Peer reviews are an important tool in the battle to combat rogue customer reviews on shopping websites, according to Mike Harty from Shopow.
Online shops, price comparison sites and review sites are being put under pressure to put tighter procedures in place to prevent the practice of fake reviews becoming more widespread.
At the centre of the row are reputation management agencies that are paid by companies to boost the ratings of their products in a bid to cover up negative reviews posted by genuine customers. Some agencies are even paid by hotels and authors to post negative reviews to discredit their rivals. Meanwhile, some price comparison sites have been criticised by the FSA for their use of sponsored results that confuse customers.
Mike Harty, founder and COO of new social shopping site Shopow (Shopper Power) that is committed to giving impartial advice says, “The threat of dishonest customer reviews is a major concern. Our industry is facing a tough battle to keep product manufacturers in check and increasingly sophisticated measures are needed to do this.
“Prioritising the reviews of your social networks is a key step. Various studies show that shoppers are more likely to trust the recommendations of friends so their reviews should be the ones at the forefront. The unique Social Sorting algorithm used by Shopow brings democratisation to the retail web but in a much more trustworthy way.”
Shopow (www.shopow.com) is a new type of social shopping engine that aggregates thousands of retailers and millions of products across all areas of consumer goods. Not only does this allow users to compare goods by criteria such as price, retailer, service and delivery, it also integrates various social functions so shoppers can find all the information they need to make the right decisions when buying online.
Shopow displays reviews, Q&A and strikes (shared product bookmarks) that have already been collected around a product, so users will be able to gauge an opinion generated by other shoppers. Shopow’s innovative Social Sorting brings your friends’ interactions with products to the fore; making shopping more personalised and trustworthy than ever before.
Mike continues, “When you see a friend’s review, you instantly know it is free of commercial skew, is honest and most importantly, completely impartial. Too many reviewers hide behind anonymous screen names online, and as such there is a clear opportunity for unscrupulous companies to really influence rankings. It doesn’t surprise me at all that the online image managers are getting involved in this practice, because currently the whole system revolves around an overall star rating. When you add a personalised layer on top, that rating becomes a reference point which you can check your friends’ opinion against. So instead of the rating been the focus, the friend’s review is.”
Shopow analyses your likes and interests as you go about striking and reviewing products, and will personalise your shopping results to enhance your experience and serve you more relevant results.
If a Shopow user cannot find the information they need, they will be able to ask a question which will be open to answers across the Shopow community. Questions will also be pushed to Facebook, Twitter and your Shopow network to get a quick answer from somebody the user trusts.
Shopow has distanced itself from the shopping comparison sites by being free from commercial bias. Instead, Shopow has gone to great lengths to ensure that it stays wholly independent meaning products at the top of the list really are the best in terms of price, service or any other attribute you select.
By Mike Harty
Shopow
www.shopow.com