COLLECTING TESTIMONIALS? YOU SHOULD HAVE A TESTIMONIAL RELEASE!

I’m sure you’ve purchased something based off of someone’s testimonial, right? I mean, let’s face it, testimonials are a powerful tool for your business. Consumer surveys indicate that almost 90% of customers read reviews to determine the quality of a business. People want to be reassured they’re making a good choice when they invest in your product or service.

But one thing a lot of business owners don’t necessarily think about is a testimonial release. I’m guessing there are a few of you out there that are thinking, wait what is a testimonial release and do I need one?!

What is a testimonial release?

Let’s define a testimonial release. A testimonial release is a short-form type of contract that gives you the right to use testimonials on your website, products, or social media. The form has to explain how the testimonial will be used, what information you will contain (just the language, their name, or their social media handles), and get the permission from the client or customer prior to your use. Testimonial releases can also be contained as a term within your client contracts if you are providing one on one services.

You need consent AND permission from anyone providing a testimonial to use that person’s name and words before putting those testimonials on your website, products or social media otherwise you could run into issues for a private client or customer’s privacy rights. A testimonial release helps protect both you and your customers or clients by letting them know you use the review, while allowing the customer to request to remove the review if they’d like.

What types of testimonials can you use?

The Federal Trade Commission regulates how and when testimonials can be used. The goal of the law is to prevent unfair competition by companies using false, misleading, or deceptive practices to gain more customers. There are certain requirements that you have to follow when using testimonials for your business.

First, The testimonial must be from a real customer or client. They should be a customer or client from the past or at the time of the testimonial was received, not in anticipation of becoming a client or customer. False testimonials qualify as false advertising, and can lead to financial penalties.

Second, testimonials must be truthful and an accurate representation of a typical experience of a client or customer. You only want to use testimonials that provide proof of how your services or products really are. This is especially important for products bases businesses if you claim any type of results from the use of your products.

Third, you have to disclose any connections your business has with the reviewer. You can pay for testimonials or reviews, but you have to disclose that the testimonial was part of a paid campaign, and that the reviewer was paid for the testimonial. Further if there is any type of relationship with the reviewer, that relationship should be disclosed, such as using an influencer to promote your product, or having an employee post reviews of your product or services.

Here are three ways you can have a testimonial release.

1) You can have a testimonial release as a separate short form contract. This is usually a one page document that only the reviewer has to sign, as they are the only one “releasing” any rights. This type of testimonial release offers the greatest protection against claims of improper use, as it is easier to prove that the client or customer voluntarily released their rights to use things like their names, social media handles, locations, reasons for hiring you, and the content of the testimonial.

2) You can have a testimonial release as a term in your one-on-one client contracts. This type of testimonial release can be helpful to keep your contracts streamlined. It allows you to define how, when, where, and what is used in your published reviews. However, you need to be sure that the term is detailed enough to define all the necessary information to properly ensure you have proper consent from your client. If you use the testimonial outside what is defined in your contract, the client could claim you don’t have a right to use the testimonial.

3) You can have a testimonial release as a testimonial disclaimer in your website’s terms and conditions. This is the least protective type of testimonial disclaimer, as there is no separate voluntary consent. Even if you have a term at the beginning of your terms and conditions that all users of your website and/or services have to consent to the terms and conditions, a user could claim they didn’t have the opportunity to refuse their consent.

It’s important that you don’t just pull testimonials from other websites, such as Yelp, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or Google. Those reviews are subject to those specific website’s terms of services, and usually, those terms of service state that the user who posted a review retains the ownership of that post and/or the website is the sole company that can use the review. This means if the terms of service state the original poster owns the rights, you would still need their permission to use the review for any commercial purposes (ie. anything related to your business).

So double check that you’re using testimonials the right way, and that you have your rights in place to use them!