With fake reviews becoming an increasingly bigger issue, it is important for sellers on Amazon to track and analyze their and their competitors’ product reviews. However, it can be difficult to tell the difference between illegitimate and genuine reviews. In this article, we go over how to check your business’s reviews on Amazon using an Amazon review checker.
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Why Are Reviews Important for Your Business?
It is common knowledge that positive reviews are crucial for a successful e-commerce business. In a customer-centered platform such as Amazon, reviews are especially valued. There are several reasons that reviews are so important for selling on Amazon, many of which are detailed below:
Customers make decisions based on reviews
Probably the biggest reason, they have a huge influence on sales. With the advancement of technology, customer decision factors have been rapidly changing over the last couple of years. Product reviews, price comparisons, and social media recommendations have become standard in our everyday lives. Reviews are so prized that 93% of customers read them before buying a product, with a single review able to make or break purchasing decisions.
If you’re wondering why this is, it is because many shoppers who read them lack the confidence to actually buy the product. They are probably on the fence because they are unfamiliar with the brand or the particular item. Through reviews, these shoppers are able to gain social proof that they’re making the correct purchasing decision.
Also, you can say the internet bridged the gap between individuals all over the world. Don’t people sometimes say that influencers feel like their friends? Well, this is reflected in their shopping habits, with 84% of shoppers trusting online reviews as much as their friends’ recommendations.
Reviews are highly trusted because they provide shoppers with second opinions about a product, without the sales pitch they’ve grown accustomed to. This adds transparency and trust to the purchasing experience. Many people read reviews to gather information, and this information helps them make more informed decisions.
Good reviews boost your brand visibility and ranking
The way Amazon’s algorithm is designed is to determine any product’s popularity by tracking them. If your listing has good reviews, Amazon considers it to be more important and thus ranked higher than competitors. This often translates to your item appearing higher in search engine rankings and being recommended to more consumers. Therefore, good reviews equate to more sales.
Reviews provide market insight
Conducting thorough research is essential to selling on Amazon. There is no better way to know what customers want than to hear it from themselves. That’s why reviews, both good and bad, are important IN running an Amazon business. You can analyze them to identify your store’s problems— whether it’s shipping times, customer service, or just issues with the product itself— and thus solve them.
And, you don’t have to stop at your own reviews. You can also learn from your competitors’ mistakes, or read reviews of existing products to understand what your customers want.
Reviews facilitate “Amazon Buy Box” wins
If you don’t know what the “Amazon Buy Box” is, it is the white box on a product detail page where customers can begin the purchasing process by adding items to their shopping carts. Doesn’t that sound impressive to you? Well, maybe it will when I tell you that over 83% of sales made on Amazon come through the Buy Box.
Obtaining it for listings is the goal of every Amazon seller as it directly impacts sales and profitability. However, it is more difficult than you think, with there being many criteria for eligibility, including very positive reviews and ratings.
How to Check Your Reviews on Amazon
As we said earlier, it is important to keep track of your reviews in order to get an insider look at your customers’ experiences. You can check your reviews on Amazon using two methods.
Manually Checking Your Product Pages
You can view your Amazon reviews by visiting the product detail page for the item and scrolling down to the very bottom until you see its ratings and written reviews.
From there, you can filter your reviews by their star ratings or their mention of specific topics under the “Read reviews that mention” feature. You can also organize your reviews by the most recent or top reviews in the drop-down menu.
This method of reading them is similar to the customer experience, so it is easy and straightforward for most users. However, it isn’t as helpful if your store has multiple items, which would make it more difficult to have an overview of your brand.
Using the Customer Reviews Feature
Another way to view your reviews is through Amazon’s Seller Central Platform.
(To do this method, you have to have a Seller Account, so create one if you haven’t already.)
- First, you have to go to Seller Central on either a mobile or desktop web browser and log in. From there, you should look for the “Brand Health” widget on the website’s homepage.
- At the bottom of the widget, click on the “View Brand Dashboard” button. After, you can click on the “Customer Reviews” option on the left side of the page in the menu to view your reviews. If you have new customer reviews, you’ll see a “New” icon next to the link.
- The page will feature the latest 30 reviews, which you can filter through by pressing on the “Star Rating” or “Time Period” choices and altering those settings. Unlike the first method, you can also perform other actions on this page, such as reporting review abuse to Amazon, using the search bar to find a specific ASIN, or marking reviews as done to remove them from the default view.
Another really helpful feature to know about is that brands have the option to contact buyers who left negative (1-3 star) reviews to offer a refund or replacement, or to clarify a product issue based on the buyer’s review.
What are Amazon Review Checkers?
Analyzing review products and determining which are trustworthy can be a tedious, time-consuming process. However, just as there are websites that specialize in giving fake reviews, there are also ones that are designed to spot them.
These sites are Amazon review checkers, and they combine the skill of experienced professionals with the latest software in Artificial Intelligence to determine patterns and behaviors that are indicative of fraudulent reviews.
While they are great at saving you the time and effort of having to comb through the reviews, like all technology, you cannot trust them 100% of the time. However, they are still a great tool to start with when looking at reviews.
How do Amazon Review Checkers Work?
Using Amazon review checkers is quite easy. All you have to do is submit the product URL to the checker, and it will scan all the reviews and determine if there is any suspicious activity.
The checkers often check simple principles such as the ones said above and more.
For instance, if one person gives several for the same product, it will be labeled as fraudulent. This is the same if a single person gives a lot of reviews of different products in a short period of time, especially if all of them use similar wording.
There is an abundance of the best Amazon review checker tools on the market that can help you identify fake reviews. Here are some of the best Amazon review checker software for your business:
ReviewMeta is one of the most popular review checker tools. The tool uses an extensive list to assess, spot, and eliminate fraudulent, artificial, or questionable reviews. Using this tool, you can scan hundreds or even thousands of reviews can be scanned at once with its powerful algorithm. The tool comes as a web browser extension and a mobile app.
Review Index is another review tool that thoroughly checks and analyzes all your reviews, then scores them on a scale of 10. The tool also provides a review summary that organizes the reviews of a product by categories like old, new, and verified/unverified ones. It also has a feature that helps to identify fake reviews easily.
Fakespot is a simple review checker tool for shoppers but it can also come in handy for sellers. The tool is intended to assist you in identifying any suspicious reviews and exaggerated ratings. Using this tool, you can easily identify spam and real reviews. You can also use the tool to determine whether a seller is authorized or not.
The Danger of Fake Reviews
Evidently, sellers on Amazon are very concerned with the kind of reviews their products receive, and some deceitfully decide to employ fake reviews to boost their brand. Fake reviews are inaccurate and not based on genuine customer feedback.
For instance, some sellers can pay others to give five-star ratings and positive reviews on their products, even if what they sell isn’t as good as the reviews make them out to be. Another fake tactic is to spam negative reviews on their competitor’s page to discourage people from buying the product and make their own seem a lot better by comparison.
These could also be written by people who actually bought or tried the product as well. Sometimes, the seller will contact the buyer and ask them to write a particularly positive, overexaggerated review in order to get a refund or free additional products.
These dishonest reviews negatively affect the customer experience. As many customers rely on them to determine their purchases, they wouldn’t receive what they thought they bought based on them. With fake reviews, there is a greater chance for consumers to buy bad-quality products.
Obviously, sellers are also greatly affected by fake reviews. When sellers are targeted by negative fake reviews, they appear lower on the search engines, making it more difficult for customers to find them and their good-quality products. These sellers most likely would struggle to make any sales or profit.
How Can You Tell If Reviews Are Fake?
It is important for both buyers and sellers to be able to weed out fake reviews. If you know how to, then you can easily determine which products seem untrustworthy and suspicious. Here are Five criteria that should make you raise your eyebrows:
- Big differences in ratings
Before you even read them, you should compare the rating of the product you’re interested in with its competitors. If you notice their ratings are wildly different, then that warrants suspicion. Also, you should be keeping an eye on the percentages of the reviews. If 30% of the reviews are 1-star and 70% of them 4 or 5 stars, then that is something to keep in mind.
- Five-star reviews that leave short, one-line comments
If there are several of these, then that should signal alarm bells in your head.
- The reviews are vague
Those that are very positive or negative without specifying why may also be fake. This includes language such as “Love It!” or “Horrible!” but no other details. Usually, if a consumer feels that passionately about a product, they’ll talk about it with more specifics.
- If the reviews are too good to be true
In the end, you get what you pay for. The $50 flat-screen television you’re looking at can’t be the best TV on the market without any flaws. Make sure the reviews are realistic and not too exaggerated. No product is perfect!
- The review mentions a competing product
If a user suggests that you don’t spend your money on one brand’s product and instead suggests another, then that is definitely a red flag.
FAQs
Who Can Write Amazon Reviews?
Surprisingly, not everybody can participate in writing these. In order to limit the number of spam by fake accounts, Amazon recently updated its eligibility guidelines. To make sure its reviewers are real accounts, an account has to have spent at least $50 on Amazon using a valid debit or credit card for a year. This limits Amazon reviews to active shoppers.
How Long Before Amazon Reviews Show Up?
While they will generally show up within 72 hours of posting, some may take a little longer— sometimes up to 4 or 5 days. If it doesn’t get approved after 3 days, you can email the Amazon Review team to make sure it gets posted. When submitting your review, buyers will be asked for proof of purchase by email. If you have spent at least $50 on Amazon within 12 months as well as sent in your proof of purchase, then your review will become marked with a “Verified Buyer” banner.
Conclusion
Consumers rely heavily on Amazon reviews to make purchasing decisions. If a product has poor reviews, it must be bad. On the other hand, if it has good feedback, it must be great. However, while a majority of them accurately reflect the quality of the product, you cannot trust every review on your or competitors’ products. Using an Amazon review checker would help you easily differentiate between fake and legitimate reviews and should be used to know what our customers actually think.
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