One implicit reliability signal for business reviews is quantity. Consensus for a given business is validated and reinforced with larger sample sizes. This classic “wisdom of the crowds” dynamic likewise validates review sites like Yelp and Google that reach massive aggregatae reviews volume.
But new data from Yelp and market research firm Kelton indicate that quality may trump quantity. By quality, we mean depth, length, tone and other attributes that confer trust in a given review. These factors engender a sense of reliability and accuracy, which have always been key review factors.
“Our mission is to connect consumers with great local businesses by giving them access to reliable and useful information,” Yelp Vice President of Legal Trust & Safety, Aaron Schur told Localogy.” We’ve always prioritized consumer trust and content integrity. In fact, our stance is quality over quantity.”
Genuine Voice
Going deeper, one clear takeaway is that depth of narrative reviews can infuse a sense of authenticity. This is contrasted with at-a-glance reviews that prioritize star ratings over narrative drill-downs. This finding is notable, as the latter is endemic to Yelp’s style while the former is seen more on Google.
Specifically, 90 percent of survey respondents say they’re more likely to trust reviews that include written content over those with just star ratings. One implication is that ratings can be gamed or automated, whereas genuine voices in narrative reviews are percieved as authentic.
In fact, 59 percent of respondents went as far as to say that ratings unaccompanied by review text shouldn’t be considered “reviews.” And only 3 percent of respondents prefer ratings with no review text. This is likely one reason Yelp has always required that reviews include at least some narrative text.
“Survey respondents said they value review quality over quantity, with a majority of review readers saying they trust reviews with qualitative feedback over a rating without any review text,” Schur told us. “Yelp has always required that ratings are accompanied by review text.”
The Right Horse
What else did the survey uncover? Several other results drive home the above authenticity points. Here’s the highlight reel:
– 64 percent of respondents who read reviews believe that those contributed after a business asked for the review are biased.
– 50 percent of respondents don’t trust reviews if they know the business ask customers to leave reviews.
– The average respondent who reads reviews looks at approximately 5 reviews about a business before deciding if they’ll patronize it.
– 88 percent of respondents are more likely to look past a negative review if they see that the business has responded to it and adequately addressed the issue.
–80 percent of people say they would prefer to see all the reviews for a business or product, including those that the review platform believes are fake or untrustworthy.
All of the above stands to reason in the current environment. Though Yelp has always prioritized quality over quantity in the above ways, authenticity especially resonates in the age of misinformation. Given that consumer trust has been eroded for online content, it appears Yelp has picked the right horse.
“The results from Kelton’s third-party survey showed that consumers care about transparent, high quality and unbiased reviews,” said Schur, “Our content policies have always reflected these principles.”
This survey was fielded among 1,500 people aged 18+ in the United States, conducted online during the period of October 13-20, 2021 and has a margin of error of +/- 2.5%.
