Have fake reviews ever caused a real problem for your business?

[u/Suicifal]

I would like to find out how effective the false reviews can be for a business. Recently i came across some fake reviews of my business on google. In particular there were two negative reviews posted by people who are not our clients. The second review is even stranger because it describes an event that never happened. Originally my acquaintance thought that dealing with it is easy but it became a very frustrating process. In particular the owner was mostly concerned with how those fake reviews can affect the impression of potential clients who see only the negative reviews without the context of the whole situation. Does anyone here experienced something similar before? Did the fake reviews have any effect on your business?

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[u/XxLogitech98xX]

Fake reviews can steer away potentially customers awat from a business. The customer will go based on what they read

[u/BoGrumpus]

Reply to them saying that you're trying to find them in your records so you can make things right but can't. Tell them to reach out to you directly so you can do what it takes. Since it's fake, it'll likely get no response (or if it does - they'll end up having to reveal themselves) but your potential customers see - okay, they're trying to make things right. That's all it really takes.

In many ways - a poor review handled well is far more valuable than a bunch of pristine 5-Star reviews that don't really say whether that means "5-Stars - They did just what I wanted" or "5-Stars - The experience was superlative."

Everyone knows that sometimes @&*# happens. So long as it appears that if things do go pear shaped, you're going to do your best to make things right, that's a win.

G.

[u/Tasty_Cardiologist53]

I began the summer with a perfect 5 star rating and was getting multiple calls a day, within a few hours I was hit with 6, 1-star reviews and the calls stopped coming in immediately.

Im not certain if the bad reviews equalled a significant drop in calls, but the timing is highly suspect, and at the time most if not all of my business was coming in through my Google account

[u/EvertoCredana → u/Tasty_Cardiologist53]

This happened to an acquaintance of mine with his service business, except in his case he was contacted and asked for money to remove the 1-star reviews. Did anything like that happen to you too?

If six 1-star reviews can suddenly change the impression of a business that was getting steady calls, then the real problem is how fragile that trust signal is.

It also makes you wonder how useful/trustful a review system really is when the customer looking at it has no way of knowing which experiences came from actual customers and which didn’t..

[u/Tasty_Cardiologist53 → u/EvertoCredana]

No i didnt pay those people and nor should your friend. For all we know, those are the scumbags leaving the fake reviews in the first place. As for the reviews, it dropped me down to a 4.5, which is still fine, but when people scroll through companies to hire, they will of course look for 5-4.8 star, so there is definitely an effect

[u/EvertoCredana → u/Tasty_Cardiologist53]

I believe he reported it to Google, and eventually all the fraudulent reviews were taken down and his 5-star rating came back.

But yeah, that’s rough. Especially when you know the business itself hasn’t suddenly gotten worse, but the rating is still changing how people see it and directly affecting the business.

There should be a way for customers to know whether a review came from an actual customer or just someone posting with no real experience behind it. Otherwise, a few fake reviews can distort the whole picture.

[u/Legitimate-Sugar2342]

If your GBP is hit with a fake review you should report it with owner's GBP account as it can affect business sales due to negative review. If a business has over 100+ reviews then few low star rating won't affect the overall rating but I would advice to take it seriously and report it asap.

[u/tanvirahmedseo]

It won't affect your overall GBP ranking, but it may decrease the conversion rate since people care about what other people say.

You may reply to these fake reviews and explain that it is fake, don't go agressive, google don't like that.

Just politely explain so that the reader can understand that it is not an authentic review or there is something wrong with the review.

[u/TailorBuzz]

The Crux over in my town is fake GMBs or spam GMBs if you prefer. People spinning up more than one GMB and taking business from people who play the fair game.

This is causing headaches.