Customers Don’t Trust 5-Star Reviews Anymore. Here’s What They Want Instead

As AI floods e-commerce with fake feedback, brands like Ghia, Ritual, and Dr. Squatch are rebuilding trust with smarter social proof.

BY RYAN VANNI, FOUNDER AND CEO, GOODNESS

In e-commerce, product page reviews have always been the digital equivalent of a crowded restaurant. When a waiting line stretches around the block, you assume the food must be good. That’s because humans are evolutionarily hardwired to seek safety in numbers; we look for social proof to lower our perceived risk. So, when a product page has hundreds of 5-star reviews, brands could assume that this version of social proof alone would lead to higher sales.

Not anymore. Traditional text-heavy reviews are experiencing a massive........

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