Reviews are incredibly influential to a customer’s digital shopping journey or decision to visit a store. But what happens to the customer journey when those reviews are false?
As the country enters a contentious political season, businesses should be on the lookout for politically motivated review bombing — a coordinated attack aimed at harming a business via reviews — and the damage it can wreck on customer experience.
“Any act of review bombing can be devastating to a business,” Michael Lai, CEO and co-founder of Sitejabber, said in an email. “A majority of consumers admit that reviews influence their purchase decisions, and other studies show that a negative review can cause a drop in conversion rates.”
Customers often seek out reviews when they are unsure about a product or service, pursuing third-party validation or advice from consumer peers.
“Online reviews get to act as the ‘eyes and ears’ for consumers shopping online or deciding whether to visit a store or restaurant,” Lai said.
But consumers aren’t always savvy enough to identify false reviews or review bombing when it takes place. A Sitejabber survey of 1,000 consumers released Thursday shows just how much.
Less than half of consumers — 44% — say they are aware of the practice of review bombing, Sitejabber found. Only a third say a sudden influx of negative reviews would not sway their purchasing decisions.
This can be especially damaging if customers simply take the star rating of a company or product at face value and don’t read the reviews, which can indicate if review bombing is occurring, Lai said.
Should brands share political opinions?
Most consumers — 62% — don’t care or care very little about a company’s political affiliation.
But nearly a third say they have boycotted a brand over political stances in the past year.
Such findings suggest it’s in a businesses best interest not to share political stances. Lai agrees.
“Businesses are taking an unnecessary risk when voicing their political opinions because nearly half of consumers say they prefer not to hear about a company’s political affiliations as we head into the election,” Lai said.
Lai urges companies eager to voice a political stance to do their due diligence.
“If a business feels strongly about a political issue, it must carefully weigh the pros and cons of publicly taking a stand in today’s polarized political climate,” Lai said.
