How Four AI Startups Help Brands Exploit Customer Reviews

Already, as of 2010, a quarter of Americans (24%) had posted product reviews or comments online, and 78% of Internet users had gone online for product research. But those are ancient stats. More recently, BrightLocal found in 2016 that 91% of consumers regularly or occasionally read online reviews, with 47% taking sentiment of local-business reviews -- the tonality of a review's text -- into account in purchasing decisions. Breaking out the figures, 74% of consumers say that positive reviews make them trust a local business more and 60% say that negative reviews make them not want to use a business, according to BrightLocal. So reviews are important, and the feelings expressed are key.