Can you trust online reviews? What You Need to Know

Online reviews can be a wonderful resource. How else can you find out what dozens of people thought about something you’re looking at buying? Or about a local contractor, shop or restaurant?

But can you trust online reviews? Whether we’re looking to buy a new product, book a hotel, or try a local restaurant, we often turn to review sites and forums to get a sense of what others think before making a purchase or commitment. 

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Enter Fake Reviews

Unfortunately, these reviews aren’t always reliable or trustworthy. With the potential for fake, biased, or manipulated reviews, it’s important to approach online reviews with a critical eye and understand their limitations.

It’s very tempting for companies to positively review their own products, or pay/reward other people do to it. Some companies also leave negative reviews for the competition. How can you tell these reviews from the real thing?

Identifying Trustworthy Online Reviews

Here are some tips to help you identify trustworthy online reviews:

Look for Detailed, Balanced Reviews: Genuine reviews tend to provide a nuanced perspective, with both positive and negative aspects of the product or service. Be wary of reviews that are overly positive or negative, as they may be more likely to be biased or manipulated.

Check the Reviewer’s Profile: Reputable review sites often provide information about the reviewer, such as their location, purchase history, or number of reviews. Look for reviewers with a history of providing thoughtful, consistent feedback.

Consider the Review’s Tone and Language: Authentic reviews are more likely to use a natural, conversational tone, rather than overly promotional or generic language. Be cautious of reviews that sound like they were written by a marketing team.

Or by AI. Free tools can write a review with perfect grammar and spelling, and they sound like they were written by professional writers rather than casual reviewers.

Look for Corroborating Evidence: Cross-reference reviews across multiple platforms or sites to see if the feedback is consistent. If you notice significant discrepancies or outliers, it may be a sign of potential manipulation.

Pay Attention to the Timing of Reviews: Sudden spikes in positive or negative reviews, especially around product launches or major events, can be a red flag for potential review manipulation.

Identify Verified Purchases: Some review platforms allow businesses to verify that a reviewer has actually purchased the product or service. These “verified purchase” reviews can be more reliable than unverified feedback.

Consider the Review’s Specificity: Genuine reviews are more likely to provide detailed, specific feedback about the product or service, rather than vague, generic statements.

Look for Responsiveness from the Business: Businesses that actively engage with customers and respond to both positive and negative reviews can be a good sign of their commitment to customer satisfaction.

Navigating the Online Review Landscape

Here are some additional tips to help you get the most out of online reviews:

Diversify Your Sources: Don’t rely on a single review platform or site. Explore sources, including industry-specific forums, social media, and personal recommendations, to get a well-rounded perspective.

Pay Attention to Verified Purchases: As mentioned earlier, reviews from verified purchasers can be more reliable than unverified feedback.

Consider the Review’s Age: Another thing to keep in mind with online reviews is the date. Sometimes an item used to be great, but has recently declined in quality – or vice versa. If you’re seeing a lot of negative and positive reviews that sound like they’re not even for the same product, look for date patterns.

Sometimes you’ll find all the good reviews are either older or newer, and that tells you the product has changed over time. If you see a lot of inconsistent reviews at all times, that may mean quality control is bad, and some customers are getting a great product while others buying the exact same thing are getting bad batches.

Look for Patterns and Trends: Analyze the overall sentiment and themes across multiple reviews to identify common praise, complaints, or potential issues. Are all the recent reviews complaining about the same problem? That’s probably genuine, and something to be aware of.

Seek Out Expert Opinions: In addition to consumer reviews, and depending how big a deal your purchase is, you can seek out expert opinions from industry professionals, journalists, or authoritative sources that may provide a more objective and informed perspective.

Understand the Limitations of Online Reviews: Remember that online reviews are just one piece of the puzzle when making a purchasing decision. Other factors, such as your own research, personal needs, and budget, should also be taken into account.

Provide Feedback and Report Suspicious Activity: If you encounter fake, biased, or manipulated reviews, consider leaving feedback on the review platform or reporting the issue to the site’s administrators. This can help improve the overall quality and reliability of the review system.

Can you trust online reviews from big sites?

Websites that allow customer reviews should do a good job screening them, but some do better than others. Here are just a few examples.

Amazon

I buy a lot through Amazon, like most people in the US. I do read reviews, but strategically. I sort by “most recent” to see if a problem has just started or recently been solved.

Look for “verified” buyers and avoid anyone who says they were compensated for their review or got the product free. At this time, I think Amazon is doing a good job screening out fake reviews.

Unfortunately, they’re also lumping all kinds of semi-related products onto one page, so reviews could be for all kinds of variations on the product. This makes it really hard to get value out of the reviews. Make sure you understand what people are reviewing, if possible.

Yelp

Yelp also does a good job screening out fake and paid reviews. I’ve seen a number of situations where a business tried to get a fair negative review removed, or a competitor left an unfair negative review. Yelp has a review process, and I think they usually make the right call in these situations. But of course, nobody is perfect.

BestBuy

I think BestBuy does about as well as Amazon for screening out bogus reviews. And like Amazon, sometimes they lump products together in a way that you have to watch out for.

For example, if everyone is saying a laptop is really fast, make sure they’re talking about the exact version of it you plan to buy. If they’re talking about one with a faster processor or more memory, then their reviews won’t apply to the one you’re looking at.