Can You Use Customer Reviews In Ads?

Can you use customer reviews in advertising in Australia? Yes, you usually can - as long as the review is genuine, you have the right consent, and the way you use it doesn't mislead customers.

Customer testimonials can be powerful. A few honest words from a happy customer can do more than a polished sales line, especially on your website, Instagram ads, Google ads or product pages.

The catch is that testimonials are still advertising. That means the Australian Consumer Law, privacy rules, platform policies and industry codes can all come into play. This doesn't have to be complicated, but you do need a clear advertising claims review process before you turn reviews into marketing content.

Can You Legally Use Customer Reviews In Advertising?

Yes, you can legally use customer reviews in advertising if the review is real, accurate, not taken out of context and used with the customer's permission where permission is needed.

Under the Australian Consumer Law, which is Schedule 2 to the Competition and Consumer Act 2010, your business must not engage in misleading or deceptive conduct. You also can't make false or misleading representations about testimonials.

In practice, this means you shouldn't use a review in a way that gives customers the wrong impression about your product, service, results, price or customer experience.

For example, if a customer wrote, The first consultation was helpful, but I didn't go ahead because it was too expensive, you shouldn't run an ad that only says The first consultation was helpful if that creates a misleading impression about their overall experience.

You should be especially careful where the review relates to:

• Results: Weight loss, revenue increases, fitness outcomes, skin improvements, cost savings or business growth.
• Performance claims: Claims that your product is faster, safer, cheaper or better than competitors.
• Regulated industries: Health, therapeutic goods, financial services, childcare, education, disability support and other sectors with extra advertising rules.
• Social proof: Claims like Australia's most trusted or rated 5 stars by thousands, unless you can prove them.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission can take action where testimonials are fake, cherry-picked in a misleading way or used to create a false impression. The maximum penalties for serious breaches of the Australian Consumer Law are significant. For conduct on or after 28 March 2026, the maximum penalty for many ACL contraventions is the greater of $100 million, three times the reasonably attributable benefit, or 30% of adjusted turnover during the breach turnover period. For individuals, it can be up to $2.5 million. Different penalties can apply depending on the provision and when the conduct occurred.

Most small businesses won't be anywhere near those maximums, but the practical risk is still real. You may need to take ads down, refund customers, deal with complaints or repair damage to your brand.

Do You Need Customer Consent To Use A Review?

Usually, yes - you should get clear consent before using a customer's name, photo, video, business name or identifiable words in your ads.

If someone leaves a public Google review, that doesn't automatically mean they've agreed for you to put their words in a paid Facebook ad, print flyer or website hero banner. The review may be public, but your advertising use is a separate step.

Consent is especially important where you're using:

• The customer's full name, image, voice or video
• Their business name, logo or job title
• A screenshot that shows their profile photo or account handle
• A review about health, finances, family issues or other sensitive topics
• A testimonial from an influencer, contractor, client or supplier

If the review includes personal information, the Privacy Act 1988 may also be relevant, particularly if your business is covered by the Act or you're handling sensitive information. Even where privacy law doesn't technically apply, getting consent is still the safer commercial approach.

What Should Customer Consent Cover?

Your consent and privacy consent wording doesn't need to be full of legal jargon, but it should be specific enough that everyone knows what they're agreeing to.

A simple testimonial consent form or email approval should cover:

1. Customer Details: Write the customer's name, business name if relevant, and contact details.
2. Testimonial Content: Include the exact words, image, video or screenshot you want to use.
3. Where It Can Be Used: List channels such as your website, email marketing, social media, paid ads, brochures or pitch decks.
4. How Long You Can Use It: State whether consent is ongoing or for a set campaign period.
5. Edits You Can Make: Say whether you can shorten, crop or format the review, without changing its meaning.
6. Payment Or Incentives: Record any discount, gift card, free product or fee provided for the testimonial.
7. Withdrawal Process: Explain how the customer can ask you to stop using it, and how long you need to remove it from active channels.

A lawyer should tailor this before you rely on it, especially if you run ads at scale, work with influencers or operate in a regulated industry. Templates can be a helpful starting point, but they often miss the way your business actually collects and uses testimonials.

Can You Edit A Customer Review Before Using It?

Yes, you can edit a review for length, spelling or formatting, but you can't change the meaning or leave out context in a way that misleads customers.

This is where many well-meaning businesses get caught. You might only have space for one sentence in an ad, or you may want to clean up typos so the testimonial looks professional. That's generally fine if the final version is still a fair reflection of what the customer said.

Safe edits usually include:

• Fixing obvious spelling or grammar errors
• Shortening a long review without changing its meaning
• Removing personal details that shouldn't be published
• Formatting the review for a graphic or video caption
• Using ellipses where you've removed words, if the meaning stays accurate

Riskier edits include:

• Removing negative comments so the review looks completely positive
• Changing good to amazing or helpful to life-changing
• Combining parts of different reviews into one testimonial
• Using a review about one product to promote a different product
• Adding results that the customer didn't actually mention

Worked Example: A Brisbane Cafe Review

Say you run a cafe in Brisbane and a customer leaves this review: Great coffee and friendly staff. The wait was around 20 minutes on Saturday morning, but I'd come back.

You want to use it in an Instagram ad.

A fair shortened version might be: Great coffee and friendly staff. I'd come back. That still reflects the customer's overall view, although you should keep the original review on file.

A risky version would be: Fast service, great coffee and friendly staff. The customer never said the service was fast. In fact, they said the opposite. If you use that edit in an ad promoting your weekend breakfast rush, it could mislead people.

When in doubt, ask the customer to approve the final version you want to publish. A one-line email saying Yes, I'm happy for you to use this version in your ads can save you a lot of back and forth later.

Can You Offer Incentives For Reviews Or Testimonials?

Yes, you can offer incentives in some cases, but you need to be transparent and you must not pressure customers to leave only positive reviews.

Offering a discount, free product, loyalty points or competition entry in exchange for a review can be lawful if it's handled carefully. The problem is when the incentive distorts the review or hides information customers would care about.

A safer approach is to ask for an honest review, not a positive one. For example, Leave us an honest review and receive 10% off your next order is much better than Leave us a 5-star review and receive 10% off.

You should avoid:

• Paying only for 5-star reviews
• Giving incentives only to customers who say positive things
• Asking staff, family or suppliers to pose as customers
• Using fake accounts to boost ratings
• Hiding the fact that a testimonial was paid or incentivised

If a review or testimonial was incentivised, you should disclose that clearly where the testimonial appears. The disclosure doesn't need to be dramatic, but it should be easy to notice and understand. For example: Customer received a free product to trial or Paid testimonial.

This matters even more on social media, where a customer review can blur into influencer marketing. The AANA Code of Ethics requires advertising to be clearly distinguishable as advertising. The ACCC has also paid close attention to influencer endorsements and online reviews, particularly where commercial relationships are hidden.

If you run a campaign where customers receive a gift card for posting a TikTok review, make sure your customer contracts or campaign terms tell them to disclose the incentive in their post. You should also monitor posts and ask for corrections if a disclosure is missing.

What Are The Rules For Influencer Testimonials And Social Media Ads?

Influencer testimonials must be genuine, clearly disclosed and based on the influencer's real experience with your product or service.

If you give an influencer free products, pay them a fee, provide affiliate commissions or offer any other benefit, that connection should be clear to the audience. Hashtags like #ad, #sponsored or a clear statement in the caption can help, but they need to be easy to see. Hiding a disclosure at the end of a long caption or among dozens of hashtags may not be enough.

You also need to be careful with the script, talking points and claims you give influencers. If your influencer says something misleading because you asked them to say it, your business may be responsible.

Before an influencer posts, check:

• Have they actually tried the product or service?
• Are their claims accurate and supported by evidence?
• Have they avoided guaranteed results, unless you can prove them?
• Is the commercial relationship clearly disclosed?
• Do you have approval rights before the post goes live?
• Can you ask them to correct or remove a non-compliant post?

Your influencer agreement should cover these points in plain terms. It should also deal with content ownership, usage rights, exclusivity, deadlines, payment, disclosure obligations and what happens if a platform removes the content.

For example, Mia sells skincare online and pays an influencer $1,200 plus free products to post a reel. The influencer says, This cleared my acne in 3 days. If Mia doesn't have evidence that the product can achieve that result for typical customers, and the influencer doesn't clearly disclose the paid arrangement, the post could create several problems at once: misleading results claims, unclear advertising disclosure and possible issues under health product advertising rules depending on the product.

The better approach is to give influencers approved claim guidelines, require clear disclosure and complete a website copy review for any objective claims before the campaign starts.

How Should You Handle Before-And-After Claims?

Before-and-after claims can be used, but only if they're real, typical or clearly explained, and backed by proper records.

These claims often appear in fitness, beauty, cleaning, home improvement, professional services, coaching and health-adjacent businesses. They can be persuasive because customers can see the difference. They can also be risky because visuals can easily overstate what your product or service can do.

Before using before-and-after content, ask yourself:

• Are both images or videos from the same customer or project?
• Were the photos taken in similar lighting, angles and conditions?
• Have filters, editing tools or staging changed the impression?
• Is the timeframe accurate?
• Were other products, services or lifestyle changes involved?
• Do you need a disclaimer to explain results vary?

Disclaimers can help, but they don't fix a misleading main claim. If the headline says Lose 10kg In 4 Weeks, a tiny line saying results may vary probably won't save the ad if that result isn't typical or properly supported.

Some industries have extra rules. For example, therapeutic goods advertising is regulated by the Therapeutic Goods Administration, and health practitioners may have professional advertising obligations. If your testimonials mention medical results, treatment outcomes or health conditions, get tailored advice before publishing them.

What Records Should You Keep?

Good record keeping makes your marketing easier to defend if a customer, platform or regulator questions it later.

Keep a simple folder for each testimonial campaign with:

• The original review, screenshot or video file
• The customer's consent and any approved edited version
• Dates the review was collected and published
• Details of any incentive, payment or free product
• Evidence supporting claims, such as test results, invoices, project notes or customer correspondence
• Copies of the final ads, captions and landing pages
• Any withdrawal request and what you did in response

For paid campaigns, it's sensible to keep these records for as long as the ad is live and for a reasonable period afterwards. If you use the same testimonial across multiple channels, record where it appears so you can remove or update it quickly.

Common Mistakes To Avoid

The biggest mistakes are usually simple process gaps: using a review too casually, not checking the final impression, or forgetting to keep evidence.

Here are the ones we see cause the most trouble for small businesses:

• Assuming A Public Review Is Free To Use Anywhere: A public review isn't the same as permission for paid advertising, especially if you're using a name, image or profile screenshot.
• Over-Editing For Impact: Shortening is fine, but changing the tone or leaving out key context can make the testimonial misleading.
• Using Old Reviews For Changed Products: If your ingredients, pricing display, service model or delivery times have changed, older testimonials may no longer be accurate.
• Hiding Incentives: If someone received a benefit for their review or post, disclose it clearly.
• Letting Influencers Improvise Risky Claims: Give them clear claim guidelines and require approval before posting.
• Relying On Disclaimers Too Much: A disclaimer helps explain a claim. It doesn't rescue an ad that gives the wrong overall impression.
• Not Tracking Where Testimonials Are Used: If a customer withdraws consent or a claim becomes outdated, you need to know where to remove it.

A simple internal approval process can go a long way. Before publishing, have someone in your team check three questions:

1. Is It Genuine? Can we prove this customer said it and had this experience?
2. Is It Fair? Does the ad reflect the full context, not just the most flattering words?
3. Is It Approved? Do we have consent, and have we disclosed any incentive or commercial relationship?

If the answer to any of those questions is no, pause the campaign and fix it before it goes live. It's much easier to adjust a caption or consent form now than to unwind a campaign after complaints come in.

Key Takeaways

• You can use customer reviews in advertising in Australia, but they must be genuine, accurate and not misleading under the Australian Consumer Law.
• Get clear consent before using a customer's name, photo, video, business details or identifiable review in your marketing.
• You can edit testimonials for length and clarity, but don't change their meaning or remove context that matters.
• If you offer incentives or work with influencers, disclose the commercial relationship clearly and make sure claims are supported.
• Before-and-after claims need extra care because visuals can easily overstate results, especially in health, beauty, fitness and home services.
• Keep records of the original review, consent, edits, incentives, evidence and where the testimonial was published.

If you'd like help with your testimonial consent forms, influencer agreements, advertising terms or review approval process, you can reach us at 1800 730 617 or team@sprintlaw.com.au for a free, no-obligations chat.