While '4.0+' Review Star Rating is Ideal, About Half Consider Visiting with '3.5+' [Survey on Usage of Reviews]

**FINEXT Inc. (Headquarters: Fujimino City, Saitama Prefecture, https://finext.co.jp/), which provides Web marketing support for SMEs based in Fujimino City, Saitama Prefecture, conducted a 'Survey on the Actual Usage of Reviews' among 329 men and women nationwide in their 20s to 60s who have used reviews as a reference when choosing stores or services.**

This survey was conducted to clarify as primary information how review star ratings, volume, and freshness affect consumers' decisions to visit a store.

As a result, it was revealed that while the most common minimum star rating considered for a visit was '4.0 or higher' (28.3%), about half of the respondents (47.4%) said they would consider visiting even with a rating of 3.5 to 3.9.

Furthermore, the survey suggests that having '10 or more' reviews and freshness 'within 3 months' are the dividing lines for trust, indicating that having a mechanism to continuously collect reviews makes a difference in the ability to attract customers.

**Survey Overview**

* Survey Period: Wednesday, March 11, 2026 - Tuesday, March 16, 2026 * Survey Target: Men and women nationwide in their 20s to 60s who have referred to reviews when choosing stores or services * Valid Responses: 329 (121 men / 208 women) * Age Breakdown: 20s: 68 / 30s: 124 / 40s: 81 / 50s: 44 / 60s: 12 * Survey Method: Internet survey * *Percentages for multiple-choice questions are calculated using the number of valid respondents as the denominator.* * *Because data is rounded to one decimal place, totals may not equal exactly 100%.

**Summary of Survey Results**

* The most used platform for gathering reviews is Google Maps (76.6%), followed by Tabelog (64.1%), with e-commerce sites like Amazon and Rakuten Ichiba also ranking high. * When reading reviews, the most important factor is 'overall star rating' (76.9%), followed by 'text content of the review' (74.2%) and 'number of reviews' (61.7%). * The most common minimum star rating for considering a visit is '4.0+' (28.3%), but about half (47.4%) will consider visiting even with '3.5-3.9'. * The tipping point for the number of reviews is '10-19' (21.3%), and roughly 70% say they trust a business with a total of 10 or more reviews. * The most preferred freshness of reviews is 'within 3 months' (30.1%), and combining it with 'within 1 month', more than half (56.2%) consider it important. * Over 60% responded that they 'have' experience posting reviews, revealing a growing consumer awareness of posting reviews. * The biggest motivation for posting a review is 'when having an exceptionally good experience' (62.2%), suggesting that experience design influences reviews. * The top three reasons for not posting reviews are 'no habit of writing' (56.3%), 'takes time and effort' (41.4%), and 'anxious about personal information' (33.6%), all of which are barriers that can be resolved through systems.

**Request Regarding Citations** When citing the survey results, please use 'Source: FINEXT Inc. [Survey...]'