Reviewing The Influence Of Online Reviews (Infographic)

Your business’ Internet reputation is everything these days. Your customers are increasingly writing reviews and recommendations about, and giving ratings to, your products online. How do these influence potential new customers?

This infographic by PeopleClaim shows us how people use social media reviews and recommendations to make decisions.

Reviews are a big deal
Does your business think reviews and ratings about your company and product are not important? Think again!

PeopleClaim surveyed 2,445 US consumers, of which 70% consulted online reviews and ratings before purchasing a product.

Shoppers are also more prone to trust reviews by friends or other similar people, than critics. 41% of consumers read as many as 4 to 7 reviews in 2010 before they felt comfortable with a purchase.

So how can businesses make the best of these statistics?

Offer rating/review opportunities on your website!

Not only do consumers look for reviews and recommendations on search engines, they also expect websites to provide opportunities for consumers to give reviews: 61% of consumers are more likely to buy products from a website if it has product ratings and reviews.

After search options, ratings and reviews is even the most important feature of a website to shoppers.

However, only 26% of the 137 top retailers that were surveyed offered this feature on their website. But, 96% of surveyed retailers who offered this feature on their websites, claimed it was a very effective way to drive conversion, because people are more prone to purchase a product when it has a good rating.

What about negative reviews?
No problem. 95% of unhappy customers will return to your brand, if their issue is resolved quickly and efficiently. So make sure your customer service is up to date (use Twitter!), and you have a look out for negative feedback on your products and company.

More interesting infographic stats? See below!

My Opinion?
Online customer reviews can no longer be ignored. They have been around for a long time, of course.

The fact that, according to this infographic, so many retailers are not using the opportunity to increase the conversion rate on their websites shows us that even now, there are things businesses can improve.

What About You?
What do you think of this infographic? Do the results surprise you?

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About the author
Marion aan ‘t Goor is a Social Media Consultant at Share Force One. You can connect with Marion via Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.