Should you believe in Company review?

When you require help selecting out a latest book, gadget, boutique, saloon, restaurant or even doctor, what do you do?

Naturally! Turn to online reviews. Consumers are becoming used to searching for reviews before they shop. So it should be no surprise that there are company review sites that provide a window-shopping experience for the consumers. And we, as consumers, scour these reviews to assurance we’re making the right choice.

These days, online reviews and product rankings are prevalent with absolute fraud and morally doubtful conduct. Writers are paying for good reviews of their books; companies are betting the method by paying for five-star ratings or putting ratings themselves under bogus names. The problem seems to get more persistent day-by-day. Nevertheless, consumers depend on reviews to make sure their money is well spent.

So how do you know if a product review online is genuine? Before you delve deep into the rabbit hole of online reviews, here are some points to keep in mind:

• The best key is don’t just trust a single site. Check various sites for reviews and try to find a group opinion.
• The best way to trust a review is to look at the number of responses. The more positive responses a review has, the more likely it is to be real.
• Another tip is to depend on sites that authenticate a customer purchased a product or service before they can review it.
• A vigilant reading of a review may also disclose its reliability. You may be able to mark a fake review just by examining its diction.
• A product that only has five-star reviews might also raise a red flag. There should always be a few negative reviews. You must only trust reviews when there seems to be a balance of them.

Fortunately, some companies have started retorting to the menace of fake reviews. Google has stopped connecting to third-party reviews and is now motivating people to write reviews with their Google+ identities. Various sites now allow you to report reviews you feel might be bogus, helping to clear the air. Ultimately, your best bet seems to be reading reviews with a vigorous scepticism.