Jul 29, 22 | 4 min read
amazon fake reviews
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I bet that, like me, you have already taken a few minutes of your time to read reviews about a particular product you were looking to buy. And I am sure that you have already been frustrated, even with great reviews. This can happen because of fake reviews .
In general, they are false perceptions about an item, created with the aim of deceiving customers and taking work away from the competition.
And these fake reviews not only harm our customers' experience, but they also impact the credibility of many companies.
It was in this context that e-commerce giant Amazon announced its decision to start a legal battle against more than 10,000 Facebook groups that select people to submit fake reviews in exchange for money or products.
But what are the impacts of fake reviews other than decreasing or increasing the demand for a product? That is what we are going to discuss now.
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Amazon case: what is this big company doing about it?
With the focus on harming the company and deceiving customers at the time of purchase, fake reviews are not only found on Amazon in the United States, but also in the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Japan .
The e-commerce giant says that all the singapore email list information collected will be used to identify who is behind these Facebook groups and prevent this type of situation from happening again in other businesses.
The company uses advanced technologies and applies expert monitoring to try to prevent customers from being scammed and detect millions of negative reviews that are considered suspicious. And among the products that suffer the most from these fake reviews are electronic devices .
But this is not the first time Amazon has had to deal with this type of situation.
In 2020, at the height of the pandemic, the company redoubled its efforts to combat fake reviews spread on social media such as Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. In fact, one of the groups reported had more than 43,000 members.
In 2015, in an article published by The Guardian , the company said it had taken more than a thousand people to court for posting fake reviews in exchange for money.
At the time, Amazon demanded that those involved not only pay for the crime, but also denounce those responsible for orchestrating this action against the company.
It is important to remember that Amazon was one of the first companies to adopt product reviews. Since its founding in 1994, the e-commerce giant has had as its main objective to support customers in the decision-making process, based on the availability of complete information about its available items.
Fake reviews: an impact on e-commerce
It is important to say that fake reviews do not only apply to negative points, but also to fake positive reviews .
After all, who hasn't come across a product that promised to be everything, only to be surprised by something completely different when they received it at home?
When purchasing a product, we want our expectations to be met and for everything to be as advertised, but this is not always the case.
Another point regarding the negative impact of fake reviews in the online sales sector is the increase in returns or exchanges.
In most cases, when receiving something different than what they ordered, customers get in touch to express their dissatisfaction. And when requesting a refund, or a request for an exchange, this process becomes costly.
Fake reviews and the people behind them
Fake reviews are not just made by people looking for money. In many cases, the scheme is designed by those who want to harm their competitors.
There are also situations where false positive reviews are made by the seller himself, with the aim of increasing his sales. However, strategies of this type are not effective if the product is not of good quality.
They may work in the short term, but as customers become dissatisfied with the product they receive, the rebound effect will cause the brand and reputation to decline.
A promising scenario against fake reviews
As we've come to realize, fake reviews are dangerous and can cause a lot of harm . In addition to reducing conversion rates, they serve to hinder overall satisfaction.
And Amazon is not alone in this, as there are other e-commerce sites that are already suffering these impacts and are already mobilizing to eliminate as many users as possible who are part of these groups.
However, there is still much to be done to put an end to fake reviews once and for all. Affected retailers need to join the media in speaking out more about this issue and seeking better practices for the safety of their consumers.
So, if you work in e-commerce, always try to use the best tools to collect and publish reviews that match your products, okay? This way, in addition to selling more, you guarantee an optimal customer experience.
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