As part of its war on fake reviews, Amazon.com recently sued three of its merchants who were using so-called sock puppet accounts to post fake reviews about their products. While the lawsuits have gotten press attention and sent a message to merchants, in-house lawyers interviewed by Corporate Counsel say litigation should be just a small component of a larger strategy to combat fake reviews.
A 2011 Harvard study estimated that a one-star increase on Yelp equals an increase of 5 to 9 percent in revenues for a restaurant. And one study from the independent market research company Dimensional Research, found that 90 percent of consumers say their buying decisions are influenced by positive online reviews.
