Five easy ways to spot a fake review online
1. Inspect the reviewer’s profile
If a review looks suspect, go through the reviewer’s profile. Look for anything that doesn’t seem indicative of a real person’s actions or opinion. Providing only five star reviews, only one star reviews or using the same words and phrases might be an indication their reviews are actually fake. In that case, it’s best not to trust the reviewer’s information.
2. Pay close attention to dates
Review dates can be a telltale sign for fake reviews. If a certain day has seen a significant number of positive (or negative) reviews, it would be best to err on the side of caution. What you ideally want to see in the reviews section is a good range of reviews written during different time periods.
3. Examine the language
Another way to spot a fake review is by examining the used language. In most cases, reviewers who overuse personal pronouns and make use of a lot of verbs aren’t genuine. According to a study carried out by Cornell University, trustworthy reviews tend to have more nouns than verbs in them. Also, keep an eye out for the exact same words or phrases being used throughout multiple reviews for the same product – those reviews are most likely fake.
4. Be wary of extremely positive or extremely negative reviews
Even if a person has had a bad experience with a product, they’re still likely to mention a good characteristic of the product. The same applies for a person who’s had a positive experience, as reviewers don’t usually think of a product as 100% bad or good. If a review sounds way too positive or way too negative, there’s a good chance it isn’t genuine.
5. Check if the purchase has been verified
There are websites, Amazon for example, that show if the reviewer’s purchase has actually been verified. Such reviews can always be seen as more trustworthy compared to those written by people with unverified purchases. However, if you still have doubts, you can use websites such as Fakespot that by analysing product reviews can provide you with the percentage of genuine ones.
Featured Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on Unsplash.