1. The Effects of Consumer
Reviews Driving
Purchasing Decisions
By: Casey Kuktelionis
2. Consumer Review Influence
70% of people trust
online customer reviews.
82% of customers think
consumer reviews are
valuable or very valuable.
Consumer reviews crush
editorial reviews by a 3-1
margin.
3. Effects on Buying Behavior
Harvard Business study found that a one star increase on
yelp rating meant a 5-9% increase in restaurant revenue.
4. Consumer Trust & Fake Reviews
Shoppers trust reviews on
Amazon (84%) and Best
Buy (75%) more than
consumer reports (72%).
80% of consumers say
they have been concerned
about a review’s
authenticity.
The NY Times has
reported vendors buy 5
star reviews.
5. Fake Reviews Cont.
Tips to discover fake
reviews:
Too many 5 stars
Too expressive
Marketing hype
No reviewer history
Too much, too soon
• Approximately one-third of
online consumer reviews are
written by marketers or
retailers, not real consumers.
• Consumers will read on
average 11 reviews [to weed
out fakes] before making a
purchase decision.
6. Good Customer Service Leads to Good
Reviews
Nearly one third of
consumers have
complained about
poor service using
social networking
sites or third party
review sites.
Shoppers say 31%
of a product’s
reviews must be
negative for them
to doubt the
product’s quality.
8. So what does this mean for PR
practitioners?
•Treat customer reviews as other social networking
opportunities.
• A bad review has the potential to go viral over night,
tarnishing your brand.
• It is estimated that businesses spent $1.6 billion managing
their online reputations in 2011.
• Learn how to respond to negative reviews.
• We are responsible for protecting our consumers and the
brand from fake reviews.
• Identify reviews with the potential to have the most impact,
and use them to the organizations advantage.
10. What I Recommend…
Organizations implement monitoring
technology and software.
PR, advertising, and marketing personnel
incorporate consumer reviews into their
strategic plans.
All organizations support attempts to
combat fake reviews of their products.
Organizations make customer service a
focus to improve reviews.
