There were 2.14 billion digital buyers in 2021, which is 27.6 percent of the global population. And, this number is consistently growing over years.
This is just because of the quality of products and overall, excellent shopping experience online. Initially, people were hesitant to buy. Over the years, they come across the experience that online buyers share on the eCommerce store. Now that this way is fabulous, it helps merchants to get reviews. A single review on your product page can up the conversion rate by 354%, as per Bazaar Voice.
For customers, Google is the best place where nearly 60% of customers check reviews before shopping anything online. These product reviews help people to trust and make quick purchases.
But, the question is – Are these all true or fake?
The truth is that desperate sellers pay for amazing reviews. Even, they offer gift cards or free products if you rate their products five stars. But, it’s not easy to filter the unreal ones.
To spot fake reviews on any e-store easier, this post is going to help you.
Let’s get started to discover how it can be made possible.
Spot Fake Reviews
If you’re shopping online, there may be some unreal opinions about any products. However, a majority of them show positive ones. But, some glowing statements with short five-star reviews are also there. If you’re an online seller, get an eCommerce store designed to ban this spam.
You can spot some more clever attempts to influence customers where the reviewer put some details with a few photos & revealing many positive sides. Even, they score it 4 out of 5, which seems really convincing.
On the other hand, there are competitors who submit negative reviews to win an edge. They rate the product with one star and also, compare it with another product. This comparison can also steer buyers toward it.
How Do eCommerce Stores Get Fake Reviews?
This is no secret these days. You may have seen some WhatsApp groups that offer free products and even, cashback once the review is published. These offerings are fostering this review market.
Some outsourcing companies, social media groups, & companies are also there that provide them in abundance. They push genuine buyers by offering incentives against publishing favourable remarks about their products. Sellers also offer rewards and refunds to undo the effect of maximum negative ratings.
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Tips to Find Fake Reviews
Certainly, big brands or big-ticket items don’t need to go the wrong way. They have a big population that provides a legitimate evaluation on social media, Google, or anywhere.
In short, they have honest reviews. The real struggle starts up for startups and unknown brands. They don’t have customers to recognise & review their products on the eCommerce store.
- So, the first tip is to recognise new brands that are unknown. However, all may not come up with false statements. Customers should think twice before purchasing upon reading a classy and five-starred appraisal from customers about a new product. It may be false.
- Explore from top reviews to the most recent review to discover what the customers have opinionated. The old versions would certainly reveal the fact.
- Find if the majority of people are saying positive words and showing 5-star. In between them, there may be a few one-starred negative reviews. Here, understand that hardly any buyer is rating it with two or three stars. Isn’t it strange? (It’s actually!!)
- The reviews that don’t have details and just vague praise like COOL, NICE, and AWESOME, are actually paid or fake sayings.
- If there is any mention of competing products, that can be spam.
- Some reviews sound similar. They are actually a copy-paste of share opinions. It’s also a scam.
- Poor grammar and typos also show that these are bot-written sentences.
- There is another vital clue, which is multiple reviews published on a specific date. If you want to confirm, check if these all have been published after a big gap.
- To dig deeper, look up the website and social media pages of that brand. If either of them is not there, it senses fake. There may be any social account. Do check what people say there. The alternative reviews show the real picture.
- There is another clue, which is in the reviewer’s profile. You may click it to open and check what products he or she has brought. If people have rated them helpful, it won’t be spam. Else, it would be.
Helpful Tips to Avoid Fake Product Reviews on eStores
Banning Fraud Brands
Amazon is actually in the leading role when it comes to battling the lash of these glowy statements. Google to mostly famous eCommerce stores-all strictly ban sellers who are found engaged in forbidden practices sometimes. RavPower, Aukey, Choetech, and more are there that Amazon kicked off last year.
Verified Purchases Badge
There are some verified buyers who ask for a favour to write flashy points about the product. And, they offer a refund once that review is approved. Moreover, the seller can tag it with “helpful” to make this spammy statement more visible and trustworthy.
However, this can be a case of brands that are unrecognized or new, but their quality is good or excellent. Remember, there are customers with the power to click “Report Abuse” on eCommerce stores if they find the product’s quality opposite to what reviews state.
Integrate Tools
You may integrate some tools. Let’s make your eCommerce store equipped to battle out spammy reviews problems. If you don’t intend to dig deeper every time, these tools can actually help you spot fake reviews.
- Fakespot: it’s actually a Chrome extension or mobile app that assesses the originality by discovering the history of the seller via reviews.
- Review Meta is a tool to automatically filter out customers’ sayings that are not genuine.
- The Review Index is used to determine fake reviews, and also it flags them. In addition, you can have useful review summaries that are segmented in accordance with specific elements of each product.
Summary
There are multiple ways to spot fake reviews on an eCommerce store/ or estore. You can equip it with tools like fake spot, review meta, and review index.
Besides, there are several indicators that can be found upon getting deep with rating, reviewer’s profile, publishing time gap, consistent 5-stars, and more.