Why Consumer Data Fraud Impacts $1T in Business Decisions

This is the third in a series of blogs that explain how Realeyes’ Verify is the solution to fix a broken survey industry. 

In a previous post, we highlighted why panels were failing to rein in survey fraud. Before that, we highlighted how there is a sharp increase in bad actors looking to exploit loopholes in survey collection.  

Now we’re going to discuss exactly why survey fraud is such a big deal. The entire concept of market research is to poll humans about their perspectives on brands. The information that comes from those surveys is supposed to reflect a genuine opinion.  
 
While it’s true that the respondents are paid, there is a generally safe assumption that their answers reflect their world view. Put another way, they are not penalized for being critical about that product; in fact, they are encouraged to share criticisms if validly held. 

Now scammers and fraudsters not only do not care about the answers they’ve given, but they are also trying to finish a survey as quickly as possible, sometimes even multiple surveys at the same time. 

This creates noise in the best-case scenario and extremely false data in the worst-case scenario. 

For example, if fraudsters overwhelm a panel and the majority claim that they used a particular product and the price point is considered too high, it could cause a company to make a grave error in lowering the price of their product. That is why we say survey fraud affects $1 trillion in business decisions. Because businesses invest in market research to take actions that can affect the sales and promotion of their products. 

If fraudsters are masquerading as a demographic that isn't theirs, it could lead a company to over- or under-invest in a particular product, either leading to unnecessary inventory or missing out on more sales. 

Advertising/business strategy relying on flawed panel-based market research is a huge concern, but Verify is the solution.