Consumers take care: Manufacturers are manipulating online reviews

Friday, 26 October 2018

Consumers don't trust five-star reviews.

OPINION: New research shows that online reviews should be treated with scepticism as there's a good chance they're not authentic.

People put their trust in these user comments before buying a gadget, booking a holiday or even finding a partner.

But new research shows fake reviews are common and many five-star postings are misleading.

British consumer group Which? discovered two Facebook groups which are run as a 'factory' to create dodgy reviews for Amazon.

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The groups say which products they need reviewing and people then buy them so it appears they are genuine consumers. After posting a five-star review, the reviewers then get a refund and sometimes a small fee.

Blayne Slabbert: 'A five-star review with the comment, 'I loved it' is worthless compared to a four-star review offering a detailed critique of the product or service.'

The investigation reveals the length companies go to guarantee good reviews and adds online reviews to the list of content that is manipulated on the internet.

Fake reviews also appear to be prolific with 79 per cent of people reporting to have seen a fake review in the last year, according to a survey by BrightLocal.

That same survey also found 85 per cent of people trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations.

Research also shows consumers don't trust five-star reviews, with a rating between 4.2 and 4.5 the most influential, according to Northwestern University.

So how do you spot a bogus review? Like everything published by random individuals, make sure you are sceptical and read between the lines.

It's also best to ignore the number rating and actually read what the reviewer wrote. A five-star review with the comment, 'I loved it' is worthless compared to a four-star review offering a detailed critique of the product or service.

Also, check out the reviewer by looking at other products they've written about. If they give everything five stars then their opinion might be worth disregarding.

Have a look at the dates of the reviews for a product. If they've all been done in a short time period then it may indicate a campaign organised by a group.

One example of how little you should trust online reviews is the experiment done by Vice magazine. They managed to turn a garden shed that served frozen dinners into the number-one rated London restaurant on TripAdvisor.

While that's an extreme case, it does show how easy online reviews can be manipulated.