Enter two strategies that fall firmly
into a gray area. They were mentioned
so often in interviews for this piece
that I suspect they generate the bulk
of reviews you’ll find on major retailers’
websites. The first is “seeding”
products—sending them to existing
customers (usually through loyalty
programs) or via third-party services
like Power Reviews, Influenster,
and Bazaarvoice. These companies—
born of our reviews-driven shopping
culture—will get your product to
women in your target demographic,
who are then highly encouraged to
leave reviews. It’s easy to carry a
positive bias into a review, though, if it
was received for free—a gift by
definition—instead of having required
some investment. (Full disclosure: As
an editor at Allure, I am the recipient of
seeded product. But Allure’s editorial
policy is that staff may accept free
goods as long as their acceptance
does not compromise or guarantee
editorial coverage of the free goods.
We never solicit gifts, and we also
purchase products for review.) Brands
adamantly deny paying for reviews,
but an expensive seeding or gifting
campaign, with the goal of generating
positive buzz for a product, can
feel pretty similar. It gives brands with
deeper pockets a better shot at
stacking their page with a plethora
of reviews, thereby inspiring you,
dear shopper, to pull out your credit
card with confidence.
The second strategy, incentivizing,
can be even more enticing for a
potential reviewer. Though it’s illegal
to incentivize a review, according
to the FTC—with free product, cash,
15% off coupon while supplies last—
unless disclosed, beauty company
employees I spoke with said brands
frequently offer impressive rewards
to reviewers, such as credit to use on
the brand’s website or discounts, on
top of free “seeded” product.
So yes, deep pockets certainly
have their advantages in the review
game. But sources at conglomerate-
owned brands seem to think that indie
brands have their own edge: less
accountability from a more established
corporate structure—and those pesky
shareholders. “It’s easier for smaller
brands to get away with generating
fake reviews than it is for bigger
brands, but we joke about it, saying
things like ‘We should be writing
reviews and refreshing the page,’” says
Aaron Adams*, a copy manager at ato vendor at will. It could bankrupt
an indie company that doesn’t have
the capital to absorb the deficit.”
(Sephora declined to provide an
interview for this story after we sent
questions regarding the review
process on their site.)
Stellar reviews aren’t enough—
brands are pressed to have as many of
them as possible. Because we don’t
just want feedback; we want copious
amounts of feedback. A study
published in Psychological Science
found that when given a choice
between two equally low-rated
products, people routinely chose the
one with a higher number of reviews—
in other words, the “more popular”
product (and the one statistically more
likely to be of low quality). Retailers
understand this. “During your brand
review twice a year [you’ll be told],
‘Your star rating is above average
for this category, but you don’t have
a strong volume of reviews,’” says
Danielle Davis*, a brand founder who
has sold products through Sephora
and asked us not to use her real name.
“They push brands to have reviews—
and a lot of them–which means some
brands do questionable things to get
them.” (More on those tactics later.)
Of course, Sephora isn’t alone in its
supposed demand that brands pony
up reviews. A brand founder seeking
distribution with luxury beauty retailer
Violet Grey disclosed to Allure that
the company asked outright for the
founder’s customers to review
products to post on their site at
launch. In an email, Violet Grey denied
suggesting its brands accrue reviews.
Instead, the company reaffirmed
its vetting practice, which includes
sending products to its 100-plus-
member expert committee, whose
positive feedback is crucial to
Violet Grey’s decision to carry a new
product. The company discloses
that these members are also Violet
Grey customers.
be hard-pressed to find a brand that
is still fabricating its own reviews.
Such a public misstep isn’t worth the
risk. And yet, Bennett says, “I don’t
think anyone’s cleaned up their act
completely—they’re just being
more careful.”
WAYS TO SPOT
A FAKE
CHECK THE DATES ON
REVIEWS. If a large
volume of them cluster
around a few dates, it’s
likely those reviews were
uploaded by just a
handful of people, says
FakeSpot founder and
CEO Saoud Khalifah.LOOK FOR SIMILAR
LANGUAGE used in
several different reviews.
Some bots are just sloppy.SEE WHETHER THE
NEWEST PRODUCTS
ON THE SITE ARE
ALREADY FLUSH
WITH REVIEWS.
This is the clearest tell of
a seeding campaign.
Though reviews from
people who have received
free products isn’t
a deal-breaker, it helps
to know before you
make a big investment
in a luxe product.COMPARE THE STAR
RATING of a product
across multiple websites,
says Bennett. If it has
five stars on the brand’s
own website and 3.5
on Ulta, for example, that
tells you things may
have been tinkered with
to create the stellar
rating on the company’s
own page.