Online Reputation: How Likely Are Customers To Leave a Review of Your Business?

27th December 2018

When Do We Trust a Business?

According to recent data, it takes around 4-6 reviews before 32% of customers begin to trust a business. Smallbusinessprices.co.uk have also found people trust 3 or 4-star ratings over 5-star ratings. 22% of people trust a rating of 3 stars, increasing to 35% for 4 stars and dropping to 10% for 5 stars. More interestingly, 30% of potential buyers don't actually use the rating system to help make their decisions.

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Ratings and Reviews by Industry

Whilst it's clear that ratings and reviews can influence purchasing habits, just how does this affect each industry? And is a review more damaging or rewarding for certain businesses?

Auto Repair - This industry saw the highest percentage of people believing rating or reviews were important with 67% agreeing. Automotive services also saw 35% of people more likely to leave a positive review compared to 39% of negative experiences.

GPs - Many people want to ensure they receive the best care when it comes to their health, with 66% of people believing it's important to check reviews and ratings before receiving advice or treatment. The research found 27% of people would leave a positive review of a physician compared to a slightly higher 30% negative reviews.

Car Dealers - 65% believe that it's important to check public opinion before purchasing any vehicles from car dealers. 27% of people are likely to leave a positive review of their experience at a car dealership compared to 36% of negative experiences.

Insurance Agents - Often hit with a bad rep, 61% of people think it's important to check the rating or review of insurance agents before going ahead with any business. 23% of people will leave a negative experience compared to 18% of positive experiences.

Restaurants - With an increasing amount of people eating out each year, more than 55% of people think checking ratings and reviews are important before visiting a restaurant. Being one of the industries that has a higher percentage of reviews after an initial experience - 45% of people were likely to leave a negative review if they had a poor dining experience.

Banks - Around 55.2% of people think that reading reviews is important before choosing a bank, with 25% of people likely to leave a negative review after visiting their local bank branch compared to 19% leaving a positive review.

Which Industry Takes the Lead?

Star ratings are something we all look at, but how do ratings compare across industries? We’ve taken a look at who tops the leaderboard for the average rating - surprisingly, the insurance industry takes the lead with an average of 4.51 stars, whilst education has a low but modest rating of 3.87 stars.

Average Star Rating by Industry

Insurance

4.53

Legal

4.51

Service

4.51

Entertainment

4.41

Transportation

4.34

Healthcare

4.28

Retail

4.27

Automotive

4.21

Hospitality

4.17

Restaurant

4.14

Real Estate

4.09

Financial Services

4.06

Senior Care

4.05

Housing

3.9

Education

3.87

Ian Wright from SmallBusinessPrices.co.uk stated: "From the research, we can clearly see public opinion influences people’s decision to purchase goods or services from a company. As expected, negative experiences are more likely to be written compared to positive ones - so it’s really important for businesses to understand how much impact this can have on potential customers."