Do reviews matter as much as business owners think they do? Why do people leave negative reviews? And when they do, what can be done to win those customers back?
These are the questions we set out to answer in our latest report. We dug into 5,000 online reviews and surveyed 255 consumers to uncover patterns about why people leave negative feedback, how to prevent negative reviews, and how reviews actually influence business success.
These general online review statistics will help you grasp how reviews can affect your business’s online reputation and overall success.
Where we got our online review statistics
The online review statistics below come from 5,000 reviews that we scraped from 100 businesses across 10 different industries. We pulled from two major online review sites: Trustpilot and Google Reviews. We considered anything 2-stars and below to be a bad review. We believe negative feedback is often more valuable than positive feedback, so good reviews were not part of this analysis.
Here are the industries we analyzed:
- E-commerce
- Software
- Home Services
- Retail
- Real Estate
- Legal Services
- Health & Medical
- Financial Services
- Food Service
- Automotive
We combined this data with survey results from 255 U.S. consumers. The survey panel was demographically representative of the general population.
Our goal was to understand not just what people say in reviews, but how bad reviews influence behavior and what actually drives consumer trust.
Here are the top 17 things we learned from analyzing the data from review sites:
1. 95% of consumers say that positive reviews influence their willingness to pay more
We know consumers trust online reviews and frequently check for them before making a purchase decision. From our survey, results show that great reviews can influence how much people are willing to pay. If your business has good reviews, people say they are okay with paying more for a product or service. It goes to show that if there is trust in the business, people don’t mind the price tag as much.
2. 49% of consumers are unlikely to return after a negative experience
After a negative experience, almost half of your customers probably won’t come back. This isn’t just about the actual experience. Our data shows it’s often about how the business handles the immediate aftermath. When we dug deeper into the responses, we found that those crucial first moments after a poor experience dramatically influence whether someone moves into the “never returning” category or remains open to giving the business another chance.
3. 60% of consumers “always” or “often” check reviews before visiting a business
The data is clear: people read online reviews to evaluate local businesses. In fact, only 1% of participants in our survey say they never check reviews. Customers expect businesses to have listings on online review sites such as Yelp, Google Reviews, and Trustpilot. And if you don’t want to scare off potential customers, you need to have a positive online reputation on these popular review sites.
You may think younger generations are the only ones who leave reviews online. This isn’t correct. While our data shows young customers are the most diligent review checkers, older customers read reviews too. 71% of “consumers between the ages of 18-29 say they “always” or “often” check reviews. For 60+ customers, 44% consistently check reviews.
Online shoppers often trust third-party review sites over retailer sites, reflecting varying degrees of trust in their reviews. If consumers trust written reviews, then so should you.
4. 77% of consumers say negative reviews are “extremely” or “very” influential
Just because someone reads a negative review doesn’t mean they’ll listen to it – right? The reality is that consumers trust online reviews. And because 88% of consumers read online reviews before making a purchase, just one negative review can have a strong impact.
Of course, you should aim to provide positive experiences to every customer, not just because they have the ability to influence others by writing online reviews, but also because you want to retain their business. This leads us to our next stat.
5. 45% of consumers need 2-3 positive experiences to regain trust
It’s easier to prevent a negative online rating than to reverse it. Regaining customer trust is challenging, and the path to redemption is longer than most businesses assume.
Our data shows that it will take more than a single positive interaction to regain someone’s business, and rarely overcomes a negative experience. Expect to put in work if you find yourself attempting to gain back trust in your business.
6. 37% of negative online reviews stem from poor communication
This is arguably the most actionable online review statistic in our entire study. It isn’t bad products that drives people to post online reviews: it’s poor communication. Communication issues outrank both product quality and pricing as the primary driver of negative reviews.
Poor communication to a consumer could mean:
- Lack of clarity from a business, meaning communication was unclear, confusing, or even misleading.
- Slow response time or no response at all when they contact a business, whether it be through email, phone, or in-person.
- Businesses with poor follow-up, where consumers feel like they are chasing for updates.
7. Only 20% of online customer reviews focus on product/service quality
We’re not suggesting bad communication is the only thing leading to bad online reviews. You still need to have a good product.
When we dug into these online reviews that focused on the product – as opposed to the experience around the product – we found that oftentimes, people had issues with getting the wrong product altogether. This points to broken processes within businesses that, if solved, could prevent a large number of negative reviews.
8. 47% of consumers say they prefer to contact businesses by phone
We asked customers how they prefer businesses to get in touch with them. Our review statistics show that it depends on your reason for contacting them.
For promotions, customers want email. But when there’s an issue with service, pick up the phone and place a call or send a text. 39% of consumers say they prefer texting for information about service issues, and 27% prefer phone calls.
This preference spans all age demographics, challenging the assumption that younger consumers prefer digital-only communication.
9. 63% of consumers expect same-day responses to complaints
In the online reviews that focused on poor communication, 8.5% of them complained about slow response time. So if you want to improve customer satisfaction, then its important that you understand what customers expect when it comes to response time.
When it comes to handling phone calls, which is the preferred channel for consumers, most consumers responses within the same business day if not sooner. 13% of consumers want a call back within an hour.
10. 80% of consumers say promptly resolving their issue is “very” or “extremely” effective in rebuilding trust
You don’t need to jump to providing a refund when a customer experience goes south. What most customers want is for you to solve the problem quickly. When we asked customers how businesses can regain trust after a negative experience, prompt resolution of the issue was rated as the most influential factor.
11. 68% of price-related complaints focus on hidden fees.
It’s not high prices that are harming your online reputation – it’s hidden fees. When we analyzed the 1,150 online reviews that focused on pricing-related complaints, we found that most were about predatory billing practices, bait-and-switch tactics, and unexpected fees.
Being transparent and showing clear pricing upfront will help build trust in your business – and prevent you from becoming the next online review statistic.
12. 50% of consumers expect a response to email within one business day
Email is one of the top communication channels. If you’re looking to improve your average star rating, you can’t be checking your email once per week.
You need to have a system for replying quickly if you want to build loyalty with your audience, so consider adopting email auto-reply sequences to give an expected response time, and address their concerns as soon as you can. You don’t want to read Yelp reviews later on and kick yourself because you got a bad review from replying too late.
13. 87% of consumers say that knowing the price upfront is influential in their decision to spend extra
Our online review statistics show that people are often willing to spend a little extra cash on your products or services, but it depends on how you present it to them.
We’ve already shown that if you’re not upfront and transparent about your prices, your online reviews can take a hit, and your reputation plummets.
But having clear, upfront pricing actually influences customers’ willingness to spend more. In fact, it was even slightly more influential than offering higher-quality products or services, where 80% of consumers said receiving higher quality was influential in their purchase decisions.
14. Poor follow-up accounts for 33% of negative reviews related to communication
So, you’re responding to your customers within one business day. That’s great, but how’s your follow-up? Good communication doesn’t end with “Thanks for reaching out to us; we’re looking into your issue now. We’ll get back to you soon.” If customers are waiting for an update and not hearing back, you’re losing them. Make sure you’re keeping in touch with your customers and keep consistent communication – or you might not like your online reviews.
15. Customers complain about phone interactions more than any other channel
When looking at the review statistics, we asked ourselves if there was any communication channel that was the culprit for these negative consumer reviews. Was it chatbots that were to blame for the frustration of internet users? As it turns out, an overwhelming number of online reviews specifically called out frustrating phone interactions, whether it be long hold times, unclear information, or simply unresolved issues.
Think about how often you’ve encountered lackluster phone support. It’s frustrating, right? The good news: This can be an area where you can get a leg up on the competition by providing a better customer experience. Consider using an answering service to provide around-the-clock phone support.
16. 20% of negative reviews stem from poor staff behavior
Local businesses face unique challenges when it comes to daily interactions between customers and staff. Out of all the poor online reviews on staff conduct, 73% accounted for poor staff behavior with common references to “rude behavior, unfriendliness, and disrespectfulness.”
Interestingly, these types of reviews very often had so many other complaints piled on – bad food, long wait times, slow service, condescending staff, bad body language, and dismissive attitudes.
17. Millennials are the most forgiving generation
Only 1% of millennials aged 30-44 say they “would never return” after a negative experience with a business. That trend surprisingly does not continue with younger generations aged 18-29, with a staggering 18% of these consumers stating they would never return after bad experiences.
What’s even more surprising is that this young generation is the most unforgiving from our study. Only 12% of those who are 60+ said they would never return after a bad business encounter.
What these online review statistics mean for your business
There’s no way around it: Online reviews matter. Consumers trust reviews. They are the equivalent of personal recommendations. Major review sites are word-of-mouth at scale. Every business should send review requests, respond to negative reviews, and, of course, create an experience that leads to increased customer satisfaction and, as a result, improves its reviews.