The review system online should be a brilliant way of getting genuine and honest information from people who have used a certain product or service or been to a certain place, and in the main that is the case. Unfortunately however there is an issue around fake reviews being left and that is why we need to use companies like topconsumerreviews, who are able to help us clear up accurate and not so accurate reviews. This shouldn’t alarm you or indicate that you should no longer use reviews, but it is essential to understand that there are some fake ones out there, but is it possible to spot them?
The Issues
The principal issue here is that so many businesses rely on positive reviews in order to boost profits or to stay ahead of the competition. What they do therefore is to pay a company to leave a number of falsely positive reviews, which will bring more customers through their doors. This of course is very difficult to avoid and whilst it is not ethically correct, there is nothing illegal about what they are doing.
The Fakes
There are some tips which you can bear in mind when it comes to spotting fake or potentially dubious reviews, and here is what you should be thinking about when you read a review.
- Very often they will try and overdo the information to make the review look more real, for example if they are reviewing a set of frying pans and they begin to talk about where in the home they hang the pans for easy access or mention their city, this is an alarm bell, that kind of info really isn’t required.
- Poor grammar and spelling is something which could indicate a fake review as well. These review farms are often in places like India or the Philippines which means that you get these little nuances of a foreigner speaking English. It could simply be a foreigner reviewing the product or service, but it is certainly something which you could look out for.
- No previous reviews is a big alarm bell and this happens because they set up accounts which are single use and then they move on, click on the person who has left the review and you can usually tell what other reviews they have or haven’t left.
- If you see a slurry of terrible reviews and then all of a sudden they pick up and start getting 5 stars with no comments then this is something which would make me very suspicious. It is of course possible that a business has simply gotten their act together but if that is the case you would expect to see reviews along the lines of people being surprised at the improvement.
There are many fake reviews out there and it is always worth keeping some indicators in mind so that you can avoid getting duped by a false one.
