“Brushing” Amazon Accounts and the Loss of Innocence

Online reviews are a lot like bad relationships:

It’s either over-the-moon fantastic with rainbows and sparkly teeth. It’s also seeing someone’s complete rage in their eyes. Yeah, so it’s either great or terrible. No middle ground. Yeah, reviews on ecommerce sites are like that.

I think it was a genius PR ploy to have people just write glowing testimonials for free. I mean, crap, you just got copywriters for free, dude. Humans, being humans, found a way to game the system so completely that the main objective of having real people give feedback has been “Monetized” (not a word and I’m sticking to it). Neatly packaged in a simple — insanely simple — a rating of 1 – 5 stars.

The BBC has published an in-depth article (portions quoted below). What caught my interest is that the practice is so common that everyone admits it. We are, after all, simply “data points” that can be manipulated by “influencers.” Fuck. Where is my copy of Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World when I need evidence?

From the BBC:

“You can’t win”

One company, in Bingley, West Yorkshire has decided not to use review websites such as TrustPilot or Feefo because of the risk of competing with fake reviews.

Helena Gerwitz, head of marketing at Feature Radiators, says: “We work in a really niche industry.

“When new websites pop up, they might suddenly have 200 or so reviews. That’s a lot of reviews since we know they have only been going since last month.”

Image copyright FEATURERADIATORS

She believes the volume of the high-rated reviews that some competitors have cannot be legitimate.

Ms. Gerwitz adds: “We have had chats about it – do we need to go down this route? – but my boss is very much ‘we don’t want to do that’. It’s unethical, it’s not true.

“We could set up a review account and know that we would do it legitimately but it would look bad as we wouldn’t pay people to put out reviews, so relative to the other sites we would look terrible.

“So we have decided not to do them but then people think there is something to hide. You can’t win. It’s really frustrating.”

‘Lose faith in online shopping’

Even verified reviews might not be all they seem. Some consumers fear their personal data might have been used by sellers to gather fake “verified reviews”.

Known as “brushing”, the scam sees sellers obtain people’s name and address to send the goods which they did not purchase.

On Amazon, this leaves a paper trail showing the goods had been bought on the site and had been delivered.

The seller then uses the individual’s details to set up a new account which it uses to post glowing reviews of its products.

Amazon says it is “investigating” complaints of “unsolicited packages” which would breach the company’s policy.

Architect Paul Bailey, from Billericay, in Essex believes he may have been targeted. Last month he received a number of unexpected “gifts”, including a key-ring, a phone case, a tattoo removal kit and a charcoal toothpaste set.

Image copyright PAUL BAILEY

“I think when the first parcel arrived it was a case of bemusement, then I checked with my wife if she’d used my account to buy something.

“When the second item arrived later that day I thought it was perplexing but amusing. Then it became quite chilling.”

Mr. Bailey says he cannot be sure where online sellers have obtained his data but says it has “made me lose faith in online shopping.”

He added: “We all know there are laws in place over how data is handled but it’s made me very, very nervous to the point I’m going shopping back on the High Street – even though it tends to be more expensive.”

A spokesman for Amazon added: “We have confirmed the sellers involved did not receive names or shipping addresses from Amazon.

“We remove sellers in violation of our policies, withhold payments, and work with law enforcement to take appropriate action.”

The psychology of online reviews

Nathalie Nahai, the author of Webs of Influence: The Psychology of Online Persuasion, says online reviews work because people try to take an “effortless route” when they have to make decisions.

“When it comes to purchasing, especially for items which are easy to buy, we expect this level of convenience and ease,” she says.

“Part of that expectation is met by peer reviews… we can outsource our decision-making.”

“Above a certain threshold, people will go for a slightly lower rating,” Ms. Nahai explains, citing a study where a product with more reviews but a 4.3 rating was more popular than the same product with fewer reviews and a 4.4.

Interestingly, she says there is “certain leniency we give to bad reviews”.

“We tend to distrust perfect ratings because it looks too good to be true,” she says. “A five-star rating is less worthy than a 4.8 or 4.7.”

It could also be the order of the reviews that matter.

Consumer psychologist Cathrine Jansson says some sellers might be aware of what is known as the primacy and recency effects. These theories state that people tend to remember the first and last items in a series better than those in the middle.

“It’s the first five or six reviews that people tend to read and then if they’re really interested they’ll scroll to the last one.

“So some sellers will make sure it’s really good reviews at the top and that people see a really good one last.”

There are, however, many reasons why people will also post genuine online reviews, says Nisa Bayindir, director of global insights at market research company GlobalWebIndex.

“There are other key motivations at play. For example, we know that consumers buy products and brands that preserve, enhance or extend their self-image.

“This dynamic comes alive with online reviews. People may leave genuine and positive reviews online to show appreciation and commitment to the brands that are in tune with their personalities and values.

“This, of course, includes the basics such as product quality, attentive customer services, and good value for money. ”

She says that brands should focus on “building credibility” but acknowledges that fake reviews may be around for cheaper goods for the foreseeable future.

She adds: “Sometimes people are just happy to pay a smaller amount of money for a mediocre experience.”