In e-commerce, the term “fake reviews”, also called “fake reviews”, is the name given to opinions about shopping experiences that were not made by real customers, but by companies interested in creating a positive bias for a product. or delivery service, for example, to generate more credibility and consequently more online sales.
Generally, product and service reviews are posted in a space at the bottom of online store sales pages. In addition, they can also be posted on social networks, search engines like Google and on dedicated sites. Either way, your goal is always the same: to increase trust and purchase decisions. So far so good. The problem is when they are not genuine.
To give you an idea of how problematic fake reviews are in e-commerce, according to article from the portal Isto É Dinheiro, cybersecurity firm Safety Detectives discovered in 2021 a database that exposes an organized scheme of fake reviews on the Amazon website. The scheme involved more than 200 people and more than 13 million reviews.
At first, an online store that uses a fake review scheme might even have some success. But if discovered or if consumers start to suspect it, it could destroy your brand's reputation. So avoid!
IMPACT OF FALSE REVIEWS ON E-COMMERCE
Customer reviews play a key role in e-commerce. According to Findstack blog data, 90% of consumers read reviews before buying a product. Most of them rely on the opinion of other buyers to make a purchase. Therefore, false reviews are a big problem that has a negative impact on e-commerce.
Namely, according to Invesp infographic data:
- 54% of consumers would not buy a product if they suspect false reviews.
- 95% are suspicious of fake reviews or censorship when they don't see bad scores.
- 30% assume reviews are fake when there are no negative reviews;
- 62% experienced significant variations between reviews and the actual product received;
- 34% say e-commerce sites don't post bad reviews;
- 72% believe that fake product reviews have become a big industry.
For these and other reasons, you should prevent false reviews from being posted on the product pages of your online store and on your other sales channels. By providing real reviews, trust between your brand and your customers will increase and you will build a lasting relationship with them.
HOW TO AVOID THE PROBLEM?
One of the ways to avoid false reviews on your online store and other sales channels is to allow only registered customers who have made verified purchases to post reviews. This is a good practice that eliminates most problems related to this subject.
Another way to prevent fake reviews is to make use of review collection technologies that are trusted. There are applications that collect and publish reviews on virtual stores that have a protection system against false reviews.
Finally, avoid publishing false reviews on your online store at all costs. Do not use this fraudulent practice in your e-commerce. Remember that maintaining consumer trust is important for your business to grow in the long term.
As soon as you can click on “Customer reviews” and find out how much it impacts your e-commerce!
