Testimonial Release Form

What is a Testimonial Release?

A testimonial release is a short signed permission letting you publish what someone said about your business, along with their name, job title, employer and photograph. It matters because a quote on a website is a use of that person's name and likeness, and permission given verbally over a good coffee is exactly the kind that gets withdrawn, unhappily, after they change jobs.

Any business that puts customer quotes on a website, in a brochure, in a case study or in an advert. Marketing teams collect them at the point the customer is happiest — after a successful project or a good support experience. Agencies and freelancers use them constantly, since a portfolio is largely testimonials. Clinics, tutors, trainers and trades collect them too, though regulated professions often face extra restrictions on what a testimonial may claim. Employers use a version of the same form for staff quotes in recruitment material.

Rules on using a person's name and image differ. Data protection regimes — the UK and EU GDPR, Canada's PIPEDA, Australia's Privacy Act, India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act, US state privacy laws — govern the personal data in a testimonial and often give the person a route to withdraw. Several US states also have specific right-of-publicity statutes. Advertising regulators add conditions of their own: the UK's CAP Code expects you to hold documentary evidence and permission, and the FTC's endorsement guides address what a testimonial may imply about typical results. Some professional bodies restrict testimonials entirely.

A release gives you permission to publish; it does not make the statement true or defensible. If a customer says your product cured something or doubled their revenue, you generally need to be able to substantiate that claim, and a signature does not supply the evidence. It also licenses nothing the person did not own — a photograph taken by a professional carries the photographer's rights as well as the subject's. And it does not stop someone asking you to take a quote down later, because where a privacy law gives them that route the form does not remove it.

What to put in a Testimonial Release

These are the details this template asks for. Anything left blank is marked in red on the preview so you can see what is still missing.

How to write a Testimonial Release

1. Attach the exact words being approved

   Print the quotation in full on the form itself, not a reference to 'the testimonial provided'. If you have edited it for length, show the edited version, because that is what you are asking permission for. Where you plan to shorten it further later, say so, and undertake that the meaning will not change. People object to the edit far more often than to the publication.

2. State exactly what may be published

   Tick or list each element: first name, full name, job title, employer name, town, photograph, video, company logo. These are separate permissions and people grant them differently — a customer happy to be quoted may not want their employer named. A form that bundles them all into one yes is the form that gets renegotiated after the page is live.

3. Define where and for how long

   Website, social media, print brochures, paid advertising, conference materials, partner sites. And a period: while they remain a customer, for two years, or until they withdraw in writing. Open-ended permission across all media is what people hesitate over, and asking for less usually gets you a faster signature and a warmer relationship afterwards.

4. Say how they can withdraw it

   Give an email address, and say what happens when someone uses it: removal from your own channels within a stated period, and an honest note that printed material already distributed cannot be recalled. Where a privacy law gives them a right to object, the form does not override it, so a clear route out is better for you than a silent one.

5. Get a signature, a date, and file it

   Name, signature, date and a contact address. An email confirming the same terms is often accepted and is far better than nothing — keep the full thread rather than a screenshot of one line. Store releases where the marketing team can find them, indexed against where each quote is used, so a takedown request can be actioned in minutes.

Common mistakes

• Relying on a verbal yes, then having to strip a quote off the homepage when the customer's new employer objects to it.
• Bundling the name, the photograph and the employer into a single permission, so a customer who would have agreed to a quote refuses everything.
• Publishing an edited version that shifts the emphasis of what was said, which is the fastest way to lose both the testimonial and the customer.
• Taking permission for the website and then using the quote in paid advertising, a use the person never agreed to and may object to.
• Publishing a customer's claim about results without holding evidence for it, which is an advertising problem the release does nothing to solve.

Frequently asked questions

This page explains general practice and is not legal advice. Requirements differ between countries and, in some cases, between states — check what applies where the document will be used.

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