Amazon added an in-house tool that would improve its customer reviews system on Friday. It is designed to update the star ratings and the top reviews on product pages to provide consumers with updated and more helpful reviews.
The five-star rating review system has been a part of the Amazon site for the past 20 years. Most buyers factor the ratings and reviews on their decision-making whether to buy the product or not. However, it is not a secret that the system is also plagued with fake reviews that make the review rating unreliable.
Last April, Amazon sued four websites that sell fake, positive product reviews, according to Reuters.
"While small in number, these reviews threaten to undermine the trust that customers, and the vast majority of sellers and manufacturers, place in Amazon, thereby tarnishing Amazon's brand," the complaint said.
With the new system in place, Amazon expects to stop these fake reviews and the improper use of the brand's name.
"The system will learn what reviews are most helpful to customers...and it improves over time," Amazon spokeswoman Julie Law said in an interview with CNET. "It's all meant to make customer reviews more useful."
In the next few days, users will observe that newer reviews will be displayed on top of the product page. The tool will also favor the reviews from verified Amazon buyers and those that were voted up as helpful. Each star rating will be updated each time a new review is added.
Amazon is rolling out the change in the United States and has not announced any plans of updating the site for other countries.
