The New York Times tells of a best-selling product on the Amazon site that had quickly racked up a number of five-star reviews. As it turned out, the manufacturer of the product, which was already heavily discounted in a special offer, gave some customers the chance to review it. In exchange, it refunded their money.
A Crackdown by Regulators
This is just one of many such incidents, not just on Amazon, but across the Internet, regulators say. Viewed as deceptive advertising, they are increasingly cracking down on such practices. "Advertising disguised as editorial is an old problem, but it’s now presenting itself in different ways," Mary K. Engle, the Federal Trade Commission’s associate director for advertising practices told the Times. "We’re very concerned."
An Important Driver
Clearly, strong online reviews are an important driver to sales and brand management. About six in 10 (59%) online shoppers say user-generated customer product reviews have a significant or good impact on their buying behavior, according to a study from the e-tailing group and PowerReviews.
Amazon in particular is an important go-to source for many consumers. The report found that almost six in 10 (58%) online shoppers use reviews and ratings when visiting Amazon.com—making the site unquestioned leader in consumer use of reviews and ratings out of seven online entities covered by the study.
New Algorithms Might Introduce Change
Websites are well aware of the problems associated with false reviews—a category that also includes nasty reviews by competitors—and are backing research that can circumvent that. A study [PDF] published by a team of Cornell University researchers might introduce a certain measure of transparency. They created an algorithm for detecting fake reviewers and have have been approached by such companies as Amazon, Hilton, TripAdvisor.
Cornell University researcher Jeff Hancock gave All Things Considered some tips to look for when trying to determine if a review is fake or not. Fake reviews are more likely to include references to one’s self, and not provide much on specifics, he said. In an example he provided to NPR, the study determined that an extensive review that began: "I recently stayed at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago for business, but extended my stay through the weekend because i loved it!" was fake.
A shorter one, however, that began with: "Staff were friendly, room was well kept.." was real.
TripAdvisor Cancels Famous List
In other cases, sites are deemphasizing user reviews, at least the negative ones. This year TripAdvisor has canceled one of the lists for which it is most famous—that of the grungiest hotels around the world, based on users’ reviews. The site decided it wanted to focus more on the positive, according to USA Today.
