The side effects of fake reviews

Buyers are often tempted to purchase certain products through positive user reviews. That’s why not every company plays fair: consumers are increasingly confronted with fake reviews. However, the positive effects are often only short-lived – especially since many consumers do not tolerate such actions.

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According to the latest Bazaarvoice 2022 Fake Reviews Report, 52 percent lose trust in a brand that tries to curry its favor with fake reviews. This results in 81 percent of them not using the brand again and 48 percent writing a negative review. 16 percent want to mention the respective company on social media.

In the process, suspected fake reviews even rub off on other products on the same website, as 75 percent now give less credence to other item reviews. 56 percent also no longer want to purchase the product in question and 25 percent no longer want to buy anything from the website. However, positive opinions are only one side of the coin for most customers anyway. 85 percent consider negative reviews to be just as important or even more important.

Call for standards and high penalties

The anger about fake reviews has led to 70 percent of respondents calling for new standards from the retail industry to combat this bad habit. They suggest that only verified customers can post reviews (59 percent), that all products be tested by real consumers before launch (56 percent), that customer content be reviewed daily to weed out fake reviews (49 percent), and that websites must transparently disclose the review process and any third parties used (40 percent). Fully 27 percent want violations of such standards to be punishable by fines of 21 to 30 percent of sales.

The survey was commissioned by Bazaarvoice and conducted by Savanta in August 2022 among 10,606 consumers from Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, the UK, and the US.

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