Fake Online Reviews

Channel Hopper

Channel Hopper

Suffering fools, so you don't have to.
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A number of papers, and the BBC are running this article on reviews - legit and other - an various sites.

The CMA found that 54% of UK adults used online reviews, and many found them valuable.

These were found on websites ranging from specialist review sites such as Tripadvisor and trusted trader schemes such as Checkatrade, to booking agents such as Expedia and retailers such as Amazon.

The competition authority estimated that £23bn a year of consumer spending was potentially influenced by online reviews.

However, it discovered cases which have been known as "astroturfing" - the practice of creating fake grass root reviews.

Among the potentially misleading cases, on unnamed sites, were:

  • Businesses writing fake reviews of themselves to boost their ratings on review sites compared with rivals
  • Firms writing or commissioning fake negative reviews to undermine rivals, for malicious reasons, or for personal gain
  • Review sites cherry-picking positive reviews
  • Sites allowing businesses to remedy negative reviews, that go unpublished, meaning a complete picture is not clear to review site users

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-33184207

Interesting indeed that many traders have vanished from the above sites in the past month, or had many of their 'reviews' edited/removed as though they were tipped off /realised the game was up.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5kVXKpzCsk9YrjqFntsGwcF/checkatrade-com

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=3420149#topofpage

http://www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk/threads/whats-your-view-on-check-a-trade-and-similar-sites.321225/


http://jonlove.co.uk/2012/05/12/checkatrade-recommended-tradesmenbit-of-a-joke/
 
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An alternative, manufacturers of the family laptop and a couple of other products in the house use Reevoo for ratings, no money changes hands.

We’ve been doing this longer than anyone else – and it shows.


Reevoo’s core ratings & reviews service draws on our extensive experience to collect more reviews with richer content: exactly what you want if you’re trying to engage your customers. But we don’t stop there – our ratings & reviews engine feeds a community’s worth of discussions around your brand.


We insist on transparency. It’s the only way to build consumer trust and confidence; the building blocks of conversion. Our rigorous Amplify™ methodology completely avoids fake reviews and the brand damage that goes with them. It also prohibits brands (that’s you) from removing honest bad reviews – something we’ve found is an instant trust dissolver.


Reevoo product and customer experience reviews are collected and shown separately, rewarding your business for both selling great products and providing great customer service.
Our platform structures data as we collect it, so navigating the back end to find the intelligence you need is a breeze.

https://www.reevoo.com/
 
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