The most important factor for consumers is a company's star rating. Star ratings are a very quick and visual guide to show how trustworthy a company is. But there are other factors that people consider to get a holistic view of a company's reputation. Other factors are review sentiment (i.e. positive or negative comments and statements) and recent (or age) of reviews. For example, if a business has three five-star reviews, but the reviews are two years old, the consumer will likely devalue the importance of the star rating because they really want to see more
recent reviews. When selecting a local business to use, what is the minimum star rating a business must have for you to use them? Minimum star rating Main fax number list conclusions: 87% of people want to see three to five star reviews of a business before they consider using it. Among consumers surveyed, only 14% would consider using a company with one or two stars. For consumers, star rating is considered the most important factor in deciding which local business to use. For example, 56% of consumers will not consider using a
business with only one to three stars; in other words, if a business has less than four stars, it loses 56% of its potential customers. Notably, while consumers see star ratings as an important decision-making factor, they're also realistic – only 8% expect a business to get a five-star rating before considering using them. How do online customer reviews influence your decision to actually use a local business? How do reviews influence decisions? Note: Respondents could select more than one answer, so these numbers cannot be directly compared to 2015 results. Main conclusions: 68% of