Fake, incentivized and biased software reviews cause businesses millions in damage - but this is about to change.
While most software review sites typically crowdsource their reviews, these are inherently biased with personal anecdotes and opinions, or even more troubling: financial incentives. In response, Results.com has established a firm stance of relying on category experts to produce software reviews that rely on data, facts, and features - not opinions.
�On average, our research has found that about a third of reviews are fake or incentivized,� said Benjamin Lode, Managing Director of Results.com. �We�re focusing on software and SaaS tools, where one poor software choice can cause millions in damages. Lidl famously wasted �500 million and seven years on software that they couldn't use - this happens all the time, at every level.�
Initial research from Results.com has found that:
- On average, the majority of reviews on crowdsourced review sites are provided with a financial incentive.
- There appears to be a strong correlation between receiving a financial incentive and leaving a positive review.
- Software vendors can cherry-pick customers to send to these review sites, almost guaranteeing a positive review.
- Some review sites offer further incentives for software vendors to generate as many user reviews as possible, with minimal verification requirements.
Tim Tepass, an investor in Results.com, said: �Decision-makers don�t have the time to do their critical analysis, and they make bad decisions as a result. We�re on a mission to fix this.�
To complement their fact-driven reviews, Results.com is conducting independent research on the software industry, as well as developing a data-driven machine learning stack to help readers on an even more personal, granular level.
Results.com (https://results.com) is a fully remote company with a base in Berlin, the start-up capital of Europe. The company is distributed across six cities, with team members from four continents.