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Online shopping sites aren’t just giving us another place to buy things; they are actually changing our perception of the things we buy. A 2017 study revealed that 25 percent of shoppers trusted online reviews if they believed them to be authentic. What’s even more fascinating is that only 3% of people don’t trust online reviews at all (down from 17% in 2014.) Survey respondents shared that the type of business they are reading reviews for can sometimes matter, however, with 20% of shoppers claiming that only some kinds of businesses have trustworthy reviews.
Who is leaving these reviews? The answer may surprise you. The largest age bracket of shoppers who claim to have left a product review online is the 50 – 64 age group. An impressive 76% of this group has posted a review. The second most active group was the 40 – 49 age group, in which 73% shared they have left an online review. Both groups showed slightly more activity than younger groups, with just 64% of the 25 – 29 crowd actively leaving reviews.
This data shows from both surveys confirm that people of all ages are receptive to the idea of online reviews, but that trust has to be earned. The key to reviews holding any weight to our decisions is that customers need to believe they are genuine. Here’s more on why that should even be a concern to consumers.
The History of Online Reviews
Online reviews have been around almost as long as e-commerce. For every item sold online, there has been an outlet for customers to share what they loved – and didn’t so much adore – about the experience. While it’s common for customers to leave a review on the site they purchased the product from, it’s also becoming popular to post to other major shopping sites, or even third-party websites that aggregate thousands of reviews to give a general thumbs up or thumbs down for a product.
When blogging and social media influencers became popular around 2010, things began to change for reviews. Many people started receiving free samples of items, with the understanding that they would share their feedback in the form of a review. At first, these reviews were indistinguishable from reviews from people who paid out of pocket for products. After some time, however, the FTC issued guidelines that required anyone receiving a product for free (or even at a discount) disclose this in their reviews.
The result of this change in online reviews is a large majority of reviews stating things like “I received this item to review” or even “this was reviewed as part of a promotion.” Both types of disclaimers don’t necessarily indicate that the reviewer wasn’t honest, but some have argued that getting an item for free can cause a reviewer to have a more favorable opinion of a product.
There has also been an increase in the number of false reviews. These have been placed for the sole purpose of making a product look good and don’t require that anyone purchase anything. Some large sites have cracked down on these, removing any reviews that don’t correlate directly to a purchase, but even verified reviews have the potential to be manufactured.
Here are four signs that the review you’re reading can’t be trusted.
- The words don’t match the numbers
A 1-star review should indicate an unhappy customer, right? Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case. Some people aren’t well-versed in how to properly leave a review, resulting in a star-rating that doesn’t match their sentiment. Make sure to read an entire review to get the big picture. Someone who isn’t very tech-savvy may leave a five-star review and then complain about how a tech gadget didn’t work properly. This same review may as well be set aside as coming from someone who isn’t the intended audience for the product.
- The grammar is (very) poor.
We all make mistakes, and not everyone writes well online. But spam accounts designed solely to leave reviews can sometimes be called out on their terrible English language writing. No capitalization (or worse yet, all caps), multiple misspellings, and no understanding of basic sentence construction may all be a red flag for a review that was paid for and written by someone to raise the product rating artificially. If you see one of these, move along.
- There are too many talking points.
A well-written review can seem like a breath of fresh air these days. But what happens if there are too many well-written reviews? If you find that the perks of a product read like a commercial and that the benefits are repeated in review after review (sometimes in the same words), it’s likely that the review was a result of a campaign where reviewers were given the right words to say. This doesn’t necessarily mean that they didn’t genuinely enjoy the product (or even that they were paid), but reviews are only valuable if they include the true perspective of the buyer – not someone else.
- The review is mean.
We’ve all had bad experiences, and it’s not unusual for those experiences to come out in a review. When reading a negative comment, however, does it come across as just disrespectful? When a customer can’t seem to separate emotional experiences from product truths, it can be a sign of a very biased review. It can also reveal a smear campaign by a competing product or company to make a product look bad. Whether the smear campaign is official – or just the work of some loyal and misguided brand enthusiasts – these hateful reviews are not probably a good way to judge a product’s performance overall.
How to Spot an Honest Review
One way to get a more balanced perspective on a product is to search several sites for reviews before buying. Even a less-popular site with just a handful of reviews can be valuable. If you find a theme among complaints (a common breakage point or issues with assembly, for example), there may be merit to the negativity. Likewise, if you keep reading on each site that an unadvertised benefit was especially pleasing, it’s something to give your attention. Little-known facts about products can often appear in reviews, letting you know that someone took the time to use it for a bit and discover the true potential of an item.
In the end, one person’s opinion is just that – their opinion. They may not value the same things you do, and therefore, cannot be expected to like the same things you do. But when it comes to online reviews, the odds of finding someone that shares many of your needs and wants is high. The internet is a big place, and people have been searching for solutions to some of life’s problems forever. The wisdom of the crowd is more available – and relevant – than ever before, and it continues to live in online reviews.
