How Important Are Product Reviews When Making a Purchase?

   By SheSpeaksTeam  Nov 09, 2022

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If you find yourself hesitant to make a purchase before scouring the all important product review section, you’re not alone. We recently conducted a survey asking how women use product reviews in their day to day lives and all signs point to online reviews being a big factor. 
More than 1,100 of you responded to this survey and here are some interesting key takeaways:

Do product reviews help us decide what to buy?

• Close to 100% of women surveyed (96%) say they have read online product reviews before deciding to make a purchase. 
• Many times a product review can actually persuade us to make a purchase with 89% of women saying they bought products after seeing reviews.
• Even while shopping in-store, more than half (51%) say they have looked up online reviews in the aisle before making a decision.
• We are willing to pay extra for a well-reviewed item. Only 14% said they wouldn’t spend more for a product if it had better online reviews. 
• How much more are we willing to pay if a product has glowing reviews? 30% would pay 10% more; 16% would pay 11-20% more; 11% would pay 21% more. Also, 27% are not sure how much more they would pay- but they would pay more. 

• Text accompanied with a photo are the most influential type of product review with 140% saying this is more influential than just text alone and even 41% more influential than video reviews.

• Beauty products was the number one category where 73% of women consult product reviews before a purchase.
• Next on the list is electronics (67%), appliances (67%) and clothing (61%).
• Women said they used product reviews least when shopping for auto care products (23%), seasonal items (30%), cars (30%) and toys (33%).

• Social media posts from friends, families, or someone you follow is leading the charge with 75% saying this is a trustworthy way to learn product information. 
• Only 9% say they would listen to ads/infomercials for product info and 28% would trust journalist reviews.

• It seems positive experiences are a better reason for many of us to post a review with 75% siting this reason for why they felt the need to share a review.
• Close to 60% have written reviews after having a poor experience with a product purchase.