How to collect testimonials you are allowed to publish

To collect testimonials, ask soon after a good result, send a short form with three questions, and include a consent box that states exactly where the words will appear and how the person will be named. Publish what they wrote, trimmed only for length and spelling. Rewording a testimonial to say more than the customer meant is the one step that turns it from evidence into a problem.

When to ask

The best moment is shortly after the customer has seen the result: the bathroom finished, the first month of bookkeeping reconciled, the event over. Memory is fresh and goodwill is high. A request sent months later gets fewer replies and vaguer ones. Build the ask into the end of the job, in the same message as the final invoice or the handover notes.

The three questions

A testimonial that persuades is a short story: what was wrong, what changed, and why someone else should go ahead. Ask exactly that:

1. What was the problem before you came to us?
2. What is different now?
3. What would you tell someone deciding whether to use us?

Add how they want to be named (full name, first name and suburb, or business name and role) and whether you may use a photo. Keep everything else out. A testimonial form that also asks for ratings and suggestions becomes a survey, and the customer feedback survey on this site is the better place for those.

The consent line

Write consent as a specific statement the person ticks, for example: “I agree that Copperline Electrical may publish my answers above, with my first name and suburb, on its website, social media and printed flyers. I can ask for them to be removed at any time.” Specific beats general. A name, a photo or a recognisable story is personal information, and for an organisation covered by the Privacy Act, Australian Privacy Principle 6 limits using it for purposes the person would not expect. Saying the uses out loud makes them expected.

The rules on editing

US federal rules on endorsements, at 16 CFR 255.1, set the clearest standard. Endorsements must reflect the honest opinions or experience of the endorser. An advertiser need not use the endorser’s exact words unless it presents them as a quote, but cannot present the endorsement out of context or reword it so as to distort the endorser’s view. Advertisers are responsible for misleading claims made through endorsements and for undisclosed material connections to the endorser, such as payment.

In Australia, the Australian Consumer Law, Schedule 2 of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010, prohibits false or misleading representations that purport to be a testimonial. A made up testimonial, or a real one changed until it says something the customer did not, falls on the wrong side of that line.

In practice: cut to the strongest two or three sentences, fix spelling, and if the result reads differently from the original, send it back for approval.

Five ways to collect them

The table under this article compares a short form, an email reply, an interview, a review site and a recorded video answer. A form is the best default for small businesses: it asks the three questions in the same way every time, captures consent in a tick box, and keeps every answer in one place. An interview gives richer stories for a case study; how to write a case study covers that format, and testimonial video questions covers filming one.

Using them well

• Put each testimonial near the claim it supports, such as a pricing testimonial beside the price.
• Keep a record of each consent with the testimonial.
• Remove one promptly if the person asks.
• Refresh them; a five year old testimonial for a service you have changed is weak evidence.

The testimonial video page covers video formats, the consent checkbox page covers wording, and how to collect marketing consent on a form covers the related opt in.

A worked example

The fictional Copperline Electrical finishes a switchboard upgrade on a Thursday. On Friday the owner sends the customer a thank you message with the compliance certificate and a link to a three question form. The customer answers that the old board kept tripping, that the house has not lost power since, and that they would tell a neighbour to ask for the safety switches on every circuit. They tick consent to publish with their first name and suburb on the website and flyers.

The owner shortens the answer to its two best sentences, keeping the customer’s words: “The old board kept tripping whenever the kettle and heater were on. Since the upgrade we haven’t lost power once.” Because the meaning is unchanged and the words are the customer’s own, it can be published as written; the owner still sends the shortened version back with a note, and the customer replies that it is fine. The quote goes next to the switchboard upgrade service on the website, with the first name and suburb, and the consent record stays with the response.

Asking takes one message; the consent record takes one tick box. Together they turn a kind remark into evidence you can use for years.

In the product

A testimonial form is a short classic or conversational form with long text questions, a short text field for how to be named and a checkbox for consent. A conversational form can also take a recorded audio or video answer of up to 120 seconds by default, which works for a quick video testimonial. Responses are private to the form owner, and no email goes to the respondent after submitting, so thank people yourself. The form with video answers page shows the recording field, and the guide to the form builder components lists the rest.