Local Consumer Review Survey 2025

How often are consumers reading business reviews?

It appears that, over time, consumers have been reading online reviews less frequently. We can see a clear pattern shifting from the consumers ‘always’ reading reviews to those who ‘occasionally’ read them.

Why might that be? In this instance, we didn’t ask consumers how often they’re looking for new local businesses to purchase from in general, but it could point to wider signs of changes in consumer spending. 

Although consumer spending in the US is higher than ever, the sentiment and intention of purchases have changed and consumer confidence is generally reported as low. So, it could be that consumers aren’t shopping around for new local businesses as much in general.

The good news for local businesses, though, is that just 4% of consumers say they ‘never’ read online business reviews. The opportunity of good reputation management remains wide open.

What traditional review platforms are consumers using?

It would be quite a shocking year if Google dropped off the top spot; after all, it continues to dominate both the search engine and review platform markets. But, after a slight decrease in the percentage of consumers saying they used it to find reviews in 2024 (from 87% in 2023 to 81%), Google has climbed back up.

We do know that Google’s power is beginning to weaken, though. Despite being the market leader in search, it has been reported that in Q4 of 2024 its share of the market dropped below 90% for the first time since 2015. So, it does beg the question: why are more consumers seemingly using Google for reviews in 2025?

It could point to a sense of general mistrust in the other platforms available. If we look at the other platforms, there is a general downward trend in the percentage of consumers that use them to find reviews over the years.

Perhaps most notably is Facebook, where we can see consistent decreases since 2022, compared to Yelp and Better Business Bureau (BBB) where we can see the decreases steadying. This correlates with what we found in the Local Business Discovery and Trust Report 2023, where we discovered that 43% of US consumers find the information they see on Facebook to be untrustworthy. 

After a promising couple of years suggesting that use of Apple Maps was on the up, it’s interesting to see the percentage drop back down. Apple continues to make improvements for both businesses and consumers, with appealing tools in Apple Business Connect and new ways for users to explore the world. It’s one I’m keen to keep an eye on, so maybe we’ll see more significant shifts in its usage throughout 2025.

It’s also quite surprising to see the downward trend affecting Healthgrades. According to Healthgrades, half of Americans who see a doctor each year visit the review site beforehand. So does this mean that US residents are seeking out healthcare less frequently? 

It may well be the case. In 2023, 27% of American adults avoided some form of medical treatment as a result of the cost—the fourth highest year for avoiding care on record.

Meanwhile, Trustpilot is bucking the trend with a higher percentage of consumers using the platform for reviews over the years. This coincides with the Danish firm reporting soaring shares amid significant increases in bookings in 2024. The platform points to innovation, increases in consumers reading and writing reviews, and increases in customer acquisition for its success.

What alternative platforms are consumers using to find business reviews?

We can’t simply assume that consumers head straight to or solely use traditional review platforms in their local business research. For the last few years, we’ve focused on the growth of alternative platforms for local business discovery and review content.

Almost half of US adults turn to local news outlets as sources for local business reviews. Observing this as a UK resident, it seemed surprising at first. Yet it’s fair to say that the sheer scale of regions and states in the USA makes relying on local news imperative for staying informed. It also shows the important role that local news plays in building trust with consumers.

Amid changes in how local news is accessed today, the Pew Research Center conducted research on America’s relationship with local news in 2024. Not only are consumers increasingly preferring to access local news via digital channels, the research also found that consumers still believe local journalism is important to their communities.

Now, community engagement is a local marketing tactic that often gets overlooked, perhaps due to the effort involved. However, the fact that almost half of consumers are looking to local news for business reviews and information cannot be ignored. 

Business owners, think about the ways you can get involved with your local community and local media beyond just trying to get your business mentioned in a listicle for local link building. Consider things like local events, charity and community initiatives, and sponsorships.

Meanwhile, we can see consumers flitting between YouTube and Instagram as key alternatives for local business reviews. It’s interesting that the two appear to be wrestling to take the number two spot in the chart, as both platforms are arguably very different in terms of content.

YouTube caters to long-form, informational and how-to video content, while Instagram prioritizes lifestyle content and short-form videos like Reels and stories. Arguably, YouTube has a better search functionality (hi, Google), although you could also assert that Instagram is better geared towards local businesses with ‘Places’ and interactive map functionality.

Next, after expecting to see an increase in the percentage of consumers using TikTok for business reviews, I was surprised to see this back to 2022 levels—and this is considering we gathered consumer data before the temporary/delayed app ban in the US just a week ago. 

The bill for its proposed ban surfaced in early 2024, putting the platform under threat. So could users have switched platforms in advance of this happening, or are we seeing a slowing in the amount of people using TikTok?

Another surprising finding is that, after 9% of consumers said they used ChatGPT or other AI to find reviews in 2024, this is down to 6%. While not specifically designed for local search (yet—hello ChatGPT Search), you would expect the appetite for and usage of such tools to have increased after another year.

Unsurprising findings: a decline in the percentage of consumers using X (the literal wild west of social media) for local business reviews, as well as a decline for Threads. Oh yeah, did anyone else completely forget about Threads?

Where does video content fit with business reviews?

Considering what we’ve learned about consumers using local news and social media for review content, where does video fit in all of this? We asked our consumer panel about the different formats they consume when looking for information about local businesses.

Very surprisingly, the top answer is video content that businesses have posted about their own products or services—more than a third of US consumers prefer to consume this type of video content over content from their own friends, influencers they follow, or everyday social media reviewers!

The fact that consumers will navigate straight to a business to view their video content suggests that they’re close to a decision and already have a good idea of what they’re looking for. Perhaps they’ve already taken to review sites to read about different customer experiences, before looking to specific brands to shortlist their options.

Next, 31% of respondents said they watch videos from everyday people on social media. While this isn’t an app-specific question, this feels like it lends itself more to the TikTok algorithm. Again, it’s interesting that consumers prefer the video content of total strangers to the video content posted by people they know.

However, it might show that consumers are looking to everyday social media users as they can assess these opinions more objectively. You can attach assumptions to the opinions of people you know, and influencer content has the risk of being swayed by sponsorships and gifted experiences.

It’s fascinating to see that consumers don’t really care for video content that forms a collection or series, whether by an influencer or relevant media outlets. The first thing that springs to mind to me, as a foodie, is the classic influencer ‘Top five places to eat brunch in x city’ style of content.

Again, maybe this shows that consumers have an idea in mind, and want to see more focused content about specific businesses as part of their shortlisting process. They don’t want to have to sit through lots of other content.

Finally, while just under a quarter of people said they don’t watch video content when researching local businesses, that also means that over three quarters of US consumers do! And, with business page content coming out as the top answer, that should absolutely be food for thought.

How many websites do consumers check for reviews?

When a consumer is looking at business reviews, do they check what they’re seeing against information on other review platforms and websites? Or are they happy to make a decision based on just the one?

27% of consumers said they only use one website for reading reviews before deciding to use a local business, which is up 4% on 2024’s findings. And the percentage of consumers using three or more websites has also decreased year on year. But, the majority of consumers (40%) say they use at least two on average.

So, we can infer that less people are checking multiple sources of review information than before, but on the whole, 74% of consumers say they use two or more.

Why is this important? It’s a reminder that, although Google is the biggest review platform, you should also be focusing on diversifying your review portfolio. If your business is listed on other sites, like Yelp, TripAdvisor or BBB, but it has no review information attached—or worse, lots of unread or unanswered feedback that contrasts with your Google Business Profile (GBP)—that might start to sound alarm bells in the minds of potential customers.

In the Local Business Discovery and Trust Report 2023, we found that 63% of consumers would lose trust in a business after seeing mostly negative written reviews. Therefore, maintaining consistent review profiles should be seen as an important trust factor. 

The Most Important Review Factors to Consumers

We asked our consumer panel what parts of a business review would make them feel positive about using a local business. The top answer, as it has been for several years, is that the review describes a positive experience. While it might seem like a no-brainer, the fact that this answer comes out on top shows that consumers are consistently reading the details of written consumer reviews and not just glancing at the overall average rating.

Surprisingly, though, this answer has dropped 16% since 2024, making it the most significant decrease out of all the options. Could this mean that consumers are less interested in only reading about positive experiences than they have been previously?

If we look at some of the other options, the data does suggest that people are leaning towards a sense of objectivity, while still looking for detail.

For example, we can see increases in consumers saying that photos or videos accompanying reviews (up 3%), as well as long and detailed reviews (up 7%), would make them feel positive about choosing a local business.

This reinforces the point that consumers are paying attention to the details of business reviews, but suggests that they are gathering the facts to make a decision for themselves and supporting what they find with accompanying photos and video.

The Impact of Review Ratings, Review Count, and Review Recency

Some factors of reviews can be quite subjective, such as what consumers perceive to be a ‘high’ star-rating or what they perceive to count as recent. Plus, from a business perspective, there are also important local ranking factors attached to these signals. 

Interestingly, 20% of consumers feel that reviews as recent as two weeks old are impactful to their decisions, which is down 7% on 2024. We can also see slight increases in consumers willing to accept reviews that have been written in the past six months to a year as still having an impact on their overall decision-making.

Meanwhile, a greater percentage of consumers are willing to make decisions on businesses with as few as 0-49 business reviews than they were in 2024.

Expectations for 50 or more reviews have also dropped down year on year, while the percentage of consumers who say they don’t care about review count has also increased by 3%.

Together with the recency findings, it shows a sense of leniency towards businesses and an understanding that some factors can be out of a business’s control. This will be music to small business owners’ ears, I’m sure, as we know how hard it can sometimes be to attract new business reviews.

As for star ratings, on the surface it appears that not much has changed in terms of consumer expectations in 2025, compared to those of previous years.

However, there is a 4% increase in the percentage of consumers saying that star-rating doesn’t impact their decisions at all.

This finding is in line with our suggestion that consumers might be shifting towards more objectivity when it comes to their local business research, and just want to focus on reading about real experiences.

Trust in Recommendations vs. Business Reviews

Consumers are placing trust in other reviewers when reading their experiences, but how does this measure up against the recommendations they receive from people they know?

We’ve been asking this question for many years now. Aside from an increase of 4% in 2024, the percentage of consumers who say they trust reviews as much as personal recommendations from friends and family has decreased significantly over time.

In fact, while our 2020 report found that 79% of consumers trust reviews as much as personal recommendations, this now sits at 42% in 2025. What this tells us is that, although we know consumers are reading the details of reviews, they are wary of placing too much trust in the reviewer.

As we’ve already discussed with video content, does this show that consumers are moving to a more objective standpoint, where they’re gathering information to make decisions for themselves?

How are consumers using review filters?

If consumers are spending time reading about other people’s experiences, how are they sorting through all of that information? 

We asked consumers how they interact with various filtering options on Google reviews. While it’s important to note that this information is specific to Google, it’s fair to say that most, if not all, key review platforms tend to offer users the same features.

We presented respondents with a screenshot of a Google Business Profile, labeling the key review functions that they might use to sort information, and asked them to rate their usefulness.

Arguably, the majority of users find these features useful at least in some way, but almost a fifth of consumers (19%) said that the highlighted review was ‘not useful’ to them, and 13% said that sorting reviews by the lowest rating was also ‘not useful’—these must be our consumers wanting to read descriptions of positive experiences!

There isn’t much you can do as a business owner to influence this data, but it’s really interesting to see how consumers are engaging with review content. Plus, if you know that 92% of consumers find keyword filters and photos useful in some way, that can serve as inspiration for encouraging your customers to be more creative and detailed in their feedback.

Think you serve up the world’s best cup of coffee? What about the loveable stray cat that’s chosen your premises as its home and become a local celebrity? Keyword filters will start to appear for your business if people are consistently talking about the same things—keep in mind, that goes for negative stuff, too.

Using AI Review Summaries to Guide Decisions

Review platforms, and other types of websites that display reviews as a key feature, are often making changes and improvements to the way consumers interact with them.

Although this research focuses on the reviews of physical location businesses, a good example is how e-commerce sites like Amazon have implemented review summaries. These essentially use AI to analyze the sentiment and detail of customer reviews to provide other users with quick summaries.

Google Business Profile also uses review snippets and business information summaries to provide users with snapshots of information about local businesses at a glance. So, we were curious as to how consumers might be using the information like review summaries in their business research.

The majority (48%) said they’d read the review summary, before going on to read a variety of positive and negative reviews. However, almost a fifth (18%) of consumers told us they’d be willing to make a decision based on this information alone!

Whether they realise it or not, this shows that a fair amount of consumers are placing reliance on artificial intelligence.

Are consumers suspicious of fake reviews?

Local marketers and business owners will be no strangers to the perils of fake reviews and how troublesome they can be. But how aware are consumers? Interestingly it appears that less consumers are confident they’ve spotted a fake review in the last year (24% vs. 19% in 2024).

Of course, that can mean several things. It could be that there are less fake reviews out there or that businesses and review platforms are able to get them taken down faster. Or it could mean that some of the fakes are really good. There is also the possibility that consumers are just oblivious to what constitutes a fake review.

What signals ‘fake’ to a consumer?

I’ll admit, you could argue that some of the ‘new’ options we presented to consumers this year are slightly leading, in that it might imply if something has been written by AI then it suggests it must be fake. However, 46% of consumers did say that would make them suspicious of a fake review, up 6% on 2024’s report and coming out as the top answer. If anything, it shows a lack of understanding around AI on the consumers’ part, which is particularly interesting for reasons we’ll come to later.

42% of consumers would think a review is fake if they feel it might be part of a paid or incentivized agreement. Now, we’ll get onto review incentivization later (spoiler: don’t do it), but anecdotally I’ve noticed a lot of wannabe ‘influencer’ profiles on my travels around Google Maps and Google Business Profile in the last couple of years, and I’m interested to know whether consumers in general are noticing it, too. 

Broadly speaking, this tends to include profile accounts linking to their social media or highlighting availability for reviewing establishments, as well as some questionable ‘personal brand’-style names. 

Conversely, Google recently updated its guidelines to say that review ratings should be backed by reviewer names, as well as comments/written detail to accompany ratings. How it determines real from fake names, though, is surely another question.

Across the board, you’ll note that there are decreases for many of the options, which could tell us that consumers are broadly less suspicious than they were in 2024 or 2023.

Review Responses Help to Build Trust

Do you respond to your business reviews? All of them? It can take time, but there are significant benefits attached to doing so. Firstly, addressing feedback post-purchase should be seen as a vital part of the ongoing customer experience, whether positive, negative, or neutral. It reinforces to your customers that you’re listening and learning.

These responses also tell your potential customers a lot about you, too. Over the years we’ve been running this research, we consistently find that consumers want to see that you’re responding to all feedback: good, bad, and ugly.

This chart shows consumers who are ‘fairly’ to ‘highly’ likely to use a business based on how it responds to customer reviews. As you can see, the difference between businesses responding to all types of feedback as opposed to solely positive or negative feedback, is enormous.

Moreover, the chances of a consumer using a business that doesn’t respond to its reviews at all are even lower. So why risk losing those potential customers?

Review Responses and the Role of AI

In our 2024 report, we introduced a blind test to our consumer panel that asked them to choose their preferred response to a review for a restaurant. What consumers didn’t know was that one was a real business owner’s response, sourced from Google, and the other one we had generated using an AI prompt in ChatGPT.

We brought the blind test back for 2025, using a different type of local business and industry—a vet clinic. 

Amazingly, the results are almost identical year on year, with the majority consumers preferring the content in the AI response. It also contrasts with our earlier findings that consumers might think content that they think is written by AI is fake. Are consumers just less aware of what AI really is than they thought?

As we mused in the 2024 report, it’s hard to say exactly why consumers might prefer this response over the other. Perhaps some consumers felt that the response in option one was a little too long, and maybe even slightly over-the-top in comparison.

With these findings two years in a row, it does show that AI tools can be a useful aid to help local businesses and marketers respond to their reviews with unique content, at scale.

When do consumers expect to see review responses?

Thinking about the consumers that are writing business reviews, have you ever considered what their expectations are in terms of your response—if any?

Just 7% of consumers say they don’t expect review responses, so there is a significant expectation to continue the customer journey after their experience. After all, we local marketers know that the good old marketing funnel doesn’t simply end with purchase. Or at least, it shouldn’t. 

Keeping communication open with customers can go a long way in creating advocacy, and being seen to close the feedback loop by possible customers helps to reinforce trust.

Generally speaking, you should be aiming to respond to customer reviews within a week. Based on this data, we can see that 63% of consumers expect a response between two to three days up to a week.

What types of reviews are consumers writing?

Firstly, slightly fewer consumers have written business reviews in the last year (29% in 2025 compared to 27% in 2024). Among that, ust 4% of consumers said that they haven’t written a review in the last year and never would, which is consistent with our findings since 2023. 

However, that leaves a whopping 96% of consumers who are open to writing your business a review. It also appears that the sentiment of these reviews has changed somewhat, with more consumers writing reviews for both positive and negative types of experiences than they were in 2024 (29% vs. 25%).

We know now that consumers are looking for accounts of all types of experiences, so it makes sense that they’re also willing to leave both positive and negative feedback, too.

What’s holding consumers back from writing reviews?

We know that the hard work of asking customers to review your business can feel frustrating when they don’t follow through. Yet, as consumers, we also know that sometimes it can be hard to find the words to describe certain experiences or interactions with businesses. Not to mention the fact that we are so often swamped by requests.

So, what’s the main reason holding consumers back from writing them? Almost a quarter of US adults feel that the overall business experience was just not noteworthy enough to write about. This suggests that, while we know they’re happy to write both positive and negative feedback, they don’t see the value in sharing average experiences.

Obviously, we’re not going to suggest you lean into giving your customers a reason to leave negative feedback. But the data reinforces the all-important point of customer service and experiences. It’s something we come back to time and time again; in short, you need to give your customers a reason to want to write about you (hopefully, in a glowing manner).

Meanwhile, 10% of consumers said they don’t feel that their review would make a difference to others. How can businesses combat this? Simply: tell them!

Perhaps it’s more commonly seen and understood by consumers for industries like hospitality, where challenging economies and lack of footfall can easily see cafés, bars and restaurants going under. But if you don’t tell them, they won’t know the impact their feedback could have on your business’s review profile, and overall business visibility.

You don’t need to go overboard, but consider how you can reinforce messaging around the impact of consumer reviews on your website, social channels, and even the methods in which you ask customers for reviews.

Incentivizing Customers to Write Business Reviews

On the subject of giving customers a reason to talk about you, one method that we strictly do not recommend is the practice of review incentivization.

Sure, it seems innocent enough that you might want to reward your customers by offering something like a discount on their next visit or bumping up their loyalty points. But review incentivization is seen as biased and disingenuous. 

Plus, it’s incredibly important to be aware that most, if not all, of the official review platforms prohibit doing so altogether, and can punish you if you’re caught doing it. From having your reviews taken down, to displaying what is effectively a public ‘badge of shame’ on your profile, it really just isn’t worth the risk.

That said, it’s understandable that many business owners out there won’t know this, and it is still common to see brands offering rewards and incentives for reviews.

The good news, though, is that 36% of consumers said they don’t recall being offered incentives by a business to leave a review within the last year. This is an increase of 10% on 2024, so it’s a promising sign that the message is getting through.

Across the board, we can also see decreases in the different types of incentives for those who can recall being incentivized.

The Most Effective Review Request Methods

There are plenty of ways in which you can ask your customers to share their feedback with you, from at the point of sale or experience to in the days and weeks afterwards.

Unsurprisingly, in this day and age, email remains the top format in which consumers are most likely to respond. In fact, the percentage of consumers that said they’d be most likely to leave a review when asked by email has increased from 32% to 40%. Despite busy inboxes, email is clearly the most effective way to get in front of your customers.

The second method in which consumers are most likely to write a review is if you simply ask them in person (27%). That doesn’t mean making them do it on the spot! But even so, many people still clearly feel a sense of obligation when they are asked by a person that has been involved in their customer experience. This is a great opportunity to reinforce to them how important that feedback is to your business and team.

It’s worth noting that there are also increases for other methods that follow the point of sale, such as via text message or even over the phone. These methods suggest that catching consumers at the right time is key, and also reinforces our findings that, when asked, most consumers are willing to write reviews.

While it can be difficult to know the right time to follow-up with your customers, the good news is that it can be done with automated review responses via email and text to save you needing to do each prompt individually.

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Windows of Opportunity When Requesting Feedback

The ‘right time’ to ask for a business review will likely depend on your industry and business type, whether you offer products or services, and the significance or value of a customer’s spend.

For example, a coffee shop experience is generally going to be low-value in spend, but fairly quick and easy to recall soon after a customer visit. A healthcare procedure, however, is much more significant in terms of both spend and impact on the consumer, often entailing personal and sometimes invasive procedures. It simply wouldn’t be appropriate in those cases to ask for a business review as they’re walking out the door, or dropping an email an hour later.

What can we do to measure the window of opportunity? We presented consumers with a variety of different industries and asked them how soon they think businesses should get in touch with a review request.

As expected, for businesses relating to the food and drink industry, consumers would expect a request fairly soon after the experience. 48% of consumers expect to receive the prompt by the following day, with 24% of that figure opting for the same day! For businesses in entertainment and beauty, there is more lenience in that consumers feel these requests should come around three days to a week after the experience.

Healthcare, trades and service businesses, and real estate generally follow a similar pattern of between three days to a week. However, it’s important to consider where your business fits within these industries and whether there are other factors that might influence a customer’s receptiveness to your requests. 

Some consumers may need a little more time to consider their satisfaction or experience.

It’s worth noting that there are also increases for other methods that follow the point of sale, such as via text message or even over the phone. These methods suggest that catching consumers at the right time is key, and also reinforces our findings that, when asked, most consumers are willing to write reviews.

While it can be difficult to know the right time to follow-up with your customers, the good news is that it can be done with automated review responses via email and text to save you needing to do each prompt individually.

Build a 5-star Reputation

Collect, monitor, and respond to reviews with ease

Get Started with Reputation Manager _{14-day Free Trial}

The Most Effective Review Request Methods

There are plenty of ways in which you can ask your customers to share their feedback with you, from at the point of sale or experience to in the days and weeks afterwards.

Unsurprisingly, in this day and age, email remains the top format in which consumers are most likely to respond. In fact, the percentage of consumers that said they’d be most likely to leave a review when asked by email has increased from 32% to 40%. Despite busy inboxes, email is clearly the most effective way to get in front of your customers.

The second method in which consumers are most likely to write a review is if you simply ask them in person (27%). That doesn’t mean making them do it on the spot! But even so, many people still clearly feel a sense of obligation when they are asked by a person that has been involved in their customer experience. This is a great opportunity to reinforce to them how important that feedback is to your business and team.