Can you put customer reviews and testimonials on your website?
Yes. Real words from real customers can help a new visitor trust you. The Federal Trade Commission's position is that testimonials should reflect the customer's honest opinion and actual experience, that a connection such as a relative or employee should be made clear, and that unusual results need context about what people generally get, unless the business can show they are typical. A business that posts fake or false testimonials on its own site could be liable. This is a plain summary, not legal advice.
What the FTC's guidance says
- Real experience: the FTC's Endorsement Guides FAQ says an endorsement must reflect "the honest opinion of the endorser", and that you cannot talk about your experience with a product you have not tried.
- Asking customers: the FAQ says a business can ask customers about their experiences and feature their comments in its ads.
- Connections: it says that if an ad features a relative or employee of the marketer, the ad "is misleading unless the connection is made clear".
- Typical results: if the advertiser lacks proof that an endorser's experience represents what people will generally achieve, the FAQ says the ad must make clear what the generally expected results are.
- Your own site: the FTC's questions and answers on its Consumer Reviews and Testimonials Rule (November 2024) say a business that puts testimonials on its own website is disseminating them, not merely hosting them, and if they are fake or false, "the business could be liable". It adds that reviews a business features in its marketing "become testimonials".
Edits and choosing which ones to show
The FTC's rule Q&A says the rule's review-suppression provision applies only to the part of a website set aside for showing customer reviews, so it does not cover picking particularly positive reviews for marketing, but it warns that "non-representative consumer reviews in marketing could be deceptive" under the FTC Act. The Endorsement Guides FAQ adds that sorting reviews so every five-star one comes first, regardless of date, could mislead.
On edits, that FAQ tells a reviewer whose words a marketer changed misleadingly that they can complain and ask the marketer to stop using the altered review. As general advice, not the FTC's wording: trim a long review only for length, never change what the customer meant, and keep the original.
A simple way to do it
- Ask the customer before you quote them, and say where the words will appear. Keep their yes in writing.
- Use their first name and town only if they agree, and keep the original message and its date.
- Do not offer anything in return for testimonials or reviews.
- Never present staff, family or anyone paid by you as an ordinary customer.
What the guidance does not do
The Endorsement Guides FAQ says the Guides "don't have the force of law", although practices inconsistent with them may lead to enforcement action under Section 5 of the FTC Act, and it says the guidance does not provide a safe harbor: whether a claim is deceptive depends on the facts. The rule Q&A says the rule authorizes courts to impose civil penalties for knowing violations, and that it does not provide a private right of action. This is a plain summary, not legal advice.
Other trust signals are in the related answer on how to make a website trustworthy, and asking for reviews in the related answer on how to get more reviews the right way.
Sources
- Federal Trade Commission, "FTC's Endorsement Guides: What People Are Asking"
- Federal Trade Commission, "The Consumer Reviews and Testimonials Rule: Questions and Answers" (November 2024)
Related answers
- How do you make a website trustworthy to a new visitor?
- How do you get more reviews the right way?
- Do online reviews matter for a small business?
Websites, upgraded or built
Most businesses do not need a new website. They need the one they have to load fast, say clearly what they do and ask the visitor to take one step.