Martech: Martech is Marketing Logo
  • Topics
    Transformation
    Operations
    Data
    Experience
    Performance
    Management
    Special Reports
    All Topics
  • Conference
  • Webinars
  • Intelligence Reports
  • White Papers
  • What is MarTech
    Mission
    Team
    Newsletter
    Search Engine Land
    Third Door Media

Processing...Please wait.

MarTech » Performance Marketing » Study finds 61 percent of electronics reviews on Amazon are ‘fake’

Study finds 61 percent of electronics reviews on Amazon are ‘fake’

The problem appears much larger than most consumers realize and presents a huge challenge for honest sellers.

Greg Sterling on December 19, 2018 at 10:04 am

Large majorities of consumers rely on product reviews to help make online purchase decisions. But what percentage of those reviews are reliable and authentic? According to recent survey data, 33 percent of consumers believe they saw “a lot” of fake local business reviews in 2018.

Paid or fake reviews rampant on Amazon. According to an analysis by the Washington Post, a majority of reviews in certain Amazon product categories are fraudulent or paid. That is supported by a more recent analysis from Fakespot, which analyzes and grades review content on Amazon.

According to the company, the top 10 product categories with the highest percentage of falsified reviews on Amazon are:

Consumer Electronics:

  • Wireless headphones/earbuds
  • Phone cases and screen protectors
  • Smart watches
  • Phone charging cables
  • Third party apple accessories/any other known brand (Fitbit, Gopro, Garmin)

Beauty/Cosmetics:

  • Makeup
  • Anti-aging creams
  • Hair-loss products

Clothing: popular sneakers from Adidas or Nike

Supplements and Vitamins: Any supplements or vitamins claiming wondrous medical benefits in the reviews

As one example, Fakespot says that only 32 percent of reviews on Amazon for its Ring Stick Up Cam are “reliable.”

Fake reviews outnumber real ones. Fakespot reports that inauthentic reviews actually dominate the product categories above. In other words, there is a greater percentage of fake reviews than legitimate ones:

  • Electronics: 61 percent
  • Beauty: 63 percent
  • Sneakers: 59 percent
  • Supplements: 64 percent

Amazon has taken steps various times in the past to crack down on fake or incentivized reviews. But this has obviously not solved the problem. The problem is particularly acute with Chinese sellers and manufacturers on Amazon.

We reached out to Amazon for comment and are awaiting a response. The company previously issued a statement to the Washington Post on the subject of review integrity on its site: “We know that millions of customers make informed buying decisions everyday using Customer Reviews. We take this responsibility very seriously and defend the integrity of reviews by taking aggressive action to protect customers from dishonest parties who are abusing the reviews system…”

Why you should care. Honest sellers lose. Amazon’s huge volume of product reviews have helped the site become the go-to destination for product search. The problem and pervasiveness of fake reviews on Amazon is not well or widely understood by consumers but it is by many Amazon merchants, who complain about the issue on Amazon seller forums.

Given how much is at stake with reviews, which influence rankings and purchasing behavior, there are significant incentives to try and cheat. It then becomes much more challenging for those following the rules (especially smaller sellers) to compete.


Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily MarTech. Staff authors are listed here.


New on MarTech

    Webinar: Overcome third-party data challenges for CX success

    Public wants to know where brands stand on issues, surveys show

    Why event technology is critical to marketing success

    HubSpot expands App Accelerator program internationally

    The power and limitations of universal IDs

About The Author

Greg Sterling
Greg Sterling is a Contributing Editor to Search Engine Land, a member of the programming team for SMX events and the VP, Market Insights at Uberall.

Related Topics

Performance Marketing

Get the daily newsletter digital marketers rely on.

Processing...Please wait.

See terms.

ATTEND OUR EVENTS

June 7, 2022: Master Classes

September 28-29, 2022: Fall

Start Discovering Now: Spring

Learn More About Our MarTech Events

June 14-15, 2022: SMX Advanced (virtual)

November 14-15, 2022: SMX Next (virtual)

March 8-9, 2022: Master Classes (virtual)

Learn More About Our SMX Events

Webinars

Take a Crawl, Walk, Run Approach to Multi-Channel ABM

Content Comes First: Transform Your Operations With DAM

Dominate Your Competition with Google Auction Insights and Search Intelligence

See More Webinars

Intelligence Reports

Enterprise SEO Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

Enterprise Identity Resolution Platforms

Email Marketing Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

Enterprise Sales Enablement Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

Enterprise Digital Experience Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

Enterprise Call Analytics Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

See More Intelligence Reports

White Papers

Reputation Management For Healthcare Organizations

Unlock the App Marketing Potential of QR Codes

Realising the power of virtual events for demand generation

The Progressive Marketer’s Ultimate Events Strategy 2022 Worksheet

CMO Guide: How to Plan Smart and Pivot Fast

See More Whitepapers

Receive daily marketing news & analysis.

Processing...Please wait.

Topics

  • Transformation
  • Operations
  • Data
  • Experience
  • Performance
  • Management
  • All Topics
  • Home

Our Events

  • MarTech
  • Search Marketing Expo - SMX

About

  • What is MarTech
  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Marketing Opportunities
  • Staff

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Newsletters
  • RSS

© 2022 Third Door Media, Inc. All rights reserved.