Top Online Reputation Statistics – How People Use Online Reviews

Here are some important online reputation statistics that reflect how your clients and customers use reviews; how people behave, what they think, and how they browse the internet when they’re making a choice for a product or service.

Top Online Reputation Statistics

1. Pretty much everyone is going to search online for a local business and they’re going to read reviews; 95% of people search for local businesses online.
2. 91% read online reviews about local businesses. That’s 9 out of 10 people – pretty much everyone – so reviews are really important. If you’re not taking advantage of reviews in your business right now, you really should be.
3. Most consumers look at two or more review sites before making a decision. Best examples of review sites include Google, Facebook, and Yelp. These are the most popular sites right now; they’re all relevant and a lot of people use them all three of them. (Google tends to have the most reviews; if you have a Facebook business page setup, people can go on there and leave reviews; Yelp is really big, especially with restaurants and services.)
4. 84% of people trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation, and that number is only going to increase as time goes on. Think about this, too – your cell phone is probably within a few feet of you right now, if it’s not already in your pocket. so if it’s not actively on you, it’s right next to you. And that’s only going to persist as the internet becomes more integrated into our daily lives.
5. 73% of consumers think that reviews older than 3 months are not relevant. Personally, we can think of many times where we looked at the reviews for a restaurant or a service, and if they haven’t received a new review in over 3 months, we couldn’t help but wonder…
   • if management was changed for the worse
   • if their services just aren’t good enough to write home about
   • or if they’re even still open for business

It is surprising how many businesses we’ve seen that have not had a review in 6 to 9 months. If you just get a few reviews periodically, you’re going to be so far ahead of the competition because you’re staying relevant.

Did any of these stats surprise you? Can you attest to any of these online reputation statistics using examples from your personal life?

Let us know in the comments below!