A new study reveals the importance that consumers place on local reviews from other customers, especially those submitted recently.
As the title suggests, a vast majority of consumers ignore reviews that were left longer than three months ago.
A significant portion of consumers (40%) only consider reviews written within the past two weeks, a number that has grown by 18% from last year.
The study also details the demographics that value reviews the most, the average number of reviews consumers read, and how many have written reviews themselves.
### Searching for Local Businesses and Reading Reviews
More consumers are searching for local businesses regularly this year compared to last year:
– 27% searched online daily for a local business, more than double the proportion in 2017.
– 69% searched online for local businesses monthly, up from 54%.
– 56% searched for local businesses weekly, up from 41% last year.
The study found that 18-34-year-olds are the most active in searching for local businesses, with more than half searching every day, and 81% searching every week.
This demographic also reads the most reviews, with 50% of 18-34-year-olds always reading online reviews. In comparison, only 6% of people aged 55+ always read consumer reviews. Overall, 86% of all consumers read reviews for local businesses at least occasionally.
Across all demographics, consumers are most likely to read reviews for restaurants and cafes. Reviews for clothing stores, grocery stores, and hotels are also frequently read by all demographics.
The majority of consumers read 4 or more reviews, and on average, consumers will read 10 reviews of a local business. Consumers also highly value local businesses’ responses to reviews, with 89% reading review responses.
### The Influence of Local Reviews on Consumers
After reading positive reviews, 50% of consumers will visit the website of a local business, up from 37% in 2017. Overall, 78% of consumers will engage with a local business in some way after reading a positive review, including visiting their website, contacting them directly, or visiting them in person. Younger consumers are more likely to visit a business in person compared to older demographics.
Other key findings on the influence of consumer reviews include:
– Positive reviews make 68% of consumers more likely to use local businesses.
– Negative reviews deter 40% of consumers from using a business.
– 91% of 18-34-year-olds trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations.
– A growing number of consumers need to read multiple reviews to build trust.
– 56% of consumers value the average star rating of a business, while 49% value the quantity of reviews.
– 57% of consumers won’t use a business with fewer than 4 stars.
– Consumers want businesses to have 40 reviews before trusting the overall star rating.
### Writing Reviews
When asked if they have ever written a review for a local business, 89% of consumers said they would consider it. Consumers ages 18-34 are most likely to leave reviews, with 80% having done it before. Over 55s are the least likely to have left reviews, with 22% saying they “never” will. Fewer consumers are being asked to leave reviews, with 66% having been asked this year compared to 74% in 2017. More consumers within younger demographics are being asked to leave reviews compared to older ones. This could explain why 18-34-year-olds are the most likely to leave reviews.
The study’s data is based on the views of a representative sample of 1,000 US-based consumers.
### More Resources
– Where & How to Get the Right Reviews for Your Business
– 23 Facts You Should Know About Online Reviews
– How Negative Reviews Impact SEO
