The Impact of Local Business Reviews on Consumer Behavior | SEO Industry Report

Welcome to the findings of Moz’s first major local business review survey! Online local business reviews are written sentiments, often accompanied by rating symbols (like stars), written by consumers both on third-party online platforms and on company websites. Local business reviews facilitate two-way conversations between brands and customers, form a strong part of a brand’s reputation, and influence local ranking factors. This survey seeks to understand the habits and behaviors of local business review readers, review writers and successful business owner responses to reviews. The original data derived from this survey should assist local business owners, digital marketing agencies, and marketers with their local search marketing strategies.

• 96% of people read reviews

• For gauging trust, 86% of consumers say reviews are either “the most” important or “somewhat” important factor

• Only 11% of consumers trust brand messaging over public sentiment

• 52% of respondents say their negative reviews stem from false or incorrect online information on assets like local business listings

• 50% of consumers lose trust if it looks like owners or employees are reviewing their own business

• After reading reviews, 91% of consumers’ next steps occur in areas completely controlled by the business, such as the company’s website, premises and direct contact options

• 65% of respondents write negative reviews because of rude or poor customer service

• Sharing experiences and gratitude drive the overwhelming majority of reviews

• 40% of customers are being subjected to forbidden or illegal review requests

• 39% of review writers have not received a direct review request in the past 5 years

• If asked, more than half of your customers will always or usually write a review

• The top reason customers don’t review your business is because they forget to

• 90%+ consumers are influenced to a moderate or extreme degree by owner responses to reviews

• 62% of negative reviewers would give a local brand a second chance after an owner response solves their problem

• 63% of consumers will update their negative review or low-star rating once an owner response resolves their complaint

In September 2022, we surveyed 1000+ US residents asking them each 34 questions about their engagement with local business reviews. The survey consisted of 17 questions each on reading and writing local business reviews, all of which were written by Moz. The survey itself was conducted by a third party after which the data and responses were analyzed by Moz. The findings were divided into 3 primary categories of analysis - the habits of review readers, the habits of review writers, and the power of owner responses.

Respondents were asked qualifying questions to ensure they had a) read local business reviews and b) written local business reviews. Due to the nature of the questions, respondents were not required to answer every question. This was in order to allow people who read reviews, but do not write them, to still participate in the survey. The question with most total responses received answers from 1,314 respondents and the question with the fewest answers received 1,084 responses.

The survey began with a pool of 1336 respondents, 1255 of which qualified to move forward with the survey based on the criteria that they read local business reviews. Additionally, 1086 respondents indicated that they also write reviews, qualifying them to complete the questions in the second part of the survey.

Participants resided in all geographic regions of the continental US and provided age ranges of 18-29 (21%), 30-44 (25%), 45-60 (36%), and 60+ (18%). Annual household income ranged from up to $49,999 (36%), $50,000 - $99,999 (29%), $100,000 - $199,999 (23%), and $200,000+ (5%).

For the purpose of this survey, local business ratings and reviews consist of consumers' evaluations of companies which serve the public face-to-face instead of remotely, and can be left on platforms like Google, Yelp, TripAdvisor, Nextdoor, Facebook and other similar sites. Percentages in this survey report are rounded to the nearest whole number.

We are delighted to share the complete findings of our survey with you here, organized into three categories - the habits of review readers, the habits of review writers, and the superpowers of owner responses.

Next Up: The Habits of Review Readers

Written by Miriam Ellis, Moz Local SEO Subject Matter Expert and Moz staff.