Did You Read the Reviews?

Ann-Marie Vazzano

Nine out of 10 respondents to a recent Influence Central study said an online review is more important than input from a salesperson and 85% of women consider reviews extremely or very important when making purchases. Some other key findings:

• 88% of consumers consider online reviews very influential when purchasing a new product from a brand with which they’re not familiar.

• Even when purchasing a new product from a brand they already know, 67% of female consumers still consider online reviews very influential.

• Amazon is the top site for checking reviews—90% of consumers consider online reviews determinative.

• For the 43% of consumers who check online reviews for items they’ve purchased before, they do so to see if others have had a similar experience and also to see if there’s a better product option.

• 97% say they can tell almost all of the time the credibility of a posted review.

• Only 1% of respondents consider online reviews to be not important at all. GP