Consumer expectations for the online review process are on the rise, with more people now expecting brands to communicate with them on platforms such as Yelp. In fact, as many as 65% believe that brands should respond to a review every time, regardless of whether it is positive or negative, according to a survey from Uberall.
But expectations don’t stop with a form letter-style response: 78% of consumers said that there should be some personalization involved:
- 49% said responses should be “somewhat personalized;”
- 29% said “very personalized;”
- 13% said “not very personalized;” and
- 9% said “not personalized.”
“People simply aren’t going to be satisfied with a generic response from a store,” said Josha Benner, Co-Founder of Uberall in a statement. “Some individualization is required to show that the brand cares about the customer. These results perfectly demonstrate why platforms like Google and Yelp spend so much energy on enforcing that businesses post personal responses versus generic, meaningless ones.”
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When asked how likely they would be to shop at a store that responds to online reviews, 86% said they would be more likely to do so.
Unsurprisingly, most shoppers check customer reviews to help them figure out where to shop. Up to 57% said they check reviews “occasionally,” while 19% said they do so “all the time.”
“I anticipate that there will be greater growth for those who always check, as more brands invest in driving eyeballs to their reviews, given the ROI they can deliver,” said Benner.
Retailers also must consider that customers vary on what they consider a positive review. For example, 39% consider a “4.0 rating and above” out of 5.0 to be positive, but others feel differently:
- 20% consider “3.5 and above” to be positive;
- 15% consider “4.5 and up” to be positive;
- 13% consider “5.0” to be positive; and
- 8% consider “3.0 and up” to be positive.
