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By Andreas Voniatis

Customer Online Review Statistics 2025

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Most of us have done it – picked up our mobiles, typed in “{company name} reviews” and gone sifting through the experiences of others before deciding whether to part with our own hard earned cash.

Online reviews are everywhere as we approach 2024. You can review pretty much anything, from a hotel to your local plumber. For consumers, these reviews can help them to make buying decisions. But for the businesses being reviewed, they can be make or break in terms of reputation.

So just how prevalent and important are online customer reviews? We’ve surveyed the public, looked at search trends and crunched the numbers to present our round up of online review statistics for the year.

Online Customer Reviews & Online Reputation Management: Key Statistics of 2023

If you are here for the quick version this section outlines what we consider the most important online reviews statistics of the year. 

  • Half of consumers in the UK check online reviews before making a purchase from a retailer they’ve never bought from before
  • That represents almost double (26%) the number of consumer who’ll check social media
  • People under 25 are less likely by far to check online reviews first – just over a third of this age group will check reviews, while over half of every other age group will do so
  • 70% of users apply filters based on online ratings when looking for a company to shop with
  • 94% have been put off making a purchase by seeing a negative review

For more fact, figures and context, read on.

 

How many consumers check online reviews during their buying journeys?

The short answer is yes. But let’s dive into the details.

Recently, we surveyed 2,001 people aged 16 and over in the UK and asked them:

  • What sources, if any, do you check before making a purchase from a retailer you’ve never bought from before? (Tick all that apply)
    • Online reviews (e.g. TrustPilot, FeeFo or similar)
    • I ask friends if they’ve bought from them before
    • What other people are saying about them on social media
    • The company’s own social media pages
    • N/A – I do not buy from any new retailers
    • N/A I do not check any sources when making a purchase this way

Here’s how they answered:

What sources, if any, do you check before making a purchase from a retailer you’ve never bought from before? (Tick all that apply)
Response % of People Who Gave This Response
Online reviews (e.g. Trustpilot, FeeFo or similar) 50.27%
I ask friends if they’ve bought from them before 38.68%
What other people are saying about them on social media 25.99%
The company’s own social media pages 18.49%
N/A – I do not buy from any new retailers 9.60%
N/A – I do not check any sources when making a purchase this way 9.10%
Other 0.80%

A significant portion of the 90%+ of consumers who do indeed buy from retailers they’ve never bought from before will take some form of action to put their mind at ease before parting with their hard earned cash.

  • Just over half of over 16s in the UK will check online reviews first
  • Over a third will check with friends
  • Just over a quarter will go and check out what people are saying on social media
  • Fewer than 1 in 10 consumers will buy from a new retailer without checking some sources online first

So it’s incredibly clear that a significant majority of your prospective customers are checking you out online before putting their card details into your website.

 

Does Gender Influence Our Likelihood to Check Online Reviews?

If we dive into the data a little more, we can split out our respondents by gender specified when answering the question.

What sources, if any, do you check before making a purchase from a retailer you’ve never bought from before? (Tick all that apply)
Response % of Men Who Gave This Response % of Women Who Gave This Response
Online reviews (e.g. Trustpilot, FeeFo or similar) 44.16% 56.40%
I ask friends if they’ve bought from them before 34.67% 42.70%
What other people are saying about them on social media 25.17% 26.80%
The company’s own social media pages 18.88% 18.10%
N/A – I do not buy from any new retailers 10.19% 9.00%
N/A – I do not check any sources when making a purchase this way 10.49% 7.70%
Other 0.70% 0.90%

 

Women are considerably more likely  to check online reviews before checking out with a retailer they’ve never bought from before.

It’s a similar story when it comes to asking friends – women again being the likelier to do so. 

 

Age and Online Reviews

We can dive into the data and segment our respondents by age as well. When we look at the top 3 responses (check online reviews, ask friends and check social media) we see some clear variation in answers across age groups. As we enter 2024, it’s fair to say internet users span all age ranges. This is reflected in the fact that each age group is influenced, to a greater or lesser extent, by online reviews according to our statistics.

We can dive into the data and segment our respondents by age as well. When we look at the top 3 responses (check online reviews, ask friends and check social media) we see some clear variation in answers across age groups.

What sources, if any, do you check before making a purchase from a retailer you’ve never bought from before? (Tick all that apply)
% of respondents who do this (by age) Online reviews (e.g. Trustpilot, FeeFo or similar) I ask friends if they’ve bought from them before What other people are saying about them on social media
16 – 24 37.79% 30.53% 32.82%
25 – 34 53.91% 42.03% 34.20%
35 – 44 53.11% 40.37% 27.33%
45 – 54 53.02% 36.58% 26.51%
55+ 50.65% 40.05% 19.25%

 

Younger people are significantly less likely to check online reviews before making a purchase from a retailer they’ve never bought from before.

In every single age group above 25, at least half of respondents check online reviews, according to our statistics. But in those ages 16 to 24, this number falls dramatically to 38%.

It’s a similar story when it comes to asking friends whether they’ve bought from a retailer before – the youngest age group in our survey is the least likely to do so.

But it’s the 16 to 24s and the 25 to 34s who are the most likely to check social media and find out what other people are saying there before making a buying decision.

Fewer than 1 in 5 over 55s will ever look to social media for the answers when checking up on a prospective new retailer. 

 

Online Reviews for Big Retailers

So we know that consumers will go out of their way to look up online reviews before spending money with a lesser known retailer they’ve never shopped with before.

But what about the big brand retailers? Do consumers go looking for reviews about them?

To establish this, we went to kwfinder.com and looked at the average number of searches for the UK’s top 50 brands in 2023 for their brand plus “reviews.”

So, for example, “Amazon Reviews,” or “Asda reviews.”

We then repeated this process for each year back to 2019.

Here’s what we found:

 

Keyword 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
amazon reviews 2317 3642 2375 1783 2600
argos reviews 590 1098 892 683 765
asda reviews 384 780 810 867 1000
boots reviews 313 653 559 562 650
sainsbury’s reviews 471 769 579 563 590
tesco reviews 2050 2500 2192 2067 2600
aldi reviews 458 493 463 503 480
apple reviews 323 361 388 353 375
blacks reviews 39 120 103 65 45
dunelm reviews 468 763 821 843 870
the entertainer reviews 147 68 62 58 40
farfetch reviews 746 1663 1367 1215 1090
holland & barrett reviews 11 41 27 16 30
jd sports reviews 250 734 525 318 210
lookfantastic reviews 1593 3842 3325 2433 1750
marisota reviews 141 58 23 12 10
marks & spencer reviews 10 11 21 43 20
next reviews 393 683 1088 601 600
robert dyas reviews 434 963 975 965 1000
shoe zone reviews 78 120 153 158 90
toolstation reviews 188 548 499 405 390
urban outfitters reviews 62 129 161 170 215
yours clothing reviews 100 215 321 347 245
adidas reviews 76 101 112 115 110
b&q reviews 337 488 375 344 375
the fragrance shop reviews 488 1354 1103 859 845
h&m reviews 123 177 161 145 160
halfords reviews 334 558 677 613 720
iceland reviews 446 766 740 589 590
jack wills reviews 53 90 61 61 80
john lewis reviews 1215 1325 1250 1110 1000
jojo maman bebe reviews 75 133 128 136 110
lloyds pharmacy reviews 114 195 248 380 420
louis vuitton reviews 28 46 57 43 70
majestic reviews 15 22 18 20 25
menkind reviews 78 217 180 133 144
morrisons reviews 294 618 537 503 535
nelly com reviews 52 42 43 27 35
new balance reviews 64 80 93 93 110
new look reviews 178 197 251 269 235
phase eight reviews 62 50 114 164 125
radley reviews 23 29 36 28 30
river island reviews 142 208 200 202 245
ryman reviews 61 177 274 161 125
screwfix reviews 208 290 297 391 490
t m lewin reviews 164 145 93 100
waitrose reviews 188 392 466 675 535
wickes reviews 388 553 593 635 655
wilko reviews 197 358 237 193 210
american golf reviews 49 83 118 75 60
boden reviews 137 133 143 143 200

 

Over time, review searches for the big retailers have, in many cases, dropped slightly. Though some potential explanations for this:

  • Online shopping increased dramatically over the 2020 to 2021 period owing to various lockdowns and restrictions brought about to combat the effects of the Covid pandemic.
  • Arguably, better known retailers are likelier to be better trusted by consumers, resulting in them feeling less need to look up reviews

We also took a look, for the same 50 big retailers, how searches for their brand term alone compare with searches for their brand term plus “reviews.”

So, for example, when we looked at Amazon, we looked up both:

  • Amazon
  • Amazon reviews

We wanted to see how review searches stack up against pure brand searches.

Brand Pure Brand Term Searches (June 2022) Brand + Review Searches June 2022 Review searches as a percentage of brand searches
Amazon 16600000 1300 0.01
Argos 11100000 590 0.01
Asda 6120000 880 0.01
Boots 5000000 480 0.01
Sainsbury’s 7480000 590 0.01
Tesco 7480000 1900 0.03
Aldi 3350000 480 0.01
Apple 1000000 210 0.02
Blacks 368000 50 0.01
Dunelm 3350000 880 0.03
The Entertainer 201000 30 0.01
Farfetch 165000 1300 0.79
Holland & Barrett 1000000 10 0.00
Jd Sports 2740000 260 0.01
Lookfantastic 550000 1900 0.35
Marisota 60500 10 0.02
Marks & Spencer 90500 40 0.04
Next 7480000 480 0.01
Robert Dyas 246000 880 0.36
Shoe Zone 301000 140 0.05
Toolstation 2240000 390 0.02
Urban Outfitters 673000 140 0.02
Yours Clothing 450000 480 0.11
Adidas 1000000 70 0.01
B&Q 4090000 390 0.01
The Fragrance Shop 90500 590 0.65
H&M 2240000 110 0.00
Halfords 2240000 590 0.03
Iceland 2240000 480 0.02
Jack Wills 135000 50 0.04
John Lewis 4090000 880 0.02
Jojo Maman Bebe 90500 70 0.08
Lloyds Pharmacy 673000 390 0.06
Louis Vuitton 550000 40 0.01
Majestic 74000 20 0.03
Menkind 60500 70 0.12
Morrisons 5000000 390 0.01
New Balance 450000 90 0.02
New Look 3350000 210 0.01
Phase Eight 246000 260 0.11
Radley 60500 10 0.02
River Island 1830000 170 0.01
Ryman 135000 90 0.07
Screwfix 5000000 260 0.01
T.M. Lewin 90500 110 0.12
Waitrose 1830000 590 0.03
Wickes 2240000 720 0.03
Wilko 1830000 140 0.01
American Golf 301000 70 0.02
Boden 301000 90 0.03

 

Simply put, when it comes to BIG retailers, users don’t appear particularly likely to go hunting out their reviews.

Of all the retailers in the list above, their review searches represent just 0.03% of their brand searches.

So people are 3,300 times likelier to search just for their brand term than they are for the reviews.

With that in mind, it seems a fair conclusion (alongside the fact our figures show half of UK consumers look up reviews for retailers they’ve never bought from before) that online reviews are much more of a dealbreaker for less established businesses.

 

Most Popular Online Review Platforms

A 2022 report found that 88% of all reviews come from just 4 platforms:

  • Google My Business
  • Facebook
  • TripAdvisor 
  • Yelp

The top 4 doesn’t include two of the big retail centric online review platforms, TrustPilot and Feefo.

We looked at the estimated monthly searches in Google UK and globally for these 2 to look at which people look for most.

 

Keyword  Average UK monthly Average global monthly
TrustPilot 353000 1270000
FeeFo 7700 11300

 

Despite its estimated 1.27 million monthly searches globally, TrustPilot still doesn’t attract anywhere near the review engagement of the likes of Google or Facebook.

 

Some Consumers Only Look for Companies with a Minimum Online Rating

The same report that found 88% of reviews come from just 4 sites also highlighted data about the potential impact of negative reviews.

Up to 70% of people will use filters based on average ratings when looking for retailers. In other words, people are going out of their way to only be shown products and services from businesses that have a specified minimum rating.

  • Around a third of consumers filter so as not to see companies with lower than a 4 star rating
  • For just over a fifth of consumers, the minimum level they set on filters is 3 stars
  • A very particular 10% filter companies with less than 5 stars

More Online Review Statistics for 2024

Longing for more? Check out these quick facts and figures on online reviews!

  • 94% of consumers say an online review convinced them not to make a purchase 
  • BrightLocal found that 98% of people read reviews when looking for local businesses
  • The same study found that almost three quarters of consumers have left a review for a local business in the last 12 months 
  • 88% of small businesses monitor their online reputation at least quarterly

 

Online Reputation Management Demand 

We took a look at the global searches monthly in Google UK for “online reputation management services” in January of each of 2019 to 2024. Here’s what we found:

Month  Searches for “Online Reputation Management Services”
January 2019 1300
January 2020 4000
January 2021 2900
January 2022 6600
January 2023 1900
January 2024 2900

 

We found:

  • Demand for online reputation management services peaked in January 2022, after the major Covid lockdowns during which point more online businesses were founded
  • In January 2024 there was more than double the demand for online reputation

 

What is Online Reputation Management? 

Online Reputation Management is the process of managing a brand’s online reputation. Examples of this include influencer relations, brand image creation on social media, the use of press releases, blog posts, SEO consulting to promote favourable web results and reviews. 

  • 69% of people looking for jobs say they would turn down a job offer from a company with reputation problems.
  • 49% of customers say they’re more likely to purchase when they receive a response on social media.
  • Most Online Reputation Management solutions take between 50 to 200 hours over several months
  • And believe it or not, just 15% of business executives proactively do something about their company’s online reputation!

 

Online Reviews are Going Nowhere

As online shopping becomes the default for many consumers, online reviews are going absolutely nowhere. Savvy shoppers are able, in just a click or two, to find out how other people found dealing with a business before they deal with that business themselves.

That’s a powerful tool for a consumer. And as for the businesses themselves, well, unless they’re lucky enough to be established brands already with a loyal happy customer base, then online reviews could be make or break for their reputation. Such reviews will often show up in search too, meaning they can influence both SEO and PPC performance.

So monitoring online reviews, actively engaging with reviewers and, of course, ensuring customers have a great experience buying from you, is absolutely critical for businesses.

 

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