Influencer Fatigue? 98% of Shoppers Don’t Trust Social Media Recommendations

You’re about to hit Add to Cart, but you see concerning reviews creeping from the bottom of the screen. It makes you wonder—wait, are these 5-star reviews even real?

In a world where we can order anything from groceries to thoughtful gifts in a few clicks, online reviews have become our de facto friends when it comes to confirming our purchases. But can we rely on them to make better buying decisions?

With the FTC cracking down on fake reviews, we decided to dig into how much America really trusts online reviews.

Our latest survey finds that nearly 70% of Americans have ditched an online purchase due to concerns about product reviews. And with 28% of Americans saying they always check reviews before buying, the pressure is on for retailers to earn consumer trust.

Let’s look into America’s online shopping habits, and what they make of online product reviews.

Almost a third of Americans (31.8%) are making online purchases a few times a month, while nearly 1-in-5 (18.7%) are adding items to their cart every week. Daily shoppers are a rare breed—just 1.8% admit to buying online daily. And even rarer are the 0.9% who say they never shop online at all.

As online shopping becomes more of a weekly and daily routine for millions of Americans, it’s worth looking at what we’re buying online, too.

It’s no secret that we want to look good and feel good (retail therapy, anyone?). Our survey respondents revealed that the majority of purchases online (59%) are clothing and accessories. Not far behind are beauty or personal care products (40%). And groceries and health products now account for over a third of all online purchases.

So why not go to the store to try on clothes, or just grab your groceries on the way home from work? Is it just the convenience of scrolling through endless options from different retailers at competitive prices? Or is it the power of reviews?

Whether you’re getting a sweet new jacket or checking out the latest superfood, we can browse through hundreds, even thousands, of reviews before buying to confirm our purchase is just right. It’s not just about convenience, but also confidence in our purchases—and we rely on others’ experience to help make those decisions.

With so many products vying for our attention, half of the country is relying heavily on reviews: 28% of Americans always look at online user reviews before making a purchase, and another 28% do so often.

But are we reading these for mere entertainment? Our survey shows that we don’t take online reviews lightly.

The vast majority of our survey respondents said they were influenced by online reviews, with 52.3% of those being at least somewhat influenced, and 28.5% said they were influenced a great deal.

On the flip side, just over 5% of people say online reviews don’t influence them at all (Is this a rare gift of indifference or is it simply ignoring the gift of customer insights?).

Most strikingly, nearly 70% of Americans have abandoned an online purchase due to concerns from product reviews. That means retailers must keep a vigilant eye on customer feedback to stay at the top of the star ratings. By identifying recurring issues and addressing complaints as they come, brands can keep the trolls and grumpy “had a bad day” reviewers to a minimum while building trust and credibility with their real customers.

While a significant number of respondents rely on online reviews, complete trust is hard to become by. In fact, only 4.9% of people say they completely trust online reviews. Still, an impressive 89.5% still find them reliable at least half the time or more.

Our survey also reveals that verified buyer reviews hold the highest trust (31.3%), closely followed by recommendations from family or friends (28.4%). That means we may trust authentic reviewers over our nearest and dearest when it comes to our online purchases—assuming the reviews are, in fact, real.

Nearly 10% of our respondents said they rarely, if ever, trust online reviews. And over half of Americans (58.5%) believe reviews could be easily faked or manipulated.

But with any luck, we’ll see less scammy scribes stuffing the comments in the future: The FTC’s crackdown on fake and AI-generated reviews aims to shift public perception and hold companies accountable for misleading reviews, turning online reviews into a trustworthy and reliable source of information—free from manipulation and auto-generated 5-star reviews.

“Only 2.2% of American consumers trust social media influencers for purchase advice, which isn’t surprising because most influencers aren’t trained experts and often are just posting sponsored content,” says Peter Holslin, Managing Editor for Reviews.org.

“On the other hand, more than 80% of people say that online reviews sway their purchase decisions for important services like an internet connection,” Holslin adds. “You can trust feedback from real customers a lot more because you’re getting an honest take in a similar way as what you’d get from a friend or peer. Also some products get a ton of reviews, which gives you a bigger sample size of feedback and opinions.”

Reviews.org conducted a survey in September 2024 with 1,000 Americans aged 16 and older. The survey focused on online reviews and shopping habits. The margin of error was +/- 4% and the confidence level was 95%.