10 Must-Haves for an Effective Testimonial Release Form Template (Maximize the Power of Testimonials)

Looking for a proper testimonial release form template for your clients' testimonials? I'm telling you exactly what your template must include to harness the power of testimonials of not only clients and customers but also your audience (followers) and business partners.

Showcasing testimonials from not only clients but also your audience or those who use your free products or services can give a major boost to your business, but if you're anything like me, you want to ensure you have the permission and proper rights to share those testimonials anywhere you want. As a lawyer myself who has created the ultimate testimonial release form template for entrepreneurs and creators like you, I am giving you all the essentials you need in your template.

You will learn about the crucial terms your testimonial release form template must have, which you can use in your digital or written release form.

After learning all about everything you need for your testimonial release form template, you will have all the proper rights in place to showcase your testimonials wherever and however you want!

This post is all about the fundamental terms every testimonial release form template must have to maximize the impact of testimonials from clients, customers, followers, website visitors and business partners.

Effective Testimonial Release Form Template

The must-haves for your digital or written release form

Regardless of whether you are using a digital version or a written release form, your testimonial release form template must include the following essentials.

1. Get rights to ALL current and future testimonies and statements

So, this is where a great testimonial release form template (my template) distinguishes itself from all the other testimonial form examples.

Instead of just asking for permission to use one testimonial (like most testimonial release forms do), ask permission to use all current AND future testimonials, but also all other types of reviews, feedback, and statements.

That opens up a lot of opportunities you might not even have considered, like the following:

• Future statements your customers may make on social media. 

• Testimonials they later give via email or text messages.

• Recommendations for your products or services are made on their own websites.

If you have clients, customers or followers who rave about your products and services on more than one occasion, you get to use those, too!

Instead of having to ask for permission to use other statements they make, you get to have it all after having them sign or agree to your testimonial release form template.

2. Get the rights to use their photo, logo and bio

Another important component that should be included in your testimonial release form template is the right to use your client's photo, logo (if applicable) and bio. 

What I have seen in more than one testimonial release form template is that only the right to use a client's name is included, but not their photo, logo and bio.

Reviews are great, but they become way more valuable when your (potential) clients see that the reviews come from real humans they can identify with or seem to be accomplished with in some way. A photo, logo and bio make someone way more real and relatable, and that is exactly what you want your testimonials to convey.

But photos, logos and bios are all personal information that can be used to identify a person and their intellectual property rights are included. Therefore, you need to have the permission and license to use that personal data.

So ensure you have the right to those parts included in your testimonial release form template so that you can really showcase not only how great your testimonials are but also who the amazing people behind those testimonials are.

3. Make it perpetual and non-revocable

When someone signs your testimonial release form template, they give you not only permission but also (if properly worded) a license to use their testimonials and personal information.

Permission is just the consent given to use but can be retracted at any time. A license, however, is a right granted to you. That right can be made perpetual and non-revocable. 

Let me explain what that means for you:

• 'Perpetual' means that there is no end date to the license, which means that you can use their testimonial for however long you want.

• 'Non-revocable' means that whoever gave you the testimonial can not suddenly revoke your right to use it. In other words, they can't stop you from using their testimonial. Suppose they suddenly don't want to be associated with you or your brand anymore for whatever reason. In that case, they can't ask you to take their testimonial down from your website or social media. That is unless, of course, you are actually using their testimonial to deliberately harm them in some way. I assume you won't, but this is just to say you can't abuse your rights limitlessly.

So, these are essentials you must have in your testimonial release form template.

4. Get rights to use it for all purposes (including advertising)

Maybe, initially, you only want to use your testimonials for a testimonials page on your website or on a relevant product page to promote your products or services.

But what about other purposes you may not have thought about yet, like...

• demonstration purposes to show others that certain results your client talks about in their testimony are achievable.

• educational purposes to point out how your client has used or applied your product/service if they talk about that in their testimony.

• advertising purposes. You may not be running ads now, but you might run ads in the future that you can use your testimonies for.

You want to have the flexibility to use your testimonials for all kinds of possible purposes. Therefore, your testimonial release form template should include all purposes, not just the purpose you want to use the testimonial for today.

5. Get rights to use it anywhere and everywhere

Perhaps you only plan to publish your testimonials on your website, but what about...

• your Instagram Stories?

• your LinkedIn posts?

• your newsletter that you might have now or may start in the future?

• future ads you may want to run?

• your future YouTube channel?

Therefore, your testimonial release form template should include wording that states that your license is worldwide, meaning that you can use the testimonial anywhere and on any platform.

6. Make it legally compliant: waivers of personality and privacy rights

As I have already mentioned earlier, when you use someone's name and any other personal information, you are using information that identifies that person. Suppose you use their information without having them sign or agree to a testimonial release form template. In that case, you will automatically infringe their personality, publicity or privacy rights, even if you have the license to use their testimonial, because that only concerns their intellectual property rights. 

I don't want to get too technical here and have you leave this page, but basically, you don't want to break these fundamental laws.

They have to explicitly waive those rights so that they can't later have you take down their testimonials for infringement of their personal, publicity or privacy rights.

Your testimonial release form template should include the proper waivers to protect yourself.

7. Rights to edit, modify, and reformat testimonials

You may wonder why you would put the rights to edit, modify and reformat someone's testimonial in your testimonial release form template.

You don't have the intention to screw with someone else's words or reword their testimonials, so why? 

Well, when you are publishing someone's full testimonial on your website, you are literally reformatting and modifying their testimonial from an email format (with maybe a different font) onto your website, so you are modifying and reformatting a testimonial, in that case, even though you have not actually changed any of those words.

Even if you take a screenshot of the original message of the testimonial and place it on your website, you have to reformat it to 'fit' your website.

Also, you may not want to showcase the entire testimonial on your social media but just want to quote one or two sentences from that testimonial in a post. In that case, you are editing, modifying and reformatting the testimonial, too.

therefore, you want to put the rights to edit, modify and reformat testimonials in your testimonial release form template

8. Include consideration (also when you're not paying)

Now, this is a technical part of contract law. I have not seen any blogs or articles regarding release agreements mentioned before, but it is a crucial part. 

For a contract to be enforceable under the contract law of most countries, consideration is required. It means both parties have to exchange something of value for a contract to be valid and enforceable, especially in the case of an assignment of rights. This is especially the case in so-called common law countries like the US, UK, Canada, and Australia. In civil law jurisdictions (most European countries), mutual consent may be prioritized over the exchange of consideration.

But consideration does not need to be money. It just needs to be something of value. In this specific case, it can also be described as "exposure and publicity as a result of the publication by [you] of your personal information in conjunction with the testimonial". 

Too often, I see release forms, especially those under US law, only saying "for good and valuable consideration," which the person giving the testimonial has apparently already received, but the release form does not describe what the consideration is. In court cases, this has been problematic when the value received can not be described. These are testimonial form examples I would not recommend copying.

Another reason to clearly state what the (non-monetary) consideration is is to avoid that person asking you for money if it seems like your sales were boosted due (in part) to that person's valuable testimonial. Especially in the era of UGC creators, if it's a video testimonial, that person could suddenly ask for royalties to keep using their video testimonials. You want to avoid having to pay or having to take that testimonial down for that reason.

For those reasons, include a clear consideration in the testimonial release form template for the testimonial received.

9. Ensure their words are original

You don't want to receive a testimonial from someone that is actually copied from someone else, as that person could come to you and say you stole the testimonial they made for a competitor, for example.

Of course, we would like to believe that every testimonial we receive is genuine, but just in case, we want to be protected against copyright infringement.

Therefore, your testimonial release form template should include a waiver and indemnity for that, ensuring that the testimonial is original to the person giving it.

10. Exclude your liability

Hopefully, it never happens that someone claims compensation from you for damages, but contracts are here to protect you from every possible risk, as small as some of them may seem.

You may wonder how a testimonial can damage someone. Well, maybe you later express views in public they do not agree with, and they no longer want to be associated with you and ask for compensation for reputational damages.

That may sound wild, but people do sue for reputational damages all the time by mere association with someone.

So, protect your business and your money simply by having the proper exclusions of liability included in your testimonial release form template.

Need a testimonial release form template doc that includes all must-haves?

So, those were all the must-haves for your testimonial release form template. Are you looking for a testimonial release form template doc that includes all the essentials discussed in this blog post?

Get your Testimonial Release Form Template on this page of my contract shop!

My package includes a testimonial release form template in the form of an agreement that you can have signed digitally, but also a version that is in the form of terms and conditions that you can easily include in your testimonial form on your website that your customers can agree to simply by submitting the form! So, you avoid the awkwardness of having to ask someone to sign your testimonial release form template.

How to implement a testimonial release form template free from awkwardness

Want to know exactly how to implement testimonial release terms and conditions in your form? Read my next blog post!

This post was all about the must-haves for your testimonial release form template to maximize the impact of your testimonials from clients, customers, audience, and business partners.

Want to use someone's photo from their social media or website? Then you must read A Practical Guide on How to Get Copyright Permission for Images | 7 Essential Elements.

Are you filming someone to use for your business' website or social media? Read this blog post on the 5 Major Mistakes to Avoid in an Audio/Video Release Form (Why You Can't Just Use Any Random Release Form).

Get your Testimonial Release Form Template on this page of my contract shop!