Many companies, including property tax firms, quote statistics in their marketing that are often meant to mislead the consumer. So how does the consumer spot when statistics are honest or instead misleading? While it’s not easy, there are things to look for when deciding who to trust.
First, look into the reputation of the business. A trustworthy company that’s been recognized as ethical, has a positive online reputation, and that focuses on doing business the right way, is likely to present accurate statistics. Where as a less reputable company, with profit as the primary motive, is more likely to misrepresent statistics.
Second, know that statistics presented with an agenda, and without the underlying methodology, can be misused in a way that arrives at whatever conclusion further’s the company’s goals.
For example: A property tax firm who claims their average reduction is 6.41%, nearly twice what they claim their competitions results to be, should create healthy skepticism. In fact, since the data is public record, we’re able to reverse engineer this statistical slight of hand. The property tax firm in question isn’t comparing apples to apples, and therefore is clearly misusing statistics to mislead the consumer.
