Baby Boomers Emerge As Most Positive Product Reviewers

The Baby Boom generation, people aged between 47 and 65, may not be as tech savvy as younger generations but this has not affected their enthusiasm for engaging in online conversations about product and service quality.

In fact, Baby Boomers are more active review contributors than Generation X representatives (those aged 35 to 46) and Millennials (18 to 34 years old). Moreover, Boomers tend to post more positive product feedback compared to other generations, Bazaarvoice has established after analysing six million consumer-posted online reviews in seven countries.

Baby Boomers make up 42% of the world’s population but are responsible for 45% of the product feedback posted online. Millennials represent 34% of the population and account for 31% of total product reviews, while Generation X-ers’ contribution equals their share of the global population at 24%.

Bazaarvoice defines as highly positive a review of four or five stars on a scale of one to five. In general, consumers were found to be mostly positive in their feedback, which applies to about 82% of consumer opinions in the countries covered (the US, Canada, Mexico, the UK, Germany, Australia and New Zealand).

However, the positive bias tends to be more pronounced in Baby Boomers, whose proportion of five-star reviews exceeds the average by three percentage points. Generation X representatives, on the other hand, are more critical.

They have the highest share of one-star product ratings, surpassing the average score by one percentage point. As for Millennials, they are firmly planted in the middle, topping the average for three-star reviews by seven percentage points.