Customer ratings are becoming an increasingly important factor to customers exploring their options in the travel market, according to research carried out by pricing specialists Simon-Kucher.
The research, which looked at the opinions of around 6,400 customers across 23 different countries, found that ratings play a major role in the way consumers decide to spend their money. The study revealed 56% of consumers check travel and hospitality ratings regularly, while 36% of surveyors said they add to the momentum of customer reviewers by creating their own ratings after making a travel or hospitality-related purchase.
Notably, a third of respondents said they recently switched from their initial choice of business due to consumer ratings, with a further 40% admitting they tend to choose the highest rated option available when making a travel/hospitality-based decision. The research also found that half (50%) of people take advantage of customer ratings in order to make them feel better informed when making these decisions, with 30% maintaining ratings reduce the amount of bad purchases they make. However, just one fifth of participants claimed they would buy more of something with good ratings, with another 20% claiming they would may more for higher rated products.
Mark Billige, managing partner at Simon-Kucher, said: ?Successful use of ratings has been a driving force allowing Amazon, ebay, Uber, AirBnB, TripAdvisor and many other platforms to harness thousands of smaller suppliers, while building huge levels of satisfaction and trust amongst consumers with minimal marketing spend.
?The use by businesses of the power of ratings to influence customer behaviour is only going to grow further with time and across more sectors,? he continued.
