How Do I Avoid Falling for Fake Reviews?
Here we Explain:
A false positive review campaign is usually done in conjunction with a questionable reputation management company. They will mask dozens or in some cases hundreds of negative reviews on a variety of platforms.
A way to detect fake positive reviews that are not hired but can be from friends or family to boost a bad actor to look better than they are.
A false competitor review is the leaving very negative reviews about others competing for the same customers in order to have the lesser qualified option appear as a better choice.
A false negative review campaign is also done in conjunction with a questionable reputation management company. Aggressive tactics usually include sourcing negative reviews to boost the reputation of a bad actor that is dealing with negative press / reviews.
Fake Positive Reviews
You, as the customer should be concerned about fake positive reviews. These are easy to spot as well.
- Fake name, nickname on review.
- A bunch of them show up at once
- Missing anecdotal or subjective information
- No other reviews or reviews left for others "hidden"
- Industry specific terms
- No profile picture on social media review
- Simple review
- Overly Super-duper positive, too much internal detail.
- No friends (specifically on platforms like Yelp!)
- Misspelling, bad grammar (indicative of out-of-country virtual assistant hired to bulk reviews)
How You Can Determine a Possible Fake Positive Review
There are plenty of ways to find fake positive reviews. But in general they incredibly positive. Almost too good. They will not have have much anecdotal or subjective information in the details. Few "this was helpful" votes because the information is bland. Fake reviewers are also hired from foreign countries that do things cheap and in bulk. The result will show in how there are obvious grammar issues and difficult do you understand sentences. They also can be placed from new and unverified accounts with missing details and almost zero history (or hidden review history).
Fake Negative Reviews
How We Determine a Possible Competitor / Malicious Review to Us
Not suprisingly, the characteristics are almost just the same as other types of fakes :
- Fake name, or random nickname on review.
- No other reviews or reviews left for others "hidden"
- No profile picture on social media review
- Simple review (see below)
- No friends (specifically on platforms like Yelp!)
- Misspelling, bad grammar (indicative of out-of-country virtual assistant hired bulk reviews)
Other Characteristics of False Reviews
False negative reviews usually appear when there is a gap of time between the previous review that was genuine or if the previous review that was genuine was a critical review, which helps psychologically add "fuel to the fire" and make the visitor believe the company is declining.
There is usually no answer for a request to get more information so we can update our response. If you can't see the picture of what they explain, neither we can we. There will also be statements such as:
"They kept me waiting for [insert crazy amount of time here] and tried to charge me [$xxx] more."
- We guarantee our rates up to our full deposit amount. Meaning we will work for free if needed and carrier only receives payment.
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"Nobody answers the phone."
- We have an enterprise phone system and several salespeople. There is not a way to "not answer" unless we are closed. It is very hard to try to ignore a call with such a large office staff and multitude of lines ringing in to our office.
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"Horrible service Use "x company". I paid less money with them."
- Naming why someone is bad and then recommending another company or mentioning pricing is a dead giveaway. Also, in this example the better service is not referenced but pricing is. That is usually the number one trigger to make someone close the review and head to the other company page.
