Consumer reviews used to be one of the most reliable ways of assessing the quality of an app or a physical product. If you didn’t know any friends who’d tried it, the number of reviews and the average rating was a pretty good guide.
Sadly, however, that is no longer the case. Companies have become very adept at gaming the system, meaning that reviews are worth way less than they used to be. There are now six reasons you shouldn’t necessarily trust them, including one I only learned about today …
Review farms
The scummiest developers and e-commerce companies of course use outright fraud. Server farms are used to automatically download apps or purchase products and then submit five-star reviews.
These are sometimes easy to spot as the reviews are incredibly generic with comments like “good product” or “best app”. However, more sophisticated ones will use AI to write longer and more specific texts.
Paid reviews
Some companies pay people to post positive reviews. This is particularly common with apps that are free to download, but even with expensive hardware products, the deal can often be that a consumer is told to initially buy the product and they will then be refunded once they post a five-star review.
Other incentives
Genuine buyers may be offered incentives. Genuine buyers may be offered incentives for posting a review. These can include free subscription periods or discounts on future purchases. The very fact that consumers are getting something in return tends to skew them towards positive reviews. Additionally, discounts on future purchases are only appealing to those who are happy with the company, so filters out those who aren’t.
Diverting complaints
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