The reviews section on product listings contains perhaps the most influential information that can sway a shopper to buy or not to buy. According to a study from the Spiegel Research Center, “With nearly 95% of shoppers reading online reviews before making a purchase, reviews have transformed the way consumers make purchase decisions.”
While marketing copy is important for Amazon SEO, customer reviews are the best way for shoppers to learn about actual customer experiences.
Key Takeaways
- Recent upsurges in fake reviews have created greater policing policies at Amazon
- Work with Amazon’s systems to help remove fake reviews and profiles
- Keep an eye on your competitors for suspicious reviews and sudden increases in ratings
- Monitoring your product detail pages for fake reviews is essential
Fake Reviews
Reviews are so important that new businesses have emerged to create fake reviews to influence sales. Some pay to get positive reviews for themselves, such as the scheme that recently uncovered 200K fake reviewers. Others put fake reviews on competitor’s product to help redirect sales to their own products. An even sneakier tactic is to create fake good reviews on a competitor’s product to try to get Amazon to get the item suspended or the seller removed.
However, they try to sway reviews, bad actors can impact your business in a very negative way, and honest businesses are scrambling to find ways to counteract them. Amazon itself has become very adept at finding these bad actors and taking action, but it can’t catch everything.
What Can You Do About Fake Reviews?
Competitor’s Positive Reviews
These fake reviews are difficult to identify and to prove. When a business has its hands full monitoring its own products, keeping an eye on competitors might be too much to handle. However, a quick or dramatic increase in ratings on a competitor’s product, fake reviews could be the cause.
If you suspect reviews to be fake, there are steps you can take to notify Amazon of the possible issue. Creating a Contact Us case on the product or clicking the “Report incorrect product information” link could draw Amazon’s attention to the issue. If you notice information on a review that makes claims about the product you know to be false, you can click the “Report abuse” link below the review. Once you have taken these steps whenever you see them Amazon might be able to determine a pattern or identify the bad actors.
Your Negative Reviews
Identifying these fake reviews is easier, as you should be monitoring the reviews on your detail pages already. One red flag you’ll want to watch for is reviews that are not “verified purchases”. Often, these reviews will come in waves and be almost identical to one another.
As with possible fake reviews on competitor products, you can create a Contact Us case or click the “Report abuse” link on reviews you suspect are from competitors or otherwise not legitimate. Amazon is becoming more and more effective at getting these kinds of negative reviews removed.
Whatever industry you are in, fake reviews can greatly impact the success of your Amazon sales. Navazon’s Amazon experts are adept at helping businesses fix issues for their products generated by fake reviews. Contact us today to set up a meeting where we can discuss how else we can help your brand grow.