87% of people read reviews when considering a purchase and 79% trust them as much as they would a personal recommendation (Forbes). As we know here at Locomotive, people trust real people when it comes to advertisements and brand recommendations. It’s part of the reason we truly believe in what our company does. But do customer reviews actually correlate to increase or decreased revenue? Do the reviews actually impact the business coming in? The answer is yes, most definitely! Actually, according to a study conducted on hotel sales impacted by online customer reviews in the International Journal of Hospitality Management, there is a “significant relationship between online consumer reviews and business performance of hotels.” This is not really surprising. We all do it. Let’s say that we want to buy something online. So, what is the first thing that we do? We look at the products online reviews to see what others are saying about it. Then we weigh out our options by searching that same product from their competitors. This helps us get a clear picture of what we’re buying before we buy it when we can’t touch or see it in real life. “66% of consumers consider positive reviews to be an important factor in their purchase decision” (SOCi). It makes sense. Word of mouth is one of the most powerful factors in driving business growth. Online reviews are just the digital version of this and it has even been dubbed eWOM, standing for “electronic word of mouth” now. Furthermore, a Hard University Study found that, “a one-star increase in a restaurant’s Yelp rating led to a 9% increase in revenue.” Seems that the numbers cannot be ignored. Customer reviews do affect a business and do matter. It’s important that this is not be ignored and feedback from your audience must be addressed in order to keep a positive light on your brand.
