We all like to share our experiences and writing an online review is one of the most effective and efficient ways to do it. I love online reviews, and judging by the amount available out there, so do a lot of other people.

What else could be better than learning about a new product or service without having to be the guinea pig yourself? You can get all the insights without any risk to yourself. But what’s in it for the people writing the reviews? Why should they spend their time educating you?

According to this next infographic from Demandforce.com, many people are motivated by just simply wanting to help others make a good decisions. In fact, 90% of people asked, write reviews just for that reason.

Other reasons people say they write online reviews include helping a company decide about improvements, rewarding them for a job well done, it’s a great way to get companies to listen, to help companies decide which products to carry in the future, and for others, it’s just plain fun.

I personally do it to help customers make more informed decisions. Online reviews are a great way to get the general consensus about a product before you ever waste your time going out to investigate further. They can be a real time-saver.

Take a look at what they came up with:

(Lead image courtesy of Onpoint.wbur.org)