Consumers Say Brands Should Respond to Online Reviews

A new study finds that consumers think brands should be very active online responding to reviews. In fact, 65% of consumers think brands should respond to every online review every time, whether the review is positive or negative. This is part of what location marketing solution provider Uberall uncovered in its just released "Customer Review Report," which analyzed how consumers evaluate reviews online.

Other observations from the study were that 18% of consumers believe brands should respond only when the review is negative, while 10% feel they should never respond, and 6% think they should only respond when the review is positive.

When asked how personalized a brand's response should be to a customer review, 78% said that there should be some personalization. Forty-nine percent said responses should be "somewhat personalized," while 29% said "very personalized."

When asked how likely they would be to pick a location that responds to online reviews, 86% said they would be more likely. Of that group, 47% said "somewhat more likely," while 39% said "more likely."

"Consumers prefer businesses who care about them, and it shouldn't be a surprise that personal responses to reviews show just that to consumers who research a business," said Josha Benner, Uberall co-founder. "Responding to reviews is great for brand perception which leads to more new customers and repeat business from existing ones."

When asked about the importance of online customer reviews, 74% cited them as either "moderately important" (40%) or "very important" (34%).

"Customer reviews are important, period," added Benner. "Three-quarters of those surveyed said they were either very or fairly influential. With so many options out there, you live or die based on ratings."

The study took place in early October and included a survey of more than 1,000 consumers throughout the U.S.