You get an email from your customer with a glowing review of your product or service. Can you pop that feedback or testimonial on your sales page? Or do you need permission?

Before you use it, make sure you check out this week’s episode of Ask Kiff.

Watch the video | Read the show notes | Read the transcript

Show notes

• Read the special rules you have to comply with if the customer review comes via Etsy here
• Learn more information on right of publicity laws here
• Leave a question or sign up to vote on future episodes here

Transcript

So you open up your inbox and you’ve got a love note from one of your customers. They are gushing about your product or service.

And you think, “This would be so perfect on that sales page or that product page. I’m gonna go put it in there right now.”

Can you do that? That’s exactly what we’re going to cover in this week’s episode of Ask Kiff.

Hi, I’m Kiffanie Stahle, founder of the artist’s J.D. A place designed to add ease to the legalese of running your creative business.

This week’s question comes to us from Sarah in California. Sarah asks,

Do I need permission to add feedback or testimonials to my website?

Great question Sarah.

Now often the feedback or testimonials clients give to us is maybe only a sentence or two. So we’re not necessarily super worried about if we’re going to be infringing on the copyright of the text the client gives us or the customer gives us.

Where we do need to be concerned is a little-known law called Right of Publicity.

Right of Publicity says that we as individuals have the right to control how our name, likeness, photograph, or the like is used to sell someone else’s products or services.

Now, of course, this makes sense when it comes to famous celebrities. I can’t just slap Kim Kardashian’s name on something. Because people will buy it because they say, “I love everything associated with Kim Kardashian. I’m gonna buy that product.”

But the same works on a smaller scale. The same works when you see someone that you have a business crush on as a testimonial on someone’s web page. The same thing works when you see some other mom in your community that you know, about how she’s using this product with her child. That’s gonna function just the same way.

Yes, it is not going to function on the same scale. But it’s still being used to sell someone’s product or service.

And so because of that, in most states, we have the right to control how that is done.

So where this right of publicity thing gets a little bit complicated, is that it is controlled on a state-by-state basis.

Not every state says that it exists. And every state that does say it exists, interprets it just a little bit differently.

To add a layer of complexity, it’s not about where your business is based. But about where the person who said it lives.

So even though I live in California, and my business is based here. If someone says something nice about my business and I want to use that testimonial and they live in New York, I have to care about New York law.

Now, this can get annoying–really fast.

So the easiest way to avoid all of this is to get permission.

Because every single one of these laws says it’s not an issue if the person has given you the a-okay.

And so all you’re going to do is come up with a quick little canned response, that says,

Hey, thanks so much for that love note! You totally made my day by telling me how much my product or service impacted you. I know that this could be really powerful to share why other people should buy my product or service. So based on what you said I crafted this little blurb and I would love to add it to the product page or the sales page. Would that be okay?

That’s all you need to do. It doesn’t need to be something long and complex. And having them sign some form.

It just needs to be:

• this is how I’d like to use it
• this is what I’d like to use
• are you okay with that

If they never respond to your email, you just won’t put it up.

If they respond, which they probably will, and say yes, then go ahead and use it.

Now those of you who have Etsy shops, you’ve got a whole other set of rules that you need to comply with. (Here’s a blog post that explains how this plays out a little bit differently if someone sends you this review via the Etsy platform.)

The next episode of Ask Kiff will be back in a couple weeks. And it will be our last episode of the year. And we’re gonna be talking about copyright registration. Once you submit that application, how long do you have to wait before you can start selling that product? Do you have to wait until that certificate comes? You won’t want to miss that episode.

Got a question you want me to cover an upcoming episode? Leave it in the comments below.

Thanks so much for tuning in. I’ll talk to you soon.