“Can I put what customers told me on my website?” Yes. A kind text from a homeowner, a thank-you card, a comment at the final walk-through: with the customer’s permission, those are some of the most persuasive words a contractor’s site can carry. They are also advertising, and the Federal Trade Commission has rules for advertising that uses other people’s words.
Two sets of federal rules apply. The FTC’s Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising (16 CFR Part 255) explain how the agency reads the law on endorsements. The Rule on the Use of Consumer Reviews and Testimonials (16 CFR Part 465), in effect since October 21, 2024, is a rule with penalties behind it. Here is what each one asks of a testimonial on your own site.
A testimonial on your site is your advertising
The review rule defines a consumer testimonial as an advertising or promotional message that consumers are likely to believe reflects the opinions, beliefs or experiences of a consumer who has purchased, used or otherwise had experience with a product, service or business (16 CFR 465.1). The FTC’s questions-and-answers page on the rule settles who answers for it: a business that puts testimonials on its own website “is disseminating them and is not merely ‘hosting’ them,” and if those testimonials are fake or false, the business could be liable. Whoever built the page, the testimonials on it are your advertising.
Real words from real customers
The first rule is honesty. Endorsements must reflect the honest opinions, findings, beliefs or experience of the endorser (16 CFR 255.1(a)). The review rule turns that into a prohibition: a business may not write or create a consumer testimonial that materially misrepresents that the person exists, that the person used or otherwise had experience with what is being sold, or the person’s experience (16 CFR 465.2(a)). Nor may it publish a testimonial it knew or should have known misrepresented any of those things (465.2(b)). When the FTC announced the rule, it named AI-generated fake reviews among the fakes the rule bans. An invented “Mike R., Springfield” is a fake testimonial whether a person or a program wrote it.
Editing has limits too. The Guides say an ad need not present the endorser’s exact words unless it says it does, “such as through the use of quotation marks,” but the endorsement may not be presented out of context or reworded so as to distort the endorser’s opinion or experience (16 CFR 255.1(b)). Say a customer texts: “The crew was friendly and fast, but they left nails in the driveway.” Putting “friendly and fast” on the site in quotation marks keeps her words and drops her complaint. Fixing a typo is one thing; cutting out the criticism changes what she said. Use a testimonial whole, or choose one that says what you want to show.
Keep the original message, too, with the date and the job. If a testimonial is ever questioned, it shows the words are real and fairly quoted.
A customer’s result will be read as typical
This one matters most when a testimonial has a number in it. Under 16 CFR 255.2(b), an ad that relates a consumer’s experience on a central or key attribute of the product will likely be read as saying that experience is representative of what consumers will generally achieve. If you cannot support that, the ad should clearly and conspicuously disclose the generally expected performance, and you must be able to support that figure too.
The Guides’ own example could have been written for a heating contractor. Three people say their monthly utility bills fell by $100, $125 and $150 after installing an advertised heat pump, but in fact fewer than 20% of purchasers will save $100 or more, so the advertiser cannot back up the impression that those savings are typical. A line such as “Results not typical” is not enough, the Guides say, because consumers will still read the savings as representative. What works is a clear statement of what customers typically save, such as “the average homeowner saves $35 per month,” backed by evidence (16 CFR 255.2, Example 2).
So a testimonial about how the job felt (“they showed up when they said they would”) is easy to use. One with a number in it (“our electric bill dropped by half,” “done in one day,” “no leaks in ten years”) needs either evidence that the number is typical of your jobs or a clear line saying what customers usually get. Energy-savings quotes for insulation, windows, solar and HVAC work are where this bites hardest; insulation installers also have the FTC’s own rule on savings claims, covered in The FTC’s R-Value Rule.
Your crew, your family and you
Under the review rule, an officer or manager of a business may not write or create a consumer testimonial about it without a clear and conspicuous disclosure of that relationship, unless the relationship is otherwise clear to the audience (16 CFR 465.5(a)). The rule’s definition of an officer includes owners and managing members (465.1). A business also may not publish a testimonial by one of its officers, managers, employees or agents without that disclosure, when the relationship is not otherwise clear and the business knew or should have known about it (465.5(b)).
Relatives and friends are connections too. The Guides say a connection between an endorser and the seller that might materially affect the weight or credibility of the endorsement, and that the audience would not reasonably expect, must be disclosed clearly and conspicuously, and that such connections include a business, family or personal relationship (16 CFR 255.5(a)). The FTC’s Endorsement Guides FAQ answers a restaurant owner who feeds family and friends for free: they should disclose that they are a relative or friend. Say your sister-in-law loves the kitchen you redid. Her words can go on the site with “the owner’s sister-in-law” beside them, or not at all.
Thanking a customer for a testimonial
Can you give a customer something for letting you use their words? The Endorsement Guides FAQ answers a close version of the question. A company may ask customers about their experiences and feature their comments in its ads. If the customers had no reason to expect compensation or any other benefit before giving their comments, the FAQ says, there is no need to disclose a payment; if you gave them a reason to expect a benefit, disclose it in the ad. The Guides list monetary payment and free or discounted products among the material connections that can call for disclosure (16 CFR 255.5(a)).
One limit never moves: a reward cannot depend on what the customer says. The same FAQ says you cannot condition an incentive, such as a discount, on a review being positive. And a review on Google is not a testimonial on your site: Google bars any incentive for any review, as Asking for Google Reviews Without Breaking Google’s or the FTC’s Rules explains. The simple pattern is to ask with nothing offered.
Choosing which ones to show
Every business shows its best testimonials, and the review rule does not forbid that. The FTC’s questions-and-answers page says the rule’s review-suppression section does not prohibit the selective use of particularly positive reviews in marketing, because it applies only to reviews displayed in a part of a website dedicated in whole or in part to receiving and displaying consumer reviews. It adds a warning: using non-representative reviews in marketing could still be deceptive under Section 5 of the FTC Act.
The difference matters if your site has a reviews page. There, a business may not misrepresent that the reviews it displays represent most or all of those submitted when reviews are being suppressed based on their ratings or negative sentiment (16 CFR 465.7(b)). A review is not counted as suppressed when it is withheld under criteria applied equally to every review regardless of sentiment, such as abusive content, someone else’s personal information, clearly false content, or a review the business reasonably believes is fake. The Guides add that in publishing or organizing reviews, advertisers should not take actions that distort what consumers think (16 CFR 255.2(d)); the FAQ’s example is showing every five-star review first, regardless of date. A handpicked “What our customers say” panel is marketing. A page labeled “All our reviews” has to be what it says.
Names, photos and permission
The FTC is not the only one with rules here. Some states require consent before a person’s name or picture is used to advertise, New York (Civil Rights Law §50) and California (Civ. Code §3344) among them; Before and After Photos sets out what those two laws require. Get written permission that says which words will be used and where, and print the name the way the customer agrees to.
What breaking the rules can cost
The Endorsement Guides are not themselves law. The FTC’s FAQ says they do not have the force of law, but that practices inconsistent with them may result in law enforcement actions alleging violations of Section 5 of the FTC Act (see also 16 CFR 255.0(a)). The 2024 review rule is different: the FTC says it authorizes courts to impose civil penalties for knowing violations, and for penalties assessed after January 17, 2025, the maximum for a knowing violation of an FTC rule is $53,088 per violation (16 CFR 1.98(d)). That figure is the ceiling a court can reach, not a fine anyone is certain to face.
A testimonial checklist
As for where they go, The Website Pages a Contractor Needs suggests the service page each one describes, next to the price.
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change and vary by state; check with the agency named above or a professional for your situation.