9 Extremely Crucial Reasons You Need a Client Testimonial Release Form
Why would you need a client testimonial release form if you are only receiving raving reviews from your clients? Here are the key reasons you must use one to avoid major issues.
Getting great testimonials from your clients after all your hard is extremely exciting, and you want to share them with the world, but if you're anything like me, you want to ensure you are protected when sharing testimonials. As a lawyer myself who drafts testimonial release forms for entrepreneurs like you, I am giving you the breakdown of the key reasons you need a client testimonial release form to protect your business.
You will learn about major issues you will prevent with a client testimonial release form, including the crucial terms you need in your written or video testimonial consent form, and how you can protect yourself with the proper permission to use testimonials on website template.
After learning about all these critical reasons, you will avoid major (costly) issues and be free to (legally) rave about your testimonials anywhere you want.
This post is all about the crucial reasons you need a client testimonial release form for all your raving testimonials to avoid major issues.
Essential Client Testimonial Release Form
Crucial reasons for a client testimonial release form doc
1. Get the authorisation to use their name publicly
You can share any client testimonial anonymously, but you want to gain credibility and show off who your clientele is.
When you are sharing a testimonial with someone's name, you'll need their permission or authorisation to use their name.
Your clients' testimonials are their intellectual property and they have all the rights that come with it.
You may think of an art piece, graphic design, photo, video or book when you hear or see the words intellectual property. However, intelectual property is any creation that is someone's own is their intellectual property. A testimonial also falls under the umbrella because its their unique way in which they put their ideas and thoughts into words. That applies to video testimonials and simple written testimonials.
Therefore, you would be infringing their copyrights if you did not have the proper license or right to use their testimonials.
And how do you attain that right? Taht;s right, with a client testimonial release form.
2. Avoid breaching privacy and publicity laws
Other rights you must consider are privacy and publicity rights.
When you use someone testimonial with their name and/or other identifyer, such as their photo, and you do so without their permission, you are breaching privacy and publicity laws.
Privacy laws are laws that protect your privacy and, thus, you are protected against your (written or video) testimonials, name and photos and anything else that identifies you to be shared publicly by someone else without your permission. Publicity rights protect you from having your identity be used commercially. Sharing someone testimonial publicly for your business is considered "commercial use" in that sense.
Thus, you need a client testimonial release form to get the permissions you need to avoid breaching privacy and publicity rights of your clients.
3. Get the rights to also use their photo
Speaking of photos, when sharing your clients' testimonials, you might not just want to use their name, but also their photo. That makes the testimonial more real, more human. But, only because someone has given you the right to use their name and testimonial, that does not mean you can use a photo of them, too. Even if your client has shared a photo of them with you, like their weight loss progress photos, that does not mean they have given you permission to use those photos.
For every piece of intellectual property of your clients you must have explicit permission to use them.
By using the proper client testimonial release form, you will have all the rights you need to use all the intellectual property you need from your clients, including their photos.
4. Have the right to publish testimonials wherever you want
Perhaps your client has confirmed by email that you can use their testimonial for your website, but what about your social media?
If your client has not given you explicit permission to also use their testimonial in your next social media post, you do not have the right to use it in your social media posts. You will then need to ask your client for permission to use that same testimonial for which they have already given permission to be used on your website to also use it in your next social media post. Well, that's awkward.
This is why your need to use a client testimonial release form with the proper wording to be able to use the their client testimonials on all the platforms you want to use their testimonials.
5. The freedom to repurpose client testimonials in the future
So, maybe you already know you will use your client testimonials for your website and in your social media posts, but perhaps you have not thought of other places you may want to use your social media posts. For example, you may not be advertsing your products or services now, but maybe in the future you will have an advertising budget. Maybe you'll want to run ads on Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn, and you'll want to share your client testimonials in those ads.
That is why you need a client testimonial release form that includes a "catch-all" clause, naming not only the places and purposes you want to use the testimonials for right now, but also any other place or purpose you may want to use them for in the future.
That way, you onyl need your client to give you the necessary permission, and you'll never have to awkwardly request permission to use their testimonials on other platforms.
6. Full creative freedom to edit your client's testimonials
Perhaps you have received a great client testimonial, but it's full of spelling mistakes.
Since it's the client's intellectual property, yu can't just edit their text without their permission, however small those edits may be.
But the last thing you want to do is respond to that client with a revised version of their testimonial, and asking them for permission to use that version.
Therefore, you need a client testimonial release form that includes editing rights, so that you have the rights to edit those little spelling mistakes without having to explicitly request permission from your clients for the revised version of their testimonials.
7. Avoid having to edit testimonials at your client's request
The other side of the coin is that you also do not want your client to tell you now or later to edit or completely change their testimonial.
If they spot a small spelling mistake before you have posted their testimonial on your Instagram, then that's great and helpful, and you're probably happy they pointed that out on time.
But what if:
you already posted their testimonial on your Instagram? Then you don't want to have to take that post down, edit the comment and post it again.
the client want to completely change their testimonial that may be less postive due to new experiences with your products or services? Not only is that annoying, but it also discredits your testimonials if they keep changes. What are people to believe?
the client does not necessarily want to change the testimonial itself, but want to have their photo changed because they have a new profile photo now? Do you want to have to change that on your website every time someone asks you to?
That is why you need to have a proper client testimonial release form that includes a waiver of your client's rights to request edits.
8. Avoid having to take your testimonials down
But it can get worse than a request from your client to edit their testimonial. Without the proper client testimonial release form in place, your clients can even demand you take their testimonials down!
Even if you clients have given you consent to post their testimonials on your website, they can always retract that consent for whatever reason. They still have full control over their testimonials. So, you'll still run the risk of having to take down their testimonials even after they have given their consent.
That is why you need a client testimonial release form by which your clients not only give you their consent but also a license to use their testimonials. The license should be perpetual, meaning that there is no end dat to that license, and your client testimonial release form template should state that the client can not terminate that license (unless you disparage their name).
That way you are safe and protected, and you have the security of knowing that your clients can not suddenly take those testimonials away from you.
9. Avoid sudden claims for compensation
Another major issue you must watch out for and that you can easily avoid with a client testimonial release form is a claim for compensation.
Especially with the rise and popularity of UGC (user generated content) creators, there's a chance that if you use anyone's testimonial (which is user generated content) in your ads, they may request that you pay them royalties, i.e. compensation for usage rights.
Therefore, it's crucial that you have a comprehensive client testimonial release form in place to avoid sudden claims for compensations.
Must-haves for a written or video testimonial consent form
So, now you know all the crucial reasons you need a client testimonial release form. But what is a proper release form, and what should it say?
I have listed all the 10 most important terms you need in your client testimonial release form for all types of testimonials, including written and video testimonials, in my blog post on the 10 Must-Haves for an Effective Testimonial Release Form Template (Maximize the Power of Testimonials).
Find out about everything you need in your written or video testimonial consent form!
Need a client testimonial release form template?
Are you still looking for a proper client testimonial release form that includes all the important terms you need to avoid the major mistakes listed in this blog post?
I sell a client testimonial release form template in my contract shop! It contains everything you need and more to use your client testimonials anywhere you want legally.
You'll never need to worry about clients wanting you to change their photo or asking you for money when you use their testimonials in advertisements.
You can find my client testimonial release form template on this page of my contract shop.
How to legally implement a client testimonial release form online
So, nw you have the proper client testimonial release form, but it's only legally binding if it is properly implemented.
I have created a step-by-step guide on how to implement a client testimonial release form online in this blog post on the 7 Simple Steps to Legally Implement a Testimonial Release Form (on Your Website or Google Forms).
It's the easiest way to implement your client testimonial release form online and you have your clients consent to it legally (and without the awkwardness of having your clients (digitally) sign a contract).
This post was all about the essential reasons you need a client testimonial release form to avoid major issues while shouting your testimonials from the rooftops.
To learn more about the crucial terms you need in your client testimonial release form doc, read this blog post on the 10 Must-Haves for an Effective Testimonial Release Form Template (Maximize the Power of Testimonials).
To learn more about how to get permission to use testimonials on website template, read this blog post on the 7 Simple Steps to Legally Implement a Testimonial Release Form (on Your Website or Google Forms).
You can get your client testimonial release form template on this page of my contract shop!
