In the era of deep fake videos, the idea of fake reviews doesn’t seem so appalling, right? Still, it’s a misleading marketing practice, especially considering the fact that product reviews are the second most important factor for customers when shopping online.
Moreover, reviews also help with Google ranking and can lead a business’s online reputation. So, it’s easy to see why some businesses would resort to fake reviews. Still, how can you make sure that what you’re reading or viewing are trustworthy reviews?
We have a few tips that can help you understand the intricacies of product reviews and make sure you are making a decision based on real data not hyped-up comments from a marketing campaign.
Use a Platform for Reviews
Online research is time-consuming and mentally draining if you don’t know where to look for information like pros & cons, price comparisons, highlights, and more. Luckily, you don’t have to do all the digging due to platforms like BuyersGuide.org. They took it upon themselves to find the best products for a wide range of categories in order to help shoppers everywhere.
Moreover, their selection is based on data collected from sites like Amazon, where most reviews are based on real customer experience. By analyzing reviews and comments from several different sources, it’s easy to filter out the products that have an over-inflated “ego”.
Choose Your Influencers Wisely
The people we follow online have a huge influence on our decisions to buy products. This happens because we like their content and admire their channel, so even if it’s at a subconscious level, we are swayed by the brands they support.
While this is common practice and most influencers are sponsored by brands that can relate to their content, it is important to pay attention to the type of promotions they push. For instance, some content creators will only work with brands they themselves use and respect. Others will only work with brands that have a good reputation and sell products they consider may be useful to their audience.
Therefore, it is important to pay attention to the type of collaborations your favorite influencers practice. If they’re willing to promote anything for a sponsorship, you may want to move on.
Use Common Sense
In today’s day and age, it is rather easy to spot a fake review as it usually contrasts with reviews from real customers. For instance, if a product has generally bad reviews on platforms like Amazon, a positive video review made by an unknown YouTuber will probably be a fake.
In addition, marketers tend to use AI-based bots (usually for short texts) to reduce the cost of a campaign. Therefore, the text may seem a bit off and a bit too scripted for a comment left by a real human.
We’re not saying that all YouTubers do fake reviews or that all well-detailed comments left by customers are part of a marketing campaign. We’re only urging you to use common sense when things seem to contradict the general online opinion of the product.
Lastly, if a product has few reviews and they are all positive, it’s best to be patient. If things seem too good to be true, they usually are.