Impressively, 95% of customers will read a review before they purchase something, and 8% of customers will use these reviews to discover a new business.
Just as good reviews can generate new business opportunities for businesses out there, bad reviews can also set businesses back, and send customers running in the opposite direction.
Today, we’re going to look at some of the most important online review statistics for 2025 so that you can understand just how important getting positive feedback online for your business is.
Key Statistics
- 72% of customers say they use Google reviews to look up a company
- 89% or 9/10 consumers read a review before they purchase a product online
- 67% of local businesses have a four-star review or above
- 80% of people say high star ratings of 4 or 5 are important
- Star rating matters more to the consumer than the number of reviews
- 34% of consumers say that they also read reviews online
- Companies with 200 reviews generate twice the amount of revenue
- Consumers say they are 21% more likely to leave a bad review after a negative experience
- 94% of consumers have avoided a business because of a bad review
Detailed Online Review Statistics
1. 31% of People Read More Business Reviews During Covid
During the COVID pandemic, around 31% of consumers read more reviews about businesses, and 34% said that they read fewer testimonials from consumers to help make their decision.
67% of consumers said that they wouldn’t use a company if the reviews said that the correct health and safety practices weren’t being followed, and 22% of consumers said that they wrote a review during COVID to help a local business.
2. 9/10 Consumers Read a Review Before They Purchase a Product
Do people trust online reviews?
Yes they do.
Roughly 89% of consumers say that they believe in reading reviews before they buy a product online.
Of course, this stat implies that reviews are a pretty important part of the purchasing process.
The majority of businesses are going to display reviews alongside the product listing, to make it really easy for consumers to make better decisions.
3. 30% of Consumers Under 44 Look at A Review for Every Purchase
Some consumers out there only look at a review when they are making a big purchase decision, but 30% of younger consumers, or those under the age of 44, use a review for every purchase they make.
Shoppers over the age of 45 years use reviews to purchase a product a decent amount of the time. 19.7% of consumers between the ages of 45 and 68 use a review for every purchase.
4. 57% of Online Consumers in America Find Consumer Reviews Helpful
Statistics show that 57% of American shoppers see online reviews to be helpful and practical when they’re making their purchase decisions.
60% of respondents said that they always do a little bit of research online before they make a big purchase.
5. 88% of Smaller Companies Actively Monitor Their Online Reputation
Roughly 88% of small companies say that they track their online reputation consistently.
They understand the value of maintaining their brand image a lot more than bigger companies, and the most common tool that they use for monitoring the reputation online is social media.
6. 80% of Consumers Use Their Smartphone to Look up Reviews
Even when shoppers do so in person, they turn to the Internet to look at reviews from other consumers.
80% of shoppers use their smartphone either inside or outside of a physical store to find reviews, compare the price of a product, and even look for more store locations.
7. 63% of Consumers Use Google to Learn About Consumers
Google review statistics indicate that 63% of consumers say that they use Google to look at reviews about a specific company.
54% say that they use Facebook, and 32% say that they use Yelp.
8. Yelp Has More than 224 Million Reviews
Yelp is a very popular place online when it comes to looking at reviews of specific companies.
As of December 2021, Yelp had more than 224 million reviews.
What’s really interesting when it comes to sharing reviews about companies online is that Twitter seems to be the golden child for an increase in revenue.
Reviews that were shared on Twitter were more likely to increase the sales of a company than reviews that were shared on other social networks.
10. 39% of Customers Over 55 Say that They Trust Reviews More than A Personal Recommendation
This statistic is pretty interesting and shows that 39% of consumers over 55 say that they are quicker to believe a review that they read online over a personal recommendation.
11. 83% of Consumers Say that Reviews Must Be Recent and Relevant to Be Trusted
83% of customers agree that reviews need to be recent and relevant for them to be swayed when it comes to their purchasing decision.
8% of customers also agree that they won’t trust a high review rating unless it also comes with many reviews.
12. 58% of Customers Will Pay More to Support a Business that Has Good Reviews
What’s really interesting is that a consumer will travel further and pay more to support a business that has positive reviews about their product online.
41% of Americans say that reviews are one of the most important parts when thinking about which local businesses to support.
13. Review Signals Account for 15% of Google Local Rankings
Having positive local reviews of your business can improve your chances of ranking higher when it comes to search engines like Google.
14. Having a 0.1% Increase in Your Star Ratings Can Increase Conversions by 25%
What’s pretty amazing about online reviews statistics is that if you get just a 0.1% increase in your star rating online, this can increase conversions by 25%.
This goes to show how important those star reviews are when it comes to the credibility of your business online.
15. 38% of Consumers Look for A 4-Star Review or Above
Roughly 38% of consumers say that they need a company to have an average review of four stars online to consider purchasing a product from that business.
9% of customers say that they will consider using a business that has a one- or two-star rating.
16. Consumers Spend 31% More on Companies with Great Reviews
Customers are willing to spend more money on companies that have really good reviews online.
31% said that they are wanting to spend more money on businesses that have excellent online reviews.
98% of customers also say that they go ahead and make a purchase after they check out a company’s review on Yelp.
What Negative Reviews Can Cost You
17. 94% of Consumers Say They Will Avoid a Company Because of Negative Reviews
Should you trust bad reviews?
Well, this is a startling statistic and shows how important positive reviews of your business are.
94% of customers say that they will avoid a business if they have negative reviews online.
80% of customers say that high star ratings are important, and they trust reviews the most that are more than four stars.
Anything under four stars is likely to drive consumers away.
18. A Negative Article Can Cause 22% of Customers to Go Elsewhere
If a company has a negative article about them, they risk losing as many as 22% of their consumers.
19. You Risk Customer Turnover by 15% when You Don’t Respond to A Review
Of course, it’s not enough to just generate positive reviews about your business. You’ve also got to be able to respond to customer reviews.
If you refuse to respond to reviews, this can cause as many as 15% of your consumers to go somewhere else.
20. 56% of Consumers Say that A Business’ Response to A Review Changed Their Opinion About that Business
If your business has received negative reviews lately, don’t despair completely.
The good news is that if you take the appropriate steps after the fact, you are likely to save face because 56% of consumers say that the way a company responds to a review can change their perspective on the company.
21. 53% of Consumers Expect Companies to Respond to A Review Within 7 Days
This means that more than half of consumers out there expect a business that has a negative or a positive review to respond to their feedback within seven days or less.
As you might have been able to guess, this expectation has increased up over the last few years.
22. Negative Reviews Hurts Reputations
Of course, negative feedback is going to negatively affect your reputation.
23. 81% of Consumers Say that They Leave a Review Four Times a Year or Less
81% of customers say that they have left a business review around four times a year or less. 20% of customers say that they have never left a company review.
However, the vast majority of customers are more likely to read reviews online than write them.
24. 62% of Consumers Are More Likely to Purchase a Product After Seeing Other Customer Videos and Photos
Being able to visualize what the product is going to look like is going to definitely help a consumer with their buying decision.
25. People Are Most Likely to Leave a Review for A Really Good Product
It is becoming more and more common for consumers to leave negative reviews about a product, but the most common reason for a consumer to leave a review is because the product or service is really good.
The second most common reason is because the product wasn’t satisfactory.
26. 72% of People that Were Asked to Leave a Review Did So
According to recent statistics, roughly around 73% of customers have been asked to leave a review by a company in the past, and 72% of these people said that they were willing to do so.
27. Fake Reviews Waste Customer Money
According to statistics about TrustPilot, fake reviews are among one of the biggest issues when it comes to consumers shopping online.
The average customer wastes around $125 a year thanks to fake feedback and testimonials.
28. Companies Are More Likely to Respond to Positive Feedback
54% of local companies say that they respond to all or most of the reviews that they receive.
However, it is more likely that a company is going to respond to a positive review over a negative one. 16% of local businesses never respond to reviews at all.
Final Thoughts
These statistics show that customers everywhere trust reviews online as well as feedback that can help them make good purchasing decisions.
This means that the more reviews you have as a company, the more relevant and recent they appear to be, and the more likely you are to get those conversions that you need to make a profit.
Also, if you respond to reviews that you get, you can improve customer perspective, and responding to negative reviews is going to teach you what your customers expect from your company and give you the opportunity to sort out any issues with customer support and service.
