There are a few not-so-wise tactics you should avoid when it comes to garnering positive consumer reviews for your company.  One of them is posting fake reviews (that should be obvious, right?).  Not only is this completely unethical and unprofessional, it is also illegal.

Take the company Lifestyle Lift  for example.   The company instructed employees to write and post glowing reviews of the company online.  The company also developed in-house websites to post reviews and appear third-party.  Lifestyle Lift has since settled with the state of New York and was ordered to pay $300,000 in penalties and to clearly disclose any content that is created by the company.

Lifestyle Lift claims it originally started posting the reviews because they believed their reputation had been significantly damaged by negative online customer reviews.  I think it’s safe to say they (unintentionally) did more harm than good.  Word to the wise: avoid fake customer ratings and reviews!

Click here to read more about the story from the New York Times.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 29th, 2009 at 9:52 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.