No matter what we do in life, if it involves making a
purchase or commitment, most of us turn to online reviews and testimonials to
get some feedback in order to help us make an informed decision. The problem
is, with so much competition in sales, there are always going to be fake reviews
floating around. In order to make the best choices, it’s important to be able
to distinguish the fake reviews from the legitimate ones.
Why Do Fake Reviews
Exist?
It’s obvious that some companies will ask employees or pay
others to write glowing reviews for them. And usually these types of reviews
are easy to spot. There are also instances of rival companies submitting
negative reviews in order to hurt their competitions’ business and boost their
own. Either way false reviews, if you can’t spot them, may play a role in the
choices you make and could lead you to making the wrong choice.
All Highs and Lows
and Nothing in Between
Unless a person has a truly dreadful experience they are
unlikely to give only a 1 star rating and have nothing to say but negative
comments. The same goes for positive reviews; even if a person absolutely loves
something they will usually find both pros and cons. Look out for this and try
not to rely too much on the 1 and 5 star ratings. Pay more attention to the
reviews that appear objective and talk about both the advantages and
disadvantages.
What About the
Language?
Genuine reviews will be by customers that are not affiliated
with the company or product. That means that they will just talk about it using
regular descriptive terms and not like a marketing professional. For example,
if what you’re reading sounds like it could have come straight out of a
magazine or from a journalist, chances are it’s not genuine. Genuine reviewers
are also less likely to refer to items or services by their full name, i.e. Canon
EOS Rebel T3i 18.0 MP Digital SLR Camera. This is usually done for SEO
purposes, to increase chances of the review page ending up in search results.
There’s Passionate
and then there’s Too Passionate
If a reviewer ABSOLUTELY LOVES THIS PRODUCT/SERVICE AND IT
HAS COMPLETELY CHANGED THEIR LIFE AND THEY JUST CAN’T HELP BUT TALK WITH UPPER
CASE LETTERS AND A LOTS OF EXCLAMATION MARKS!!!! Then they probably aren’t a
real reviewer. Ok, not all overly
passionate fake reviewers will write like an over excited 14 year old, but if
they are just TOO in love with what they are reviewing, something is not right.
Look at the Reviewer
First of all, look at the name. If it looks like an auto generated name, for
example: gday456927490, then it probably is. Secondly, look at the user’s
profile. What other products have they reviewed? Are they all from the same
company/manufacturer? Do the reviews all follow the same format? Is this
product/service they only thing they have reviewed?
The Obvious Signs
If a review contains a link to another product review or
sales page it’s going to be fake. Genuine reviews may mention other products
that they prefer or can compare to, but they are less likely to care about
providing a link to it. Also look at the date of the review publication. If it
was published before the product has been released it’s probably fake and even
if it’s from someone who received the product before for testing, they could
have been influenced to write a positive review.
There is no definite set of rules and many genuine reviews
may contain one or even more of the warning signs we’ve mentioned. Think about
all of these points and use your instinct to guide you on whether a review is
fake or not.
