Online shopping is booming, no secret about that. We’ve already reported that also this Holiday Season we all together are buying more online than ever before. Probably, just like others, you heavily rely upon others’ opinion before you decide what to buy. Nothing strange about that because over 83% of buyers do so. But don’t let these reviews ruin your Christmas. Unfortunately, some of these reviews are just fake! In our opinion this is a bad practice which is increasingly becoming an issue. It forces us to rethink the value of reviews and to watch them a bit closer.

This post originally appeared at 21webmerceblog.View original post.

Some days ago YOTPO published a great Infographic clearly showing the issue about the reliability of reviews. They predict that by 2014 around 10-15% of the reviews will be fake or paid for. This makes relying on (fake) reviews might result in purchases we won’t be happy about in the end.

Introducing “social” reviews will reduce this problem. Increasingly, web shops show what your social media friends think about a certain product. The reliability of such reviews can be better assessed by you as a buyer and you can even contact the person to be really sure. In addition in the Infographic below you will find some additional tips how to find out whether or not you can trust a review.

Don’t let fake reviews ruin your Christmas’ shoppings