NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Before you buy anything online, you may look at the reviews. A recent survey found more than forty percent of shoppers say they find customer reviews on the internet to be helpful and consider them when making a purchase.
But there are some things you should know about online reviews.
You may have suspected it, but a lot of those reviews you see are not real. So how do you know whether those glowing five-star write-ups are real or not? It’s hard to know for sure.
But there are certain things you can look for to help determine what's authentic, and what’s not.
“I don’t trust reviews anymore. My personal experience the reviews that I had relied on in selecting a medical provider were fake,” said Kay Dean.
After her bad experience, Dean decided to create “Fake Review Watch”, her own YouTube channel and website to help create awareness and fight back against
online reviews.
“The public is been deceived and it's a huge problem because consumer experiences are not matching those reviews,” she added.
In fact, research from Fakespot found that 42 percent of Amazon’s reviews were not real! How can you know?
“One major sign that something fishy might be going on is when you see a bunch of very positive reviews all posted on the same day. Fake reviews can be grouped
together like this, so it's better to skip them!” said Consumer Reports Samantha Gordon.
Another red flag is when you see similar wording or phrasing in multiple reviews.
“Anyone is allowed to leave reviews on Amazon, even if they didn’t buy the product. So, look for reviews that have the Verified Purchase tag," Gordon explained. "This means that the reviewer actually bought the product on Amazon.”
It may also help you to look at other reviews from the same user. Click on their profile and if you see a pattern of five stars and similar language, those reviews
may be fake or even paid!
And if you’re still not sure, check Fakespot – which uses an algorithm to evaluate the quality of customer reviews. Paste a product URL into their analyzer and let
your good judgment decide!
