Readability of the review mattered. Study participants were more likely to trust a positive review when the sentences were short and trust negative reviews when the sentences were long. The central questions being asked by the researchers concerned how consumers identify fake reviews, not how to persuade shoppers. Still, the finding about readability is consistent with advice to use short sentences in reviews designed to influence shoppers about benefits of your offering.
Anecdotal evidence indicates that consumers frequently doubt that people would intentionally post fake negative reviews. This overlooks motivations like competitors wanting to draw business to themselves and angry customers wanting to exact revenge.
Fake negative reviews unfairly hurt your profitability. Fake positive reviews distort consumer expectations, leading to customer dissatisfaction. Coach shoppers to recognize motivations for posting these fakes. Also monitor social media channels to spot and respond to fake reviews. Actually, it’s wise to selectively reply to genuine negative reviews as well.
The researchers present their findings against the backdrop of previous studies showing people generally consider online consumer reviews to be genuine, especially if the reviews include negative comments. Encouraging criticism may seem like a strange way to attract customers. But a substantial stream of consumer behavior research finds that a sprinkling of negative reviews adds believability to the positives. For important decisions, reviews including both strong positives and a few negatives drives a desire to lean more. When benefits far outweigh liabilities, you’ve won a customer.
Studies at Israel Institute of Technology, Open University of Israel, and Tel Aviv University discovered that, with less important shopping, reading a few grouchy reviews among an abundance of highly positive ones leads shoppers to conclude they’ve done their homework. Most consumers like getting routine purchase decisions completed promptly, but feel a need to do at least some evaluation. In the studies, comments accompanying a one-star rating were largely irrelevant to the leading purchase criteria. It was the rating itself rather than the relevance of the criticism which gave the shopper a sense of adequate vigilance.
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Choke Off Phony Store Reviews
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