Customer review

History

Before the arrival of the internet, customers could review products and services through customer comment boxes and customer service helplines. These methods still exist today although internet review sites are used more in recent years.

Reliability

The reliability of customer reviews has been questioned. Abuses akin to ballot stuffing of favourable reviews by the seller (known as incentivized reviews), or negative reviews by competitors, need to be policed by the review host site. Indeed, gathering fake reviews has become big business. In 2012, for example, fake book reviews have been revealed as significantly affecting ratings on Amazon. In 2016 Amazon banned the practice of reviewing complimentary products, researchers have shown that the process still continued as of 2021, but without any disclosures.

Since few sites restrict users to reviewing only items they have actually purchased, it is difficult to know if a customer is real, has actually used the product they are reviewing, and is giving honest, unbiased feedback about the product or services being reviewed. Tools like Fakespot and ReviewMeta can help spot fake reviews on shopping sites like Amazon. Unfortunately, the tools do not work on most other websites that show customer reviews.

Public calls have been growing stronger, demanding that review sites be held accountable for publishing fake reviews. Most recently (June 2021), the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in the United Kingdom has launched an investigation into whether Amazon and Google are doing enough to prevent fake reviews from being published on their sites. Both businesses claim to have sufficient resources and policies in place to prevent fake reviews from being published. Legal steps could be taken against the giants if CMA determines those claims to be false. The problem has become so widespread that in 2023, the FTC announced plans to ban fake reviews and testimonials.

Whether a customer receives an invitation or not, many businesses have expressed the wish that customers let the business know in the moment if some aspect of their interaction or product is unsatisfactory, so they can have the opportunity to fix it on the spot or provide compensation, rather than customers leaving unnecessarily disappointed and writing negative reviews.

Fake review scandals

In 2010, British historian Orlando Figes posted reviews on Amazon praising his own work and criticizing that of his rivals.

In August 2012, The New York Times revealed that John Locke had paid an online service to write reviews of his books, in order to artificially boost sales.

In 2022, researchers from UCLA documented that millions of Amazon sellers purchase fake 5-star reviews through private Facebook groups.

Spoof reviews

Customer review comedy Humorous customer reviews are common on some major shopping sites, such as Amazon. These are often ironically or sarcastically praising reviews of products deemed kitsch or mundane. Another example is methylated spirits described in the style of a wine review. A product may become an internet meme attracting large numbers of spoof reviews, which may boost its sales. Famous examples include Tuscan Whole Milk and the Three Wolf Moon T-shirt.

Examples of spoof reviews include:

• A Million Random Digits with 100,000 Normal Deviates (book)
• f.lux (display color adjustment software based on the time of day)
• Osama Bin Laden's Hideout Compound (humorous reviews of Osama bin Laden's hideout compound written by Google Maps users after his killing on 1 May 2011)
• Uranium Ore
• "BIC Cristal For Her Ball Pen"

British spoofers have targeted several build to order novelty products made by Media Storehouse from two million licensed photo library images, including a canvas print of minor celebrity Paul Ross, and a jigsaw puzzle of Nick Humby, a former finance director of Manchester United.

References

References

1. Doward, Jamie. (26 June 2011). "Online customer reviews – they're not all they're cracked up to be". The Guardian.
2. (24 November 2020). "How Fake Customer Reviews do — and Don't — Work". Harvard Business Review.
3. (2012-11-05). "Amazon removes book reviews by fellow authors".
4. Streitfeld, David. (2012-08-25). "The Best Book Reviews Money Can Buy". The New York Times.
5. (2022). "The Market for Fake Reviews". Marketing Science.
6. (19 October 2020). "How to avoid falling victim to fake reviews when shopping". CNN Underscored.
7. (25 June 2021). "Amazon and Google probed over fake 5-star reviews".
8. (24 November 2020). "How Fake Customer Reviews do — and Don't — Work". Harvard Business Review.
9. (2023-06-29). "Federal Trade Commission Announces Proposed Rule Banning Fake Reviews and Testimonials".
10. [https://www.bostonglobe.com/magazine/2018/04/03/the-right-way-complain-when-business-does-you-wrong/ViUG7H6Jr6b7HkAjcDVPRJ/story.html Why ranting on Yelp is the wrong way to complain about awful service]
11. (2010-07-16). "Historian Orlando Figes agrees to pay damages for fake reviews".
12. Streitfeld, David. (25 August 2012). "The Best Book Reviews Money Can Buy". The New York Times.
13. (2022). "The Market for Fake Reviews". Marketing Science.
14. Doward, Jamie. (5 May 2012). "Amazon spoof reviews bring art of satire to website". The Observer.
15. Steve Johnson. (29 June 2009). "How Gut-Busting Customer Reviews Can Help Take A Product To the Top of the Sales Charts". Young Money.
16. "f.lux - Comments".
17. "Osama Bin Laden's Hideout Compound". Google Maps.
18. "Uranium Ore".
19. "BIC Cristal For Her Ball Pen".