According to the study, 26% of customers read online reviews before each purchase. Only 4% never did so. Interestingly, as many as 36% of respondents said that, when buying a product, they would place more trust in online customer reviews than in product tests or recommendations from friends.
The basic finding that online reviews are often more trustworthy than friends' opinions led to a listing of criteria according to which customers decide. Survey participants were asked to list five core customer ranking points by relevance. The results were as follows:
It follows that text reviews are more important than mere stars or points. Moreover, users pay attention to the number of reviews. In the survey, 76% chose a product with a slightly worse rating but three times more reviews. Depending on the product sector, users paid different attention to rating dates. Due to the product or service life, 28% of respondents trust only reviews from the last three months. For example, in home appliances, emphasis was not placed on timeliness.
One of the key reasons why customer reviews are so important is that vendors and suppliers benefit mainly from positive reviews, which affect visibility on Google or other comparators that collect reviews. The number, frequency and variety of reviews, as stated by Moz, a company focusing on Search Engine Optimization (SEO), impact on how high the search is listed.
Ultimately, the study identifies what every vendor should understand: online customer ranking is crucial to a company's reputation, and those who disregard and ignore it are having a serious impact on the growth of their business and are not using their potential sufficiently to bring new business opportunities.
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Article source Onlinemarketing.de - German marketing site