Good reviews can give your business the boost and recognition that it needs to be successful. If you’re selling products online, these reviews can also entirely drive sales. Many consumers rely on reviews more than anything else, and they fully trust what they read, believing that it came from other people just like them.
This can create some significant problems for your business if you get negative reviews. They can have a direct financial impact on your business, and they could make it so that you can barely move some of the products you’ve put up for sale. Just a few bad reviews can have this impact.
Since this is going to financially affect your business, you may be wondering if a negative review counts as defamation and if you could potentially seek compensation for the money that you’re losing.
Is the review factually inaccurate?
The key is whether or not the review is factual. If someone simply posts their opinion about how they didn’t like a product or it didn’t serve the purpose that they wanted, they may be completely within their rights to express that opinion.
However, you will sometimes have reviews that are factually inaccurate and misrepresent the product. In a case like that, it certainly could count as defamation. It’s one thing for someone to have a negative opinion or give a bad review, and it’s entirely another for them to intentionally lie in a way that is going to cost your business money.
What can you do next?
If you do feel that this is what has happened, defamation could be incredibly costly and difficult to overcome. It’s very important to take the time to look into all of the legal options at your disposal.