumers read 3 or more reviews to form opinions about local businesses. Only 10% form an opinion after reading 1-2 reviews. 13
67% of consumers sort reviews to see which ones are most recent, 50% sort to see the lowest-scored reviews, and 43% sort to see the highest-scored reviews. Only 23% look at the overall star rating of the business. 14
36% think reviews written within the last week are the most relevant, while 32% extend the window of influence to within the last month. 15
Customers are willing to give feedback when asked — via request methods that are relevant to them. And when a business is able to generate more reviews, the business benefits in multiple ways.
Businesses that send review requests with GatherUp have a 50% higher Net Promoter Score (NPS), on average, than their industry peers. 17
Businesses that use SMS only to request reviews get a 20% return on their efforts, generating around 20 reviews per 100 requests sent, compared to a 15% return using email only. 19
Asking for reviews increases review volume across industries:
Healthcare – 11.5X more reviews
Insurance – 5X more reviews
Restaurants – 2X more reviews
Law & legal – 6X more reviews
Storage & transportation – 3X more reviews
Construction – 1.5X more reviews 16
Asking for third-party reviews using GatherUp increases average star ratings for the following industries:
Healthcare – 4.6 vs. 4.3 when reviews aren’t requested
Law & legal – 4.7 vs. 4.5 when reviews aren’t requested
Storage & transportation – 4.4 vs. 4.2 when reviews aren’t requested
Construction – 4.8 vs. 4.6 when reviews aren’t requested 18
Using a combination of SMS and email to send review requests generates more reviews than either SMS or email alone — earning a 26% return by generating around 26 reviews per 100 requests sent. 20
When shoppers engage with reviews, there is a 144% lift in conversion rate and a 162% lift in revenue per visitor, according to a 2023 study. 23
Customers are willing to write reviews when they are compelled by their experience — positive or negative — but lose interest in long customer feedback surveys.
72% of reviewers write local business reviews to reward the business for great service, while 60% write reviews to warn their communities of the business’s bad service. 28
31% of reviewers will leave a local business review if they raised a complaint at the time of service that was not resolved, hoping their public feedback will provoke a response from the business. 29
74% of millennials and 54% of Gen Z say they are very likely to leave positive or negative reviews to reflect their dining experience. 30
The ideal survey length for customers is between 7-10 questions. 31
Survey completion rates drop to between 5-20% if a survey takes longer than 7-8 minutes to complete. 32
Authentic reviews and believable star ratings earn more trust and draw more traffic to a business, which increases sales.
43% of consumers require a 4-star average rating to feel confident in choosing a business, 31% expect nothing less than a 5-star average rating, and 24% will give a business with a 3-star average rating a try. 33
Trust drops 67% when ratings drop from 4 stars to 3 stars. 34
Across more than 40 product categories, purchase likelihood is at its highest when the average star rating of a product is between 4.2 and 4.5 stars. 37
Replying to reviews engages customers, nurtures relationships, and helps establish business credibility.
Businesses that respond to reviews are seen as 1.7X more trustworthy than businesses that don’t. 40
One-third of customers expect businesses to respond publicly to reviews, and 48% say that seeing review responses improves their odds of buying the product. 42
When customers write a negative review, they expect a response:
60% of consumers lose trust in brands that use AI to respond to reviews, while 25% say their trust is unaltered by the use of AI, and 15% say they weren’t aware that review responses could be AI-generated. 44
49% of consumers say the relationship a company nurtures with its customer base is as significant as its offerings. 45
1 in 3 patients want prompt responses to questions and concerns. 46
Think with Google. Connect with customers throughout their increasingly complex journeys. https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/consumer-insights/consumer-journey/connect-with-customers/
Press Ganey. Customer Experience Trends in Healthcare 2021. https://solutions.pressganey.com/cxtrends2021/?utm_source=press_release&utm_medium=press_release&utm_campaign=consumerism_campaign_2021
PYMNTS. Connected Dining: Word of Mouth in the Digital Age. https://www.pymnts.com/restaurant-innovation/2023/everyones-a-critic-49m-consumers-recently-posted-online-restaurant-reviews/
PYMNTS. Connected Dining: Word of Mouth in the Digital Age. https://www.pymnts.com/restaurant-innovation/2023/everyones-a-critic-49m-consumers-recently-posted-online-restaurant-reviews/
TripAdvisor. The Power of Reviews. https://www.tripadvisor.com/PowerOfReviews?utm_source=post_click_r3893&utm_medium=restaurant_blog&utm_term=POR&utm_campaign=66858
GatherUp. Beyond the Stars: How American Consumers Use Reviews to Choose Local Businesses. https://go.gatherup.com/beyond-the-stars-how-american-consumers-use-reviews-to-choose-local-businesses
17. GatherUp. Maximizing Your Online Reputation. https://go.gatherup.com/power-of-online-reputation-guide
18. GatherUp. Maximizing Your Online Reputation. https://go.gatherup.com/power-of-online-reputation-guide
19. GatherUp. Maximizing Your Online Reputation. https://go.gatherup.com/power-of-online-reputation-guide
20. GatherUp. Maximizing Your Online Reputation. https://go.gatherup.com/power-of-online-reputation-guide
21. GatherUp. Beyond the Stars: How American Consumers Use Reviews to Choose Local Businesses. https://go.gatherup.com/beyond-the-stars-how-american-consumers-use-reviews-to-choose-local-businesses
22. GatherUp. Beyond the Stars: How American Consumers Use Reviews to Choose Local Businesses. https://go.gatherup.com/beyond-the-stars-how-american-consumers-use-reviews-to-choose-local-businesses
23. BazaarVoice. 2023 Shopper Experience Index. https://www.bazaarvoice.com/resources/shopper-experience-index-volume-17/
24. Vanderbilt University. How Written Product Reviews Influence Consumer Impressions of Star Ratings. https://business.vanderbilt.edu/news/2023/03/10/how-written-product-reviews-influence-consumer-impressions-of-star-ratings/
25. GatherUp. Beyond the Stars: How American Consumers Use Reviews to Choose Local Businesses. https://go.gatherup.com/beyond-the-stars-how-american-consumers-use-reviews-to-choose-local-businesses
26. GatherUp. Beyond the Stars: How American Consumers Use Reviews to Choose Local Businesses. https://go.gatherup.com/beyond-the-stars-how-american-consumers-use-reviews-to-choose-local-businesses
27. GatherUp. Beyond the Stars: How American Consumers Use Reviews to Choose Local Businesses. https://go.gatherup.com/beyond-the-stars-how-american-consumers-use-reviews-to-choose-local-businesses
28. GatherUp. Beyond the Stars: How American Consumers Use Reviews to Choose Local Businesses. https://go.gatherup.com/beyond-the-stars-how-american-consumers-use-reviews-to-choose-local-businesses
29. GatherUp. Beyond the Stars: How American Consumers Use Reviews to Choose Local Businesses. https://go.gatherup.com/beyond-the-stars-how-american-consumers-use-reviews-to-choose-local-businesses
30. PYMNTS. Connected Dining: Word of Mouth in the Digital Age. https://www.pymnts.com/restaurant-innovation/2023/everyones-a-critic-49m-consumers-recently-posted-online-restaurant-reviews/
31. HubSpot. How Long Should a Survey Be? The Ideal Survey Length [New Data]. https://blog.hubspot.com/service/ideal-survey-length
32. SurveyMonkey. How long should a survey be? Research-backed best practices. https://www.surveymonkey.com/curiosity/survey_completion_times/
33. GatherUp. Beyond the Stars: How American Consumers Use Reviews to Choose Local Businesses. https://go.gatherup.com/beyond-the-stars-how-american-consumers-use-reviews-to-choose-local-businesses
34. HubSpot. How Customer Ratings Impact Purchase Decisions. https://blog.hubspot.com/service/does-your-product-or-services-rating-matter
35. McKinsey. Five-star growth: Using online ratings to design better products. https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/consumer-packaged-goods/our-insights/five-star-growth-using-online-ratings-to-design-better-products
36. McKinsey. Five-star growth: Using online ratings to design better products. https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/consumer-packaged-goods/our-insights/five-star-growth-using-online-ratings-to-design-better-products
37. Northwestern, Medill, Spiegel Research Center. How Do Star Ratings and Review Content Influence Purchase? https://spiegel.medill.northwestern.edu/star-ratings-and-review-content/
38. Press Ganey. Customer Experience Trends in Healthcare 2021. https://solutions.pressganey.com/cxtrends2021/?utm_source=press_release&utm_medium=press_release&utm_campaign=consumerism_campaign_2021
39. BazaarVoice. 2023 Shopper Experience Index. https://www.bazaarvoice.com/resources/shopper-experience-index-volume-17/
40. Google. How to respond to reviews on Google. https://grow.google/intl/en_my/article-how-to-respond-to-reviews-on-google/
41. GatherUp. Beyond the Stars: How American Consumers Use Reviews to Choose Local Businesses. https://go.gatherup.com/beyond-the-stars-how-american-consumers-use-reviews-to-choose-local-businesses
42. BazaarVoice. 2023 Shopper Experience Index. https://www.bazaarvoice.com/resources/shopper-experience-index-volume-17/
43. GatherUp. Beyond the Stars: How American Consumers Use Reviews to Choose Local Businesses. https://go.gatherup.com/beyond-the-stars-how-american-consumers-use-reviews-to-choose-local-businesses
44. GatherUp. Beyond the Stars: How American Consumers Use Reviews to Choose Local Businesses. https://go.gatherup.com/beyond-the-stars-how-american-consumers-use-reviews-to-choose-local-businesses
45. Forbes. Top Customer Experience Trends in 2024. https://www.forbes.com/advisor/business/customer-experience-trends/
46. The Intake. 2023 patient survey: Tracking patient behavior, preferences, and habits. https://www.tebra.com/theintake/patient-experience/tips-and-trends/patient-survey-questions-preferences-habits
47. GatherUp. Beyond the Stars: How American Consumers Use Reviews to Choose Local Businesses. https://go.gatherup.com/beyond-the-stars-how-american-consumers-use-reviews-to-choose-local-businesses
48. GatherUp. Beyond the Stars: How American Consumers Use Reviews to Choose Local Businesses. https://go.gatherup.com/beyond-the-stars-how-american-consumers-use-reviews-to-choose-local-businesses
GatherUp will make customer experience the backbone of your business, building a continuous cycle of happy customers and powerful reviews to help you capture your next customer.
Net Promoter, Net Promoter System, Net Promoter Score, NPS and the NPS-related emoticons are registered trademarks of Bain & Company, Inc., Fred Reichheld and Satmetrix Systems, Inc.
