You see an affordable product with thousands of reviews and an average rating of at least four stars. Add to cart?
Maybe, maybe not.
As shoppers browse the numerous sales events happening during Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and again during Boxing Day, customer reviews online can play a crucial role in purchasing decisions.
While pooling together customers’ experiences is “an extremely democratic mechanism,” the pool has been tainted, said Shreyas Sekar, assistant professor of operations management at University of Toronto Scarborough.
“Unfortunately, the fact is, because reviews are so important for consumers, they’re also super important for sellers,” he said, “which means there is always a risk that someone’s going to game the system.”
PCMag, a publication that specializes in product reviews, reports that data released in 2021 discovered roughly 200,000 people had participated in a fake reviews scheme with third-party Amazon vendors.
The vendors were offering refunds via PayPal to customers in exchange for five-star reviews, essentially allowing the customers to keep products for free. The purchase looked legitimate to Amazon, while the refund was handled outside of the platform.
To fight back, tools such as Fakespot compares products from a breadth of sellers — including Amazon, Best Buy, Sephora, and Walmart — to offer its own adjusted product rating, while ReviewMeta and TheReviewIndex lets you drop an Amazon URL into an engine to filter out potentially fake reviews.
At the International Association of Better Business Bureaus (BBB), when a customer review is submitted, the association will check with the business to confirm the customer is real, and also ask the customer for proof of transaction, said Melanie McGovern, its director of public relations and social media. The vetting takes time, she added.
“Some of the businesses get frustrated because it takes a while for that BBB review to publish, but you know, consumers can rest assured that we’ve done everything we can to make sure that it is a true experience with the company,” McGovern said.
She says there are a few ways consumers can spot potentially fake reviews: generic reviewer names such as John Smith, or just letters and numbers with no profile photo; very short reviews with vague statements; and poor spelling or grammar which may suggest reviews from a content farm out of country.
AI-generated reviews, however, are increasingly sounding “very human” without being too formal, Sekar pointed out, and can even include a few minor typos to look more real.
Even as retailers and sellers work to purge fake reviews from their platforms, AI and ChatGPT can make it feel like "a game of Whack-a-Mole,” he said.
“I feel like these bad actors usually end up staying one step ahead of the algorithm, and by the time the algorithm catches up, some damage is done, and then they move on to the next profitable strategy.”
Citing a study from Cornell University, the BBB noted real reviews had more specific descriptions of the product or service itself, while fake reviews included more extraneous “scene-setting” details, such as having a wedding anniversary with a spouse, or being on a business trip.
As for spotting real reviews, experts say consumers can look for “verified purchase” designations, check middling and poor reviews, and also see how the business responds to negative reviews.
Look for details about your specific situation or use, Sekar said. If you are buying earbuds for taking transit to work, or for jogging, look for reviews that mention those specific uses.
“I think most (real) reviews tend to have a mixture of positive and negative components, like people say, ‘This is how it works for me. This is why it does not work for me,’” Sekar added.
“So even if it’s a four-star review, if it’s one that feels honest and it feels more balanced, I would give it more weight than one that’s five stars, but does not really add any value.”
As for influencer marketing or free samples in exchange for reviews, companies and brands should disclose the relationship, said Barry Alexander, chief marketing and diversity officer at the Canadian Marketing Association. The association has a code of ethics and standards, in addition to legislation that regulates how businesses operate and avoid “deceptive marketing practices.”
After all, quality brands want real reviews too, Alexander said. In a sense, consumers and companies are on the same team — seeking authentic experiences.
“I think reviews are one of the many ways that a business can get data on how their product is performing,” Alexander said.
“Many businesses, because of how important reviews are, actually prompt consumers after they have purchased the product to post the review and provide their feedback so that they can continue to learn more and improve their product. So reviews are a friend for many brands.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 26, 2024.
Nina Dragicevic, The Canadian Press