Review Bombing Targets Small Business Owners
Recent surveys indicate that 90% of consumers read online reviews when they are trying to decide on which small business to hire for a specific project.
And while small business owners are increasingly aware of the power of online reviews, they are equally cognizant of the proliferation of fake online reviews that can have a negative impact on the business and send potential customers running into the arms of a local competitor.
“Review bombing” has become such a common practice targeting small business owners that the term even appears with a very colorful description on Urban Dictionary.
Sure Signs That Your Business Has Been Review Bombed
The topic of review bombing surfaced this morning in Orlando with a local news segment highlighting the fact that a Central Florida roofing company had been the target of a review bombing campaign.
Kay Dean, a former federal investigator and fake online review watchdog @fakereviewwatch analyzed the wave of negative reviews impacting the small business and built a spreadsheet which she shared with News 6 in Orlando:
The spreadsheet revealed several interesting and easily identifiable patterns that can help business owners determine if they have been review bombed:
- Strange timing: A flood of negative reviews about the business were posted in a very short period of time.
- Strange names: Many of the names of the individuals posting the negative reviews were not common first or last names in the local market.
- Strange location: Many of the reviews were coming from individuals who did not reside in the same city, state or country as the business being targeted.
- Identical text: Many of the negative reviews contained the exact same text as other reviews in the review bombing campaign.
- Positive reviews: Several of the accounts posting negative reviews were also posting identical positive reviews for other businesses in different countries.
- Locked accounts: Several accounts were locked making it impossible for a business owner to see the other reviews being posted by a review bomber.
Business Owners Have Little Recourse After Being Bombed
Once a business owner has been review bombed, Dean says the real challenge is getting any of the big tech platforms like Facebook or Google to actually listen to your complaint and take action against those behind the review bombing campaign.
In one of her videos on Fake Online Reviews, Dean recounts how she was contacted by another South Florida contractor who had been targeted by a review bombing campaign on Facebook. When the business owner tried to contact facebook, her account was suspended for 180 days for flagging so many negative reviews.
“Facebook which does a terrible job policing fake reviews all over its polluted platform has the gall to suspend (a business owner) for reporting fake reviews.” -Kay Dean, Fake Online Reviews
In the final analysis, Dean says it’s a clear case of the federal government not being willing to hold the social media giants accountable.
“Fake reviews, whether negative or positive skew the marketplace and create unfair competition. The FTC wants to go after the fakers, but who won’t they won’t hold accountable? Powerful tech platforms like Facebook who created this mess and remain impervious to the concerns of small businesses and consumers.”
What Online Reviews Can Consumers Believe?
With review bombing campaigns and the proliferation of AI-generated content and reviews, it is getting much harder for consumers to determine which reviews are legitimate. So how can consumers determine which reviews to believe?
Well, a recent Reddit thread posed this question and, while most respondents voiced dwindling faith in online reviews, there seemed to be consensus among several members that one type of review could be considered legit: 3 Stars.
“Go for the 3 stars. Nobody pays for a 3 star review. But they are often like: the product is great but I don’t like the guy who delivered it to my house.” -Fitz911
“Look at three stars and lower, or sort by “most recent”, and ignore any “got this product for free” reviews, and any “I never write reviews, but…” reviews -JazzHandsNinja42
While this advice can be helpful when shopping for products online, most consumers would probably still be hesitant to hire a contractor or home service provider that had an aggregate review score lower than 4 or 5, so the need to address review bombing campaigns is very real.
Small Business Owners & Consumers Need A Fakespot
In the same thread, another respondent suggests that consumers trying to determine whether an online review is legit or fake can turn to sites like Fakespot which quickly identify fake reviews.
“Check out Fakespot’s website. They have a free review analyzer that helps determine how many reviews are fake. It’s not perfect but saved me from many potentially bad purchases.”
The limitation for small business owners is that Fakespot is geared more toward product purchases on sites like Amazon, Best Buy, eBay, Shopify and Walmart.
And while there is currently no such solution for spotting fake online reviews aimed at small businesses, the best advice for consumers comes from sites like Semrush Local that preach constant vigilance and pattern recognition on the part of both business owners and the consumers they are trying to win over.
Contact CII Today
If you own an established home service business in Florida or Georgia and would like to get a better understanding of the current market value of your company and important steps you can take today to maximize that value, get in touch with a CII business advisor today.