The Trust In Online Reviews is Growing

Study: 79% of Consumers Trust Online Reviews as Much as Personal Recommendations

The 2013 Local Consumer Review Survey by Myles Anderson of BrightLocal was newly published on SearchEngineLand. There are specific straightforward and indisputable results that we can run with…

What we learned offers us four distinct takeaways.

• More people are trusting online reviews just as much as personal recommendations. A full 79 percent (up from 72 percent just a year ago!) say that genuine online reviews (emphasis on genuine) carry the same impact if not more than a recommendation from someone they know.
• The trust in online reviews is building. A stunning 72 percent are of the opinion that genuine, positive customer reviews tend to make them trust a business more. This is up from 58 percent in 2012! It’s very apparent that buyers are seeking and taking note more than before and are putting their trust in reviews. At the same time, only some 12 percent of consumers said they pay no attention of online reviews, down from 17 percent in 2012.
• People are reading fewer reviews before making buying decisions. Now a full 67 percent of consumers read 6 reviews or less, up from 52 percent in 2012. On the whole far fewer consumers are reading more than 7 reviews – 22 percent now vs. 35 percent in 2012.
• It’s more important than ever to manage your online reputation. Since consumers are reading fewer reviews, and basing their buying decisions on them more, it’s vital to ensure you are monitoring your online reputation very carefully. Since the most recent reviews are influencing the buying decisions the most, you’ll want to keep a watchful eye for anything appearing that is negative and possibly damaging. Institute a policy for dealing openly with negative reviews, and a complimentary system for generating new, positive reviews that drive those negative reviews further further down and not findable. Make sure to make these genuine, however, as people are ever more savvy when it comes to spotting fake and corporate-generated “reviews”.

Take this and run with it!

This is the sort of information that can make a major difference, both positively and negatively, in your business. Many thanks to Myles Anderson and the people at BrightLocal for this well-timed and enlightening study.