A product with five reviews is 270% more likely to be purchased than one with no reviews
Verified Confidence: medium
Primary source found; it says the same thing, the scope matches, and it is reasonably current.
- Commonly cited as
- "Reviews increase conversions by 270%"
- True origin
- Spiegel Research Center, Northwestern University (with PowerReviews) — How Online Reviews Influence Sales (2017)
- Type
- Stat check: A widely repeated statistic traced back to its origin.
- Year
- 2017
- Data as of
- 2017 report
- Last checked
- What the source says
The purchase likelihood for a product with five reviews is 270% greater than the purchase likelihood of a product with no reviews. ... when reviews were displayed for a lower-priced product, the conversion rate increased 190%. However, for a higher-priced product, the conversion rate increased 380%.
- Method & sample
- Analysis of e-commerce review and purchase data supplied by PowerReviews, by Northwestern's Spiegel Research Center; sample details are in the full report, not on this page.
- Drift between quote and source
- Often generalized to 'reviews increase conversion 270%'; the figure compares five reviews with zero reviews
- Data partner PowerReviews sells review software
- Interest
- PowerReviews, which supplied the data, sells ratings and reviews software.
Safe rephrasing
Northwestern's Spiegel Research Center (2017, PowerReviews data) found products with five reviews were 270% more likely to be purchased than products with none; gains flatten after the first five.
Sources we opened
Machine-readable: /api/claims/products-with-5-reviews-270-percent-more-likely-purchased.json · Last checked 2026-10-16