{
  "schema_version": "1.1",
  "id": "pew-82-percent-read-online-reviews-before-buying",
  "slug": "pew-82-percent-read-online-reviews-before-buying",
  "url": "https://groundedkit.com/claims/pew-82-percent-read-online-reviews-before-buying/",
  "api_url": "https://groundedkit.com/api/claims/pew-82-percent-read-online-reviews-before-buying.json",
  "claim": "82% of US adults read online reviews before buying something for the first time",
  "commonly_cited_as": "\"82% of Americans read reviews before buying\"",
  "verdict": "outdated",
  "verdict_definition": "Source found and quoted correctly, but old enough that the market has changed.",
  "confidence": "high",
  "rating": {
    "value": 3,
    "best": 5,
    "worst": 1
  },
  "origin": {
    "publisher": "Pew Research Center",
    "title": "Online reviews and ratings (Dec. 19, 2016)",
    "year": "2016"
  },
  "quote": "Fully 82% of U.S. adults say they at least sometimes read online customer ratings or reviews before purchasing items for the first time, including 40% who say they always or almost always do so.",
  "method": "Pew nationally representative survey of US adults (2015). 53% of 18–29-year-olds always or almost always read reviews vs 23% of those 65+.",
  "drift": [
    "'At least sometimes', not always (40% always or almost always)",
    "Age: 2015 data; Pew has not updated it"
  ],
  "interest": "n/a (nonpartisan research center funded mainly by The Pew Charitable Trusts).",
  "safe_rephrasing": "Pew found in 2016 that 82% of US adults at least sometimes read online reviews before a first-time purchase, and 40% always or almost always do; it is older data.",
  "sources": [
    {
      "title": "Pew — Online reviews and ratings (2016)",
      "url": "https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2016/12/19/online-reviews/",
      "primary": true
    }
  ],
  "kind": "stat_check",
  "as_of": "Survey conducted in 2015",
  "last_checked": "2026-10-16",
  "stale": false,
  "date_reviewed": "2026-10-16",
  "license": "CC BY 4.0",
  "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
}