Welcome to 21st century, where most of the world occupies some virtual space. It’s a necessity for brands, stores, apps and local businesses to build online reviews as it is currently the best and important marketing strategy. Online reviews form psychological connect between the products and customer decisions.
The last time when you took an UBER or Ola ride, do you recall the driver asking to rate his ride? Be it Zomato, Swiggy, etc. they all ask to rate the food and delivery. We know why it is happening – since reviews and ratings have become backbone of the business.
Doesn’t it happen way too frequently that when you check a restaurant, you search the place online, look up the reviews and then decide. When you book a hotel room you read the experiences of previous guests.
Every time you buy a product online you check the reviews and ratings. Why wouldn’t you check as it is important to check the quality of the product and its authenticity?
According to an online search report published on searchengineland.com, 88 % of customers trust online reviews just like any personal recommendation. But do you know 40% of those reviews are fake? 60% of reviews on beauty products are not authentic. They are placed there just to fool you.
How to spot fake reviews? Fake reviews are not genuine experiences, those writing them are paid or incentivized in return. There is an article on Digiday “Confession of paid Amazon review writer” who received 50$ Bluetooth speaker in return.
It should worry us why these companies are buying such services of fake reviews. They want to be on page 1 as people look for 5star ratings, (next time keep in mind they can be fake!). They don’t go beyond page 1 or 2 unless looking for something very specific. Companies also use it to sell average or below average products and sometimes even fake products.
Some brand or stores and local businesses use this unfair means to put their competitors down and get others to write negative reviews about their products.
Amazon, and other online stores, do have polices to report these fake reviews – recently Amazon deleted 20,000 fake reviews. However, such policies don’t appear to be very effective when fake reviews are booming online.
A research conducted across 220 districts of India found that 62% of customers were biased towards the positive reviews. Certainly there is awareness, but customer still lack how to spot fake reviews.
Here are some ways for you to spot fake reviews and reviewers-
- Look for reviews made by some unverified account. If they have posted similar language reviews or just one word like, brilliant, amazing, must buy you should take it with a red flag.
- If a product only has 5-star reviews, it could be a fake.
- Look at the time of reviews. If a product has suddenly broken its streak of bad reviews, quite possibly the seller hired fake reviewers.
- Look at the profile of reviewer. If they have reviewed only one product and going all gaga over it, take it with a pinch of salt.
- There are websites available to spot fake reviews like Fakespot, so make a use of it if you are skeptical about some review.
Don’t let fake reviews decide which product is safe and which is not. online reviews can be trusted if you are careful and follow the steps outlined above.
Remember – We are living in a time where opinions and reviews can be bought or sold.
One Life. Live Boundless.
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