Don’t think you need Reputation Management for your Restaurant? We hope these stats will change your mind.

As a restaurant owner, managing your online reputation—what people are saying about your business online—is more important now than ever. 97% of consumers aged 18-34 read online reviews to judge a local business and 68% of them say positive reviews make them trust a business more.

Positive vs Negative Reviews

When a restaurant opens its doors, the incoming customer is either satisfied or dissatisfied when they leave. In the digital world today, customers often take their experience straight to the internet to leave a review or rating. If the customer expresses a positive dining experience, the review can be amplified on the web and social media to encourage others to visit the establishment. But when the dining experience is negative, restaurants need to respond fast. This needs to be done for the customer who left the review, but perhaps more importantly, for everyone else reading the reviews after. It is always a great feeling to read and hear positive reviews of your restaurant, but negative reviews should be considered an opportunity for the business to do better.

50 stats that show the importance of online reviews

1. 92% of consumers now read online reviews vs. 89% in 2014
2. 40% of consumers form an opinion by reading just one to three reviews vs. 29% in 2014
3. Star rating is the number one factor used by consumers to judge a business
4. 43% say a review must be written within one month to be relevant.This highlights the importance of recency in reviews!
5. 68% say positive reviews make them trust a local business more vs. 72% in 2014
6. 42% of consumers search a business by reviews at least one time per month vs. 38% in 2014
7. 60% of consumers have searched a business at least six times per year vs. 56% in 2014
8. There has been a considerable decrease in those that “never” search for a local business online, down from 22% to 9%, and an increase in those that search for a local business every day, up from 7% to 14%
9. 73% have read online reviews on a desktop
10. 38% have read online reviews on mobile internet vs 24% on a mobile app
11. 29% have read reviews on a tablet
12. 33% believe all local businesses should have websites designed for mobile vs. 25% in 2013
13. 61% are more likely to contact a local business if they have a mobile optimized site
14. 40% of consumers form an opinion by reading one to three reviews, vs. 29% in 2014
15. 73% of consumers form an opinion by reading up to six reviews ,vs. 64% in 2014
16. 88% of consumers form an opinion by reading up to ten reviews vs. 84% in 2014. This means it’s important to have a large body of reviews, as customers are reading more reviews now than in all years past.
17. Only 12% are prepared to read more than 10 reviews vs. 16% in 2014
18. 26% of consumers say it’s important that a local business responds to its reviews
19. Only 14% of consumers would consider using a business with a one or two star rating
20. 57% of consumers would use a business with a three star rating
21. 94% of consumers would use a business with a four star rating
22. 51% of consumers will select a local business if it has positive reviews
23. 88% trust reviews as much as personal recommendations, vs. 83% in 2014
24. 48% will visit a company’s website after reading positive reviews
25. 23% will visit the business premises directly after reading positive reviews
26. 9% of consumers will phone a business after reading positive reviews
27. 95% of consumers suspect censorship or faked reviews when they don’t see bad scores
28. Reliability (27%), expertise (21%) and professionalism (18%) remain the most important attributes to consumers
29. More consumers are interested in “good value” than before, while less are concerned about the “expertise” of a business
30. Word of mouth is still the most popular method of recommendation for consumers despite a 2% drop year over year
31. On average, a consumer will look at over 10 information sources before making a purchase
32. Over half of young people aged 18 to 34 say they trust online reviews more than the opinions of friends and family
33. 88% of online shoppers incorporate reviews into their purchase decision
34. Consumers who read reviews on a smartphone are 127% more likely to buy than those who read reviews on desktops
35. Reviews are especially important for local searches as they influence up to 10% of the ranking
36. Only reviews from friends and family are trusted more than online review. Reviews from experts and celebrity endorsements are less trusted than online reviews
37. 30% of consumers assume online reviews are fake if there are no negative reviews
38. The three online platforms dedicated to reviews with the most global traffic are: yelp, tripadvisor, foursquare
39. 58% of consumers said they have recently (within the past five years) began leaving more and more online reviews based upon customer service
40. 100% of customers who make over $150,000 annually claim to leave reviews when it comes to a poor customer service experience
41. Reviews of 50 or more, per product can mean a 4.6% increase in conversion rates
42. 63% of customers are more likely to make a purchase from a site which has user reviews
43. 105% customers are more likely to purchase while visiting, when site visitors interact with both reviews and customer questions and answers, and spend 11% more than visitors who don’t interact
44. Reviews produce an average of 18% uplift in sales
45. 64% of consumers would read online reviews when purchasing technology items
46. 68% of consumers trust reviews more when they see both good and bad scores
47. Between one and three bad online reviews would be enough to deter the majority (67%) of shoppers from purchasing a product or service
48. 86% of people will hesitate to purchase from a business that has negative online reviews
49. Number of reviews posted every minute by Yelp users is 26,380
50. If a business resolve its issue quickly and efficiently, 95% of unhappy customers returns back to your business