Online reviews are highly influential, impacting purchasing decisions for over 93% of consumers. But with 2.2 million fake or harmful reviews posted to TrustPilot in 2020 alone, it’s a significant issue for businesses and individual consumers alike.
To tackle the issue of misleading information, the UK Government has recently announced that they would be cracking down on fake reviews under new measures proposed by the Competition and Markets Authority.
For businesses, this news means they must be more vigilant than ever when it comes to ensuring the reviews of their products and/or services are genuine, or risk financial penalties worth up to 10% of their global annual turnover.
For the many reliable reviews that are written each day, there are just as many that are less so, with controversies around fake reviews, customers with an axe to grind, companies modifying or screening notes to weed out bad testimonies, false negative reviews written by competitors and other “dodgy dealings” that erode trust in the whole process.
Far from being an issue that just affects consumer confidence, false reviews skew the marketplace, giving some businesses an unfair advantage while disadvantaging others.
Fake reviews can also represent unfair commercial practices under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008, but this can be challenging to enforce. Even where procedures exist to have a fake review taken down, this can be time-consuming to achieve. In the meantime, the review will often continue to cause reputational and financial harm.
To learn about the key principles of online consumer reviews, download our BS ISO 20488 Online Consumer Reviews Brochure here.
Tackling misleading information is long overdue. For the many businesses who make their profits from enticing us to browse, click and buy online, the temptation to get creative in paraphrasing testimonials, needs to be reined in.
A plan to make it illegal for people to write or host fake reviews has been outlined by the government. The proposals would see bigger fines for firms that trick consumers into spending more than they want to online. Businesses offering subscriptions would also be required to make clear exactly what consumers are signing up for and allow them to cancel easily.
The government’s proposals include:
Giving powers to regulators to address misuse of online reviews
Penalties for companies that trick customers into spending more than they intended
Penalties for concealing the fact that a company has paid for its product to be featured prominently on a trading website
So, what will these changes, if implemented, mean for you?
For your business, these changes will mean that any consumer reviews about your products and/or services will have to be checked to see if they are genuine before they can be posted online. You will also no longer be allowed to remove unfavourable reviews and will have to be transparent about payment for better search engine results.
In order to fully comply with these proposed measures, your business should also make it easy for consumers to find out how they can make complaints about defective goods or services across all your channels of operation.
To learn more about business best practices on customer complaints, read our article ‘Managing complaints: Customer service standards for your business'
With these new measures likely to be introduced pending parliamentary approval, it is now more important than ever for businesses to demonstrate that they value their customers and are committed to providing reviews that consumers can trust.
Applicable to all types of businesses, including review websites as well as the companies themselves, BS ISO 20488 Online consumer reviews – Principles and requirements for their collection, moderation, and publication reflects international best practices for the online consumer review process.
Consumers place trust in standards and so from the collection to moderation and publication of reviews, BS ISO 20488 helps companies boost consumer confidence, protect suppliers, and improve the quality of products and services provided.
It also gives users suggestions for improving the purchase decisions of consumers and the quality of products and services provided by organizations.
David Fatscher, Head of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) at BSI said: ‘This guidance strikes the right balance between verifying the authenticity of a review whilst respecting the reviewer’s right to privacy. BS ISO 20488 is an answer to the current thorny issue of online reviews, where a lack of standardized guidance has left consumers in the dark as to the accuracy of a review.’
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Build confidence in the quality, integrity, accuracy, and transparency of your online consumer reviews, by adding BS ISO 20488 to your collection today.