Online Reviews Study

Conducted by Pepperdine University School of

Business in June 2012 in association with ReviewInc

Copyright © 2012
 17-21
46-55 1%
10%
55+ 22-25
7% 11%

236 35-45
19%
26-35
52%
Respondents
Responses by Household Income

Responses by Age Range

$0-$25,000

$26,000-$55,000

$56,000-$80,000
Male
$81,000-$110,000 Femal 35%
e
$111,000-$150,000 65%

Over $160,000

Prefer not to answer

0 10 20 30 40 50 60
 How much influence does the following have
when trying find a hotel, restaurant, dentist,
plumber, etc.?

Yellow Pages Do you use online

rating/review sites to
Low
research companies
Other Neutral with which you plan to
High do business?
Close Proximity No
14%

Online Reviews Yes

86%
Ask a Friend

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%

 Very Likely Likely Neutral Not Likely Would not use
Please rate how Fine Dining Restaurants

likely you would Hotels

be to use an Spas/Personal Care

online Automotive

rating/review site Arts & Entertainment

to help you make Event Planning & Services

Nightlife
a decision about
Health and Medical Professionals
trying a business
Active Life
in the following Real Estate
industries: Financial Services

Fitness Professionals

Coffee & Tea

Chain Restaurants

Other

0 50 100 150 200

 Would you post a review if you received the following level of
service for each of business categories listed below? Check all
that apply.
Will Post for Excellent Service Will Post for Good Service Will Post for Poor Service Will NOT Post

Fine Dining Restaurants

Hotels
Health and Medical Professionals
Spas/Personal Care
Automotive
Financial Services
Event Planning & Services
Nightlife
Fitness Professionals
Arts & Entertainment
Real Estate
Coffee & Tea
Chain Restaurants
Active Life
Other
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180
 Once a week Once a Month Several Times a Year Never
Which online
rating/review sites do Google
you use to Yelp
rate/review Yahoo
businesses?
TripAdvisor

Urban Spoon

Citysearch

Bing

Edmunds

RateMD

Angie's List

Superpages

Epinions

Vitals

Other

Don’t use Review Sites

0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200

 Once a Week Once a Month Several a Year Never

Which online
Google
rating/review
Yelp
sites do you
Yahoo
use to
research TripAdvisor

businesses? Urban Spoon

Citysearch

Bing

Edmunds

RateMDs

Angie's List

Epinions

Superpages

Vitals

I do not use review sites

Other

0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200

 "Would not try" "Might Try" "Would be likely to try"

If a restaurant or hotel had

the following ratings, how 
likely would you be to try 
it? 


No Rating

0 50 100 150 200

"Would not try" "Might Try" "Would be likely to try"

If a professional service
such as a doctor, dentist or 
attorney had the following 
ratings, how likely would 
you be to make an initial 
contact with that business?

No Rating

0 50 100 150 200

What device do you
Desktop/Laptop
use to READ online
reviews and ratings? Smart Phone

Tablet

Often Sometimes Never

Other

0 50 100 150 200

What device do you Desktop / Laptop

use to WRITE
reviews? Smart Phone

Tablet

Other Often Sometimes Never

0 20 40 60 80 100
If you had a bad experience
with a service, where would Would you post a
review based on your
you post a negative review? service experience?
I would THREE Will Post
NOT post or more TWO for
a negative consumer consumer Excellent
rating Will NOT Service
review rating Post 28%
4% sites sites 40%
8% 19%
Will Post
Will Post for Good
ONE for Poor
Service
Service
7%
consumer 25%
rating site
69%

(Based on aggregrate answers from

responses related to specific businesses
type – see earlier question)
 Would
definitely
affect 8% No affect
If a company you were already doing 31%
business with had negative reviews posted
online, how would it affect your relationship May
affect
with the company? 61%

1 to 3
reviews
4%
What is the minimum
more
number of reviews that than 12
4 to 7
reviews
would make a rating reviews 34%
32%
appear credible?
8 to 11
reviews
30%
For more information about this study
including re-use or publication rights
of this study, please contact
ReviewInc at
info@reviewinc.com
or call
USA: 877-9REVIEW / 877-973-8439
(International Callers May Dial: +1-818-660-1435)