Want to boost sales with reviews? What’s more important than quality and quantity is…

Cross-border sellers all know that, whether from the platform or the buyer side, reviews are a "super auxiliary" to improve listing rankings and conversions, and their importance even exceeds product prices and recommendations from family and friends. However, in addition to the number of reviews and the authenticity of the reviews, the time of the latest reviews is often ignored by sellers.

Recently, PowerReviews released a new study titled "The Power of Recency and Number of Reviews", which surveyed more than 9,000 online shoppers in the United States. The survey showed that nearly 40% of consumers said that if the latest review of a product is more than 90 days old, they will give up buying it. 62% of consumers said that if the review is more than one year old, they will not buy it. Nearly half (44%) of consumers want to see product reviews within the past month.

The study also found that 64% of consumers are more likely to buy a product with fewer, more recent reviews than a product with a higher number of reviews that was posted three months or more ago. This number is even higher among baby boomers, at 69%.

In addition, 86% of respondents place more weight on the latest reviews when considering purchasing a new product or brand, believing that newer reviews are more authentic.

Research shows that review recency is just as important as the number of reviews, and obtaining product reviews is an ongoing endeavor.

The survey also found that most consumers read reviews before buying, and nearly 70% of consumers read 1 to 25 of the most recent product reviews. About 44% of consumers read reviews within the past month. If the most recent review is more than 90 days old, 38% of consumers will not buy the product.

Data shows that the more reviews a product has, the more likely it is to convert. Products with 5,000 or more reviews have a 296.2% higher conversion rate than products with no reviews, and a 122.1% higher conversion rate than products with 1 to 100 reviews.

The survey results show that 79% of people "always" or "often" consider the number of reviews, and 23% say that a product should have more than 500 reviews. Nearly half (45%) said that a product must have at least 1 to 25 reviews before they will buy it.

Reviews are even more important to younger generations, with 80% of consumers saying they would be less likely to buy a product if it didn’t have reviews. That number is even higher among Gen Z shoppers, at 92%.

Editor ✎ Xiao Zhu/

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