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Fake Amazon reviews are continuing to affect marketers and shake shoppers confidence in the online store. Many companies have cash allocated specifically for buying fake reviews. Two sites have sprung up to help. They’re ReviewMeta and FakeSpot. Just the other day I searched for the term “smartwatch” on Amazon. I then sorted by reviews ratings. So here’s this FHDCAM Smart Watch that looks like the holy grail of smartwatches. 315 reviews and a total of a five star rating. Slam dunk, right?
Then when you start looking at the reviews they look fine themselves, but the usernames get weird with odd characters and numbers at the end of them.
Then, in the reviews we spot a couple people calling out the fake reviews themselves. So out of about three hundred reviews here, there are only a couple of real reviews. Would you buy anything from a company that pays for fake reviews?
Amazon searches have rapidly become as worthless as using Google as your search engine. So now, just like Google, you type something into Amazon like hockey stick. You’re first served up an ad on top. Then two sponsored items. Wow, thanks for nothing. Then, you’re given the option to search by category. And then finally, you get seven results, and then two more ads. It’s hardly helpful, it’s cluttered and visually unappealing. It’s be nice if another company was able to come in and just simply be like Amazon used to be. A clean, easy to use interface with solid reviews. I mean with Amazon, it’s all about the reviews. You can’t see or touch this stuff in person. The trust of the reviews was all we had. And now we don’t.
If people are willing to pay a few bucks more for a better experience at Target over Walmart, then why wouldn’t they choose an Amazon competitor over the garbage Amazon is slinging nowadays?
You have to decide what you are. Google says, “Our mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.” Well, you’re failing. Because you’re serving me up intrusive ads and giving a leg up to people who use your services, like when I do a weekly post on a Google My Business listing, and I get the privilege of it showing up in my results because I’m in bed with Google.
So, Google, you’re saying you’re a Dewey Decimal-like classification system, but man I never had to sort through four cards of sponsored ads to find that book on U.S. presidents.
And, Amazon, are you a shopping experience that’s better than brick and mortar? Not if I have obstruction after obstruction during that shopping experience.
Update: 2/7/2019 – Amazon has removed the fake reviews as of 2/7/2019.
This article was written by Christopher Michael McHugh. Mr. McHugh is a producer, media analyst, marketer and the owner of McQ Marketing Group. For consulting, public speaking, interview or other inquiries, please text or call 203-689-3419 or email Chris@McQMarketingGroup.com.
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