Changes in Consumer Behavior on Reviews over 15 years: Conclusions for marketers

Brightlocal has published a new report that analyzes consumers' behavior about 15 years. It finds changes in how people explore and buy from local companies.

The report monitors the popularity of online reviews. He notes an increase in local business research from 2015 to 2016, which coincided with the achievement of 77% of US adult smartphones.

📌 Consumers are now paying less importance to traditional reviews: fewer consumers expect perfect five -star ratings. It is less important for people how fresh reviews are compared to 2018-2020.

The report states: "This is confirmed by the fact that consumers are better understood by the challenges of holding high ratings, and that it is not a realistic indicator of real quality as an independent factor."

💡 It is important to remember that although consumers may take less reviews when deciding what to buy, they are still ready to write them. Over the past five years, nearly three-quarters of adults in the United States have written an online dump.

• 📌 Google continues to lead as the most popular platform for reviews.
• 📌 Facebook has reduced its use and trust from 2020 to 2025.
• 📌 Platforms, such as YouTube, local news resources and social media, are more influential in consumers' help to make decisions.