Over the last few years, companies have realized the potential of reviews. According to research conducted by Dixa, 93% of customers read online reviews before making a purchase. Also, 47% of customers like to share their positive experiences while 95% like to share their negative experiences with other customers. Additionally, 90% of local customers look online for a local business. Due to these very reasons, many companies have started using fake reviews to attract customers. They hire people or encourage their employees to leave fake reviews. According to research, 30% of online reviews are fake and 43% of reviews on Amazon for top products are fake. This has been a growing concern for many customers.

Approximately 88% of online shoppers consider reviews and ratings while making a purchase, but the fear of fake reviews does create doubt in their minds. This can impact their purchasing decisions which will directly impact a company’s conversion rate as well as ROI. To protect customers from being misguided and to protect your company’s reputation you must ensure that your reviews are genuine and authentic. 

In this article, we’ll explore what a fake review is and how to recognize it. Impact of fake reviews on your business and how to collect genuine reviews. 

What is a fake review? 

A fake review is a review or feedback that isn’t authentic and genuine. It can be reviewed by someone who hasn’t used the product or service. In many instances, the considered companies post such fake reviews while in some cases the competitors use them to hamper the reputation of the company. They are generally paid and posted from fake identities or accounts. They are misleading and can’t be trusted. They can be both positive and negative. Thus fake reviews mislead customers as well as hamper the company’s reputation.

To identify a fake review, you must look for these pointers in a review

• Incorrect Grammar and Spelling: Fake reviews generally have grammatical errors and weird phrasing. 
• Over Appreciation: Customers who had a positive experience with your company like to appreciate you and share their positive experiences with customers. But the fake reviews use a huge amount of superlatives like best, life-changing, etc. Which an authentic reviewer might not use. 
• Consistent Phrasing: Many fake feedbacks or testimonies can be created from one source. In such a case the language and phrase keep on repeating. Multiple reviews have the same language and complement. 
• Reviews in a Short Time: Look out for a sudden influx of reviews in a given period. 
• Unverified Reviews: Don’t trust accounts that don’t have a verified account or details related to their account given. 
• Irrelevant Reviews: Ignore reviews that are given by profiles that don’t know much about that niche or topic. 
• Extremes: Don’t trust reviews that appear either too positive or too negative. These can be fake reviews that state things that are realistically not possible. 
• Promotional Reviews: Ignore reviews that simply promote the product or service rather than sharing the experience of the product or service. 
• Vague Reviews: Don’t trust reviews that are vague and lack clarity. Rather trust reviews that talk about features of the product and their experiences. 
• Fake Profile: Ignore fake profiles that are created only for posting feedback.
• Contracting Reviews: Don’t trust reviews that are contrary to the product’s description and contradict other verified reviews.
• Reviewer’s history: You can check the history of the reviewer whom you feel suspicious of. 
• Lack Of Photo: Reviews that lack photos or videos can’t be trusted completely. 
• Language: Reviews that are given in another language or style that differ from that reviewer’s other post and language. 
• Tone: Reviews that sound very formal and careless. 

Impact of fake reviews on your business

Fake reviews impact your business in many different ways from hampering your reputation to reducing your conversion rate etc. let us learn the impact of fake reviews on your company’s business

• Lack of Credibility: Once a customer becomes aware that you use fake reviews. Then they won’t ever trust you and they will spread the word of mouth as well. You lose your credibility as well as the trust of loyal customers. 
• Wastage of Resources: Companies waste their time and resources in buying and managing fake reviews. They can spend those resources and time in more productive and innovative ways. 
• Sales: Fake negative review leads to low sales. Wherein fake positive reviews will lead to customer disappointment. This will lead to a loss of customers and revenue. 
• Legal Trouble: Using fake reviews can cause legal trouble for your company. Google has an automated detection system that detects fake reviews and deletes them. 
• Brand Reputation: Fake reviews harm the brand’s credibility and reputation. It costs you a long-term loss. 
• Customer Loyalty: Customers who are misguided and misled by fake reviews can lose trust and spread negative word of mouth related to your product. According to a study, 54% of customers won’t buy a product if they think the review is fake. 
• Decision Making: Not only customers but companies also face loss. Companies can get misled by considering fake review data while making a decision. 
• Low ROI: Fake reviews aren’t successful. Companies spend their resources on fake reviews but don’t get the desired results. Also if someone posts fake negative reviews then it will reduce your revenue. 
• Conversion: Customers don’t purchase a product if they feel the reviews are not genuine. Using fake reviews leads to low conversion rates. 
• Ineffective Use of Reviews: Reviews are very important for building your brand’s reputation, and increasing engagement and conversion rate. It also builds a loyal customer base and drives more sales. By using fake reviews companies don’t utilize the true potential of reviews. 
• Attract more Negative Reviews: Fake reviews attract more negative reviews. Customers misled by fake reviews feel cheated and frustrated. They share it on their social media and spread the word. It causes a long-term loss to the company. 
• Brand Authority: Fake reviews hamper your brand authority. Fake reviews create a negative reputation for your company and lead to effecting your brand authority.

How to collect genuine reviews

Companies should focus on collecting more genuine and honest reviews rather than spending resources and time on fake reviews. Here are some of the tips to collect more genuine reviews 

• Ask: Contact your happy and loyal customers. Ask them for reviews. You should share their reviews on your website and social media. 
• Review Process: Make your review process more easy. You can add a review link to your website, emails, and social media. 
• Review Platform: Use websites like Yelp and Google My Business to manage and monitor your reviews. 
• Follow-Up: Send follow-up emails to your customers who haven’t left a review for you. You can send them and send them a greeting as well. 
• Incentives: Offer discounts, freebies, and rewards for leaving a review. In case you are collecting reviews on a third-party platform, consider their rules and regulations. 
• Respond to Reviews: Engage with customers who leave a review. Thank them and provide them with all the necessary information. 
• Transparent: Display all your reviews on your website and social media. Post both positive and negative reviews, this helps in building trust. 
• Review Generation Tools: You can use tools like Lumia 360, ReviewTrackers, etc to simplify your review process. 
• Monitor: Test and track review metrics. Analyze the results and make the necessary adjustments and changes. 
• Review Campaign: Run target campaigns to collect reviews from a special segment of the audience. 
• Social media: Promote your reviews on social media. This encourages other users to leave a review. They feel you value the reviews of your customers and want more insights from them. 
• Personalized Email: Send personalized emails to your customers such as addressing them by name, wishing them on their birthday and anniversary, etc. This helps in building customer loyalty. These loyal customers spread positive word-of-mouth and leave positive reviews. 

Reviews are very important for your business, it boosts your engagement and conversion rate. Build brand identity, improve search engine ranking, and attract more potential customers. Reviews will only work for your benefit when they are genuine and honest. Fake reviews only hamper your company in the long run. However many companies struggle to collect reviews, especially small and medium enterprises. Lumia 360 has designed a Review Management Software, especially for such small and medium-sized businesses. It will manage and monitor your online reviews. Enhance your presence on Google and eventually improve your search engine ranking. It enhances the quality and quantity of reviews and creates analytics reports for you. To learn more about our software, Book an Appointment now and get 14 days of free time, an offer valid for a limited time. You can also email us at info@lumia360.com or call us at 514-668-5599. 

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