Trust #2: Product ratings you can believe
Trust #2: Product ratings you can believe
Here are some tools that help consumers sort through misleading marketing noise
You’re reading the Your News Biz newsletter. My goal is to help digital media entrepreneurs find viable business models.
Trustworthy sources. You may remember that my last newsletter talked about trust being in short supply these days. The flood of propaganda, marketing messages, and clickbait threatens to drown out trustworthy news and information.
I am also skeptical of a lot of the ratings I see for products and services — tech gadgets and apps, hotels, restaurants, airlines, financial products, household appliances, etc.
Extreme opinions can skew averages higher or lower. Some companies pay people or use robots to trash their competitors or boost their ratings.
So I wondered if there were any tools that can help consumers figure out where to find reliable reviews of products and services. If we want to have free markets, we need to have information that helps us compare quality and prices. Word of mouth is great. But what do we have online?
Spotting fake reviews online
It turns out that many companies try to boost their ranking in various online ratings with sleazy tactics.
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania’s Institute for the Study of Free Markets have researched the issue. Among their findings:
In 2020, TripAdvisor removed 2 million reviews that its algorithms identified as potentially fake or misleading.
In 97% of the cases, the companies had paid people to post reviews or urged employees and family members to do so.
The FTC said removing fake reviews would “increase consumer welfare” by many billions of dollars. This would have benefits for the economy, free markets, and society as a whole.
How to identify fake reviews
The UPenn researchers recommended using the free Fakespot site and app by Mozilla It rates the credibility of reviews on sites such as Walmart, Amazon, Sephora, BestBuy, eBay, and Shopify.
Consumer Reports magazine also recommends using Fakespot as well as these tips for identifying fake online reviews:
Check when reviews were posted. “If you notice a cluster of very positive reviews all posted on the same day, ‘something fishy might be going on’.”
Watch out for multiple reviews that use the exact same phrasing: “Wow, this product changed my life!”
Verified Purchase badges on Amazon signal credibility. They mean that the reviewer paid for the product and bought it through Amazon.
Click on the reviewer’s history. “If a reviewer always gives five stars and uses similar language for different reviews, those may be fake or paid for.”
The Federal Trade Commission has just issued new rules to combat fake online reviews. The rules also prevent brands from buying followers or hiding negative reviews.
Final thought: Reliable product and service ratings
I’ve bought cars, household appliances, stereo speakers, and tech products based on reviews in Consumer Reports. It models several practices for producing trustworthy information. They use techniques that the best investigative journalists use.
Their mission statement says it all. I’ve boldfaced the key words: “Consumer Reports is an independent, nonprofit member organization that works side by side with consumers for truth, transparency, and fairness in the marketplace.”
Financial independence. It purchases all the products and services it reviews. It accepts no free samples or discounts from any of the companies whose products it reviews. None of its donors or corporate partners dictate how research is conducted.
Editorial independence. Its reviews are not subject to outside interference from any of its donors, corporate partners, or the companies it reviews.
Transparency. It describes its research methodology in detail and the weight it gives to each of the major criteria it uses in its product ratings and reviews.
Depth of research. Its 63 testing laboratories employ 130 scientists, engineers, and testing experts, and they spend more than $30 million a year on testing, rating and reviewing.
Fairness. Their mission is to give consumers more rights in the marketplace.
Disclosure: I’m a paid subscriber to Consumer Reports and a donor. They have not asked for a recommendation nor have I received any benefit from them for writing this article.
Previously, on the issue of Trust:
Wikipedia is the greatest online service of the internet age
3,000 independent news media rebuild trust around the world
In Spain, 80,000 people pay to support high-quality journalism
18 years ago, a friend of mine worked for a well-known washing machine brand. His only task was to go into forums and leave positive comments and reviews for the various models of the brand's washing machines. Obviously, he did it under different names and with language that was far from promotional. If that was happening nearly two decades ago, I can only imagine how corrupt things must be today.