1. Do we really depend on review sites?

With 58 percent of consumers looking at online reviews at least once a week, the influence of sites that aggregate them should not be underestimated.

Research reveals that 93 percent of shoppers say the testimonials they read affect their purchasing decisions. In an era where we are buying things online without seeing them in person, this is somewhat understandable.

The personal experiences of other consumers can resonate more than the sales jargon they may encounter in stores, and that’s why 85 percent of them trust online reviews as much as advice from friends.

But here’s the problem: not all review sites, nor the reviews left on them, are born equal. The trust placed in these platforms means there’s a lot of manipulation going out on there. According to the same survey, four in five of us have read a fake review in the past year, and 84 percent of us have admitted we struggle to decipher which posts are authentic.