Learn how engaging with online reviews can attract millennial customers and boost your business's reputation in a competitive market.
At Widewail, our focus is on helping our partners improve their online reputations. We believe that customers care deeply about choosing the best businesses to support and that their decisions are heavily influenced by reviews.
By actively responding to reviews, requesting feedback, and addressing customer needs and concerns, your business puts itself a step ahead of the rest when prospects are ready to make a purchase.
But there’s one demographic you can't afford to overlook if you're serious about standing out: millennials.
Born from 1980–1995, millennials are a crucial demographic for businesses to reach today—not only because of their sheer numbers but because they have another 30 years of earning and spending power ahead.
Millennials represent over 70 million people in the United States alone. Their tech-savvy nature and tendency to seek out meaningful, value-driven brands make them influential both on and offline. By understanding and catering to millennial preferences, you can tap into a loyal, long-term customer base that will continue to shape the market for years.
For millennials, reviews are a necessary part of the buying process. According to PowerReviews, 85% of millennials seek out products and websites with reviews, and 48% of millennial shoppers will even look elsewhere if a product lacks them. Reviews are no longer a nice-to-have—they’ve become an expectation, a key factor in decision-making. Growing up with the internet, millennials have a natural ability to navigate online resources, relying heavily on reviews to guide their purchasing choices.
Gen Z, born between 1995 and 2012, takes this expectation even further. They consider a strong online presence a given, and without one, your business may not even be on their radar.
It’s not just glowing praise that millennials and Gen Z are after—they’re most interested in the negative feedback, the worst-case scenarios. 97% of millennials specifically seek out negative reviews and 60% say they specifically seek out one-star reviews.
Why? They value authenticity. Millennials want to see a realistic picture of a product, with both positive and negative feedback. They’re interested in how others like them have interacted with your product or service, how you respond when things go wrong, and how you appreciate your satisfied customers.
Perfection isn’t the expectation—transparency is.
To attract millennial buyers, you need accurate and authentic reviews. And, since satisfied customers are less likely to leave reviews unprompted, asking for feedback is crucial to your success.
At Widewail, we believe in asking every customer to leave a review—SMS outreach and automation are the best ways to ensure this, leaving no stone unturned. If you’re looking for tips on boosting your review count, check out this comprehensive guide on how to encourage more reviews for your business.
Millennials and Gen Z spend significantly more time scouring and scrutinizing reviews than older generations. While boomers typically spend about 10 minutes researching reviews before making a purchase, millennials and Gen Z dedicate 18 minutes to this process (WebsiteBuilderExpert). This increased attention to reviews makes your online presence crucial to your success.
These younger buyers are transforming how businesses compete online. The good news? Building and managing your online reputation is easier and more accessible than ever. With affordable solutions and expert partners available, improving your reputation and SEO is far less daunting than it might seem. As the buyer landscape continues to evolve, this is an advantage businesses can't afford to ignore.
This changing environment—powered by the way younger generations interact with businesses online—is not some new, radical theory being pushed by, ahem, reputation management firms to validate their existence. It’s widely recognized as an unassailable fact.
Generating more reviews, responding to them, and being more present for your customers online will improve your Google search results and make your business more visible over competitors.
The second episode of Widewail’s podcast, Feedback Fatigue, features Josh Becerra, CMO of Pink Taco, a restaurant chain with locations across the US. Lots of valuable information was passed on in this episode, but Josh took a moment to highlight the way that younger generations see online reviews differently—and as a millennial myself, I have to agree with him.
“I really do feel like this newer generation has a much bigger sense of advocacy than maybe my generation did. When somebody has an over-the-top incredible experience—and it wasn't because the experience was supposed to be over the top and ridiculous; it could be that the server did something that was so above and beyond their call of duty that it really resonated with the guest—or that the bartender just remembered them and then went out of their way and did something extra special because they came back. Those things create that advocacy and that loyalty in this newer generation. That newer generation is really good at calling it out.”
You can listen to the entire episode of Feedback Fatigue [here]
Josh’s point is clear: to this next generation, a review is more than just a quantifiable measure on a scale ranging from one to five—it's a personal experience, a qualitative report, a handwritten recommendation from a peer who has been there before and wants you to know what to expect, the good the bad and the ugly. Especially the ugly.
Engage millennials on their terms, and you’ll build a loyal customer base for years to come. Learn more about optimizing your review strategy by listening to our Feedback Fatigue podcast or check out the Get More Reviews guide.
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