Women Pay Attention to Online Reviews

A new study by Influence Central confirms the dramatic impact online reviews have on consumers this holiday season, with Amazon emerging as the top site that consumers rely on for checking reviews. According to the study, 85 percent of women consumers consider e-commerce reviews extremely or very important when making a purchase, with 90 percent of consumers saying that an online review is more important than input from a salesperson.

Additional findings include:

• 88 percent of consumers consider online reviews very influential when purchasing a new product from a brand with which they’re not familiar.

• The three biggest reasons women seek out online reviews for holiday shopping are to 1) ensure quality; 2) gather more information when choosing between similar products; and 3) get the best deal.

• For the 43 percent of consumers who check online reviews for items they’ve purchased before, they do so to see if others have had a similar experience and also to see if there is a better product option.

• Consumers consider themselves savvy discerners of reviews, with 97 percent saying they can tell if a review is authentic.

• 87 percent of respondents post online reviews themselves either occasionally or often.

• Consumers are also more mobile than ever, with 26 percent reading reviews from their phones and 18 percent from their tablets. The majority still rely on their laptops and desktops, though, with 88 percent checking reviews most often from their computers.

• Outside of Amazon, the top sites in which consumers rely on online reviews as extremely or very important are Target (67 percent), Best Buy (64 percent) and Walmart (62 percent).

• 76 percent of shoppers plan to write online reviews of the products they either love or hate this holiday season.

So what does this all mean? For retailers and brand managers, it means taking note of the increasingly important role of online reviews– shoppers are getting savvy, and the tides are changing. Companies that understand the importance of reputation management and online reviews will be at a major advantage.