Fake reviews are written as if they were written by real customers
This is a step in the right direction, said Georg Ziegler from the HolidayCheck rating portal to BR24. But: The customers can now see how the check is carried out – but they still don’t know which fake reviews passed the check and are still online. That is why he calls for review fraud to be introduced as a criminal offence. However, since this is currently not foreseeable, customers must continue to keep their eyes open. However, that’s not so easy, Ziegler explains to the news channel n-tv: “The fakes are written in such a way that they give the impression that they are a real one [Kunde] wrote […] Users can hardly identify themselves whether it is a fake.” Consumer advocate Tatjana Halm also tells n-tv: “You can forget to recognize fake reviews yourself”.
67 percent trust online reviews only partially or not at all
In fact, most people already seem to know this: Just two percent of the participants in a survey by the consumer advice center from 2019 to 2021 said they “completely” trust online reviews. At least 22 percent trust the ratings “rather,” the rest “partially” or “not at all.”
While the consumer center also describes that fake ratings are often not recognized as such, even by sophisticated testing procedures, the portal also gives some tips on when to be particularly skeptical. Ratings should be viewed particularly critically and not as the only factor in decision-making if they were created through affiliate programs or product tester clubs. In affiliate programs, for example, influencers are paid to advertise a product. For each click or purchase made by customers who came to the product website through the influencer, they receive money. So the better the ratings, the greater the likelihood of earning money with the product as an influencer.
You should also be careful with test portals: Apparently, they often work with reviews from affiliate programs or simply the reviews on the product page. It is also not uncommon for the testers not to have tested the product themselves, but only read the product description – which can be embellished.
Reviews may serve as a guide but should not be conclusive
As the Federation of German Consumer Organizations (vzbv) reports, the manufacturers themselves often actively manipulate their product ratings: it is widespread among manufacturers to threaten the authors of bad ratings with a lawyer’s whistle or even to claim damages. There was also a specific case where the retailer displayed a 5-star rating even though no customer rating had yet been submitted. However, this was prohibited by the Berlin Regional Court. The consumer advice center also explains that some retailers buy ratings from agencies set up specifically for this purpose or promise customers a voucher if they give a (good) rating.
Of course, in the vast majority of cases, not all ratings for a product are fake or manipulated by the retailer. When making a decision about a product purchase, you can read a few reviews – but it is advisable not to rely solely on them.
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