Online ratings are very important

Online reviews play a prominent role in the lives of modern consumers. More and more customers regularly check online review sites before making a purchase decision and rely heavily on the opinions and experiences of other individuals. This has significantly increased the amount of information available when making a purchase decision and the consumer's relationship to this information. More than one in two internet users has already published a review online (Bitcom 2014). Online reviews are widely available for almost all products and services and are increasingly becoming a success factor for products and services (McKinsey & Company 2012).

The general influence of online reviews on consumers and their purchasing decisions has already been demonstrated in marketing science. Nevertheless, there are currently gaps in research regarding the individual use of online reviews. This involves the questions of what significance consumers attribute to this source of information, how exactly consumers deal with online reviews and whether certain types of users can be identified.

The following questions are therefore addressed in this research project:

- How important are online reviews for consumers?
- How do consumers deal with online reviews?
- Are there certain types of users of online reviews?

These findings are particularly important for companies that want to understand how online reviews are used by their customers. For operators of online review platforms, these findings also offer opportunities to optimize the information search for website users. Exploiting the many facets of online review platforms is therefore largely dependent on how well and how precisely companies and website operators know the behavior of their users.

The most important results of the study:

- "Users" of online reviews are significantly younger on average (37.7 years) than "non-users" of online reviews (41.5 years).

- The internet is very important to users, regardless of which country they come from. Internet use is predominantly rated as exciting, important and relevant. At the same time, users' experience with the internet is extensive on average.

- Overall, the attitude of users towards online reviews is rather positive. The attitude of German users is generally the most positive, while the attitude of users from Switzerland is less positive in comparison. This difference is particularly marked with regard to the items "I typically read online reviews before making a purchase decision" and "I always look at online reviews before I buy something".

- Only 8 percent of users surveyed do not believe that online reviews can be largely fake, with 54.7 percent of users considering online reviews to be fundamentally credible.

- With regard to the motives for using online reviews, the following motives dominate in all three countries "Receive purchase information" and "Get tips on how to use a product". The least pronounced motive among users from all three countries is "Receive remuneration".

Identification of different user types of online reviews

Due to the often large number of available online reviews (usually >100) and the rich amount of information modules on review websites (e.g. star ranking, review texts or information about the author), users have to decide how to proceed when searching for information and which information modules they attach importance to. In order to identify different user types of online reviews, cluster analysis methods (single-linkage, ward, k-means methods) were carried out. The results show four groups of users who are similar in their approach:

Cluster 1: "The versatile intensive users" (16.9%)

Users in this cluster engage very intensively with online reviews and consider many information components. They place a particular focus on topicality and content-related argumentation, as well as on star rankings. Compared to the other clusters, they are older, have a slightly lower level of education and use online reviews most frequently.

Cluster 2: "Moderate all-round users" (41.9% )

When using online reviews, the cluster members basically show a similar approach to cluster 1, but at a slightly more moderate level. Mediocre ratings play a less important role for them. A typical representative of this cluster also has a rather positive attitude towards online reviews and uses them rather frequently.

Cluster 3: "The selective strategists" (30.8%)

These users are very selective and focus mainly on negative reviews with clear arguments and star rankings. Other "details", such as author information or helpful ratings, are of little interest to them. They are comparatively younger and have a higher level of education than the members of the other clusters.

Cluster 4: "The undecided skeptics" (10.4%)

These individuals have a rather indifferent attitude towards online reviews and use them the least compared to the other clusters. This is also reflected in their interaction, in which few aspects of information are considered intensively overall.

Summary and conclusion

The results of the study clearly indicate that modern consumers place a high value on online reviews. The survey participants stated that they consult online reviews when making a variety of purchasing decisions, in particular to obtain pre-purchase information and to get tips on dealing with products and services. Coupled with a positive attitude towards this source of information and a relatively high perceived credibility, this suggests that the users surveyed consider online reviews to be important. In a country comparison, the German respondents have the most positive attitudes and the strongest user motives. There are comparatively many "non-users" of online reviews among the Swiss respondents.

When dealing with online reviews, the users surveyed generally adopt a strategic approach and show differences in their approach. The results of the cluster analyses show four user types of online reviews that are similar in their approach: "The versatile intensive users", "The moderate all-round users", "The selective strategists" and "The undecided skeptics". This makes it clear that there is no general, universal approach to online reviews among consumers, but that individual differences are of great importance. This insight helps companies and operators of online review websites to achieve a profound understanding of how to deal with online reviews. This enables the targeted addressing of specific users and their behavioral patterns, which in turn holds potential for a more personal and beneficial information environment on review sites.

About the study:

In order to address these research questions, a large-scale survey was conducted with users of the online platform Kjero.com. Kjero.com is a portal where consumers can get to know and try out products as part of product tests. Their experiences with these products are reported to the company in the form of test reports. Kjero.com users are particularly suitable as test subjects as they are generally familiar with the Internet due to their work on the platform and have experience with various products and their evaluation. Their affinity for trying out new things and sharing their opinions with other users makes them a particularly interesting target group for companies.

A selection of kjero.com users from Germany, Austria and Switzerland were contacted, with a total of 1417 users from Germany, 1120 from Austria and 195 from Switzerland. Of the 2732 respondents, 84.9 percent were female and 15.1 percent male. Of the 2732 respondents, a total of 2606 (95.4 percent) stated that they had already used online reviews in connection with a purchase decision. 126 (4.6 percent) of the 2732 respondents stated that they had not yet been in contact with online reviews and were therefore not included in further analyses. This resulted in a relevant sample of 2606 users for the further course of the study.

Summary of the study on Slideshare.