New rules for indicating consumer reviews

It has great influence on the buying decisions of people if someone they know recommends a product to them. “I have tried it and it is excellent.” and “We were there last year and it was amazing!” – reviews like this have just as big an impact on shoppers as the best advertisements.

The wisdom of the masses

Retailers know very well that there is great potential in consumer reviews: first they have started posting them on their own platforms. It is needless to say that they only wanted to show the positive reviews on their websites. Later some retailers took things one step further and began posting good consumer reviews themselves – behind these there was no real shopping experience – or removing negative reviews from their websites. The European Union has decided to harmonise the legislation on posting such reviews.

Only those should write about it who have actually used it

According to the new regulations, a retailer is obliged to inform its website’s visitors about how it guarantees that the reviews were written by people who had really used the products. What kind of steps can retailers take to ensure this? For instance they can register those who write the reviews, use some kind of technological solution to check whether the reviewer is an actual consumer, have a solution for automatically identifying fraudulent activities, and assign measures and resources for examining review-related complaints. This means that if a retailer wants to indicate consumer reviews on its website, it also has to prepare for inspections by the authorities in this field.

Praise bought for money

It will also qualify as unfair trade practice if fake consumer reviews or recommendations are posted, with the purpose of advertising the product, and if a retailer commissions someone with writing such reviews. It is also forbidden to pay money to a consumer who actually uses the given product for posting a positive review about it. The new rules fall in line with the so-called “opinion leader” communication related practices of the Hungarian Competition Authority (GVH), according to which it is of utmost importance to guarantee that the online content they make about products and trends is fair and honest, because it has great influence on the buying decisions of shoppers.

No criticism, please!

With the new rules it will be considered an unfair trade practice if a retailer only posts positive consumer reviews and delete critical ones. It will also be forbidden to pair the recommendation with another product and not the one it was written about. Yes, the new rules create extra burden for retailers, especially in checking actual product use behind consumer reviews, but the EU’s objective is to only have real experience based, objective reviews posted. //