Reviews are one of the fastest ways to build up an organisation’s reputation. However, faking those reviews is nothing but a slow poison to the integrity of your business.
Thus, it is important to learn about fake reviews’ statistics and trends to prevent consumers from being misled and maintain your organisation’s positive and organic image.
Therefore, this article will cover some fake review statistics in detail. So, stay tuned until the end!
Top Fake Reviews Statistics
- About 30% of online reviews are fake.
- Each extra star in ratings can increase a brand’s sales by 5-9%.
- Around 82% of people have read a fake online review in the past year.
- About 74% of people say they can’t always tell if a review is real or fake.
- On Amazon, about 43% of reviews on top products are fake.
- Yelp blocks about 25% of reviews because they seem fake.
- Fake reviews cost U.S. businesses nearly $152 billion every year.
- Around 16-50% of reviews are manipulated.
Must Read: 80+ Online Review Statistics (2019-2025 Collection)
Overview of Fake Online Reviews
As the name suggests, fake reviews are fabricated information about products or services that appear online.
Their purpose can be either to boost a brand’s reputation or harm a rival by manipulating consumer perception.
They aim at conning potential consumers and gaining an upper hand in market competition.
Many reviews found online are fake, posing significant challenges for consumers trying to identify genuine feedback and for businesses striving to maintain trust and integrity.
Let’s have a look at some general fake reviews statistics:
1. About 30% of online reviews are fake.
Some surveys and studies have shown that up to 30% of online reviews may be fabricated. This percentage then differs according to the platform and industry.
The Federal Trade Commission quoted about 700 businesses for fabricated reviews and issued a fine for fake endorsement.
2. About 94% of consumers have refrained from brands with negative reviews.
3. Around 16-50% of reviews are manipulated.
While 30% of online reviews are outright fake, a greater percentage are manipulated to suit the needs of the brand.
4. That includes e-commerce sites censoring their negative feedback (34% according to online shoppers) and highlighting the positive reviews only.
Industry-Specific Impacts of Fake Reviews
Fake reviews affect the integrity of the service industry, resulting in consumer trust problems, unfair competition, and reduced business operations efficiency.
Addressing the impacts of fabricated reviews is necessary to maintain a healthy business environment and enable consumers to make informed choices.
For example, given below are some statistics on the impact of false reviews on service-based businesses:
5. Fake online reviews cost U.S. businesses nearly $152 billion annually.
False reviews and ratings, on average, cost $152 billion annually due to damaged company reputations and, in turn, decreased revenue. They have to pay a hefty price for these fake reviews. That’s how common fake reviews are.
6. 54% of buyers won’t purchase a product if they think the consumer feedback is fake.
Fake positive feedback for hotels on sites like Tripadvisor can increase their favorability and ranking online.
7. 93% of travelers are swayed by these ratings and make decisions based on them before booking.
8. For each additional star in the customer ratings, revenue for local industries increases by 5-9%.
Customer ratings are essential, and just a one-star increase can significantly increase the revenue of local businesses.
Platform-Specific Analysis of Fake Reviews
Highly fake online reviews pose numerous problems for major platforms like Amazon, Yelp, and Google. They have implemented various strategies to deal with this problem.
Let’s have a more educated look into this:
9. Amazon has seen about 43% fake review rate of the 33.5 million reviews on the bestselling products that were examined last year.
Amazon has been combating fake reviewer feedback for years. According to a Fakespot Study, approximately 43% of Amazon reviews are unreliable and fabricated.
To manage this issue, Amazon has automated systems that detect suspicious activities and verify the authenticity of reviews.
10. Yelp’s automated systems block about 25% of online reviews submitted by buyers suspected of being fake.
Fake reviews statistics suggest that Yelp has a 7.1% fake review rate. They have automated systems that flag and filter any suspicious consumer reviews. They must pass by advanced software that checks them for reliability and authenticity.
One of the major review platforms is Google, and it is often targeted by many consumers who write fake reviews.
11. Around 11% of google reviews are fake.
Google has employed methods such as user reports on fraudulent reviews and automated systems to filter suspicious reviews.
Real Cost of Fake Reviews and Online Reviews Impact on Customers and Businesses
Research shows fake reviews greatly influence customers’ buying choices, ultimately leading to poor decisions and cheating.
These fake reviews essentially dupe consumers, prompting them to make bad purchase decisions.
This advertently harms the companies that are reviewed but do not engage in such activities, and other businesses profit from this unfair practice.
The impact of online reviews is significant, as they influence consumer decisions and business outcomes. When there are no negative scores, this often leads to suspicion of censorship or fake reviews.
Given below are some fake review statistics:
12. About 82% of consumers are said to have read a fake online review in the past year.
When fake reviews are detected on an e-commerce service’s online review platform, the credibility of the service is affected, and potential customers are turned away.
13. 44% of e-commerce sites face the issue of differentiating between a fake review and a verified customer review.
14. 62% of buyers have faced considerable quality differences between the product they received and what they ordered.
15. About 74% of consumers say that they can’t always tell if a review is genuine or fake.
Most consumers are less likely to engage with a business if they suspect the feedback on the site is fake or manipulated, resulting in the loss of both the business and the customer if that business’s website is genuine.
Combating Fake Reviews: Strategies and Tools
It has been established so far just how common fake reviews are. Therefore, identifying these false reviews has become imperative as more consumers rely on them to purchase.
One such tool that has been introduced to the online review space is Fakespot.
It analyzes a number of reviews to determine their authenticity.
It monitors fake reviews by passing them through an extensive assessment, such as language usage and reviewer profiles, and identifying suspicious ones with an accuracy rate of over 90%.
Government bodies such as the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) have taken steps to combat deceptive practices.
They have urged platforms to implement stricter controls and new rules to detect and remove false reviews efficiently to promote user generated content on their website.
Insights from a former federal criminal investigator emphasize the importance of investigative techniques to uncover coordinated fake review campaigns.
Wrap Up
In a nutshell, the increase in fake 5 star reviews is a problem that many businesses face in today’s digital economy. With this knowledge, you, as a consumer, can begin to question reviews, while companies should promote transparency and new rules to combat fabricated customer opinions.
Sources
WTHR | Cybernews | Sciencedirect | Findstack | Revinate | Search Engine Land | LinkedIn | Zeebiz | Starfish Reviews | Bazaar voice | Prnewswire
