How to Use Customer Testimonials and Case Studies Legally

A glowing quote on your homepage can cost you more than having no quote at all. Customer testimonials build trust, but only when they're genuine, fairly presented and properly sourced. Searchline helps small businesses publish proof that holds up, and the rules for doing it are clearer than most owners expect. Here is how to collect, write and publish testimonials without breaching the Australian Consumer Law.

Are customer testimonials covered by the Australian Consumer Law?

Yes. A testimonial on your website is a statement about your product or service, so the ACCC's misleading conduct expectations apply to it as they do to any ad. The ACCC says it is against the law to create fake or misleading reviews or to arrange for others to do so, and that reviews should be "independent and reflect the genuine opinion of the person who experienced the product or service" (ACCC, Online reviews for products and services, 15 July 2026).

The same page lists what tends to mislead: quotes from family, employees or paid people without a disclosed connection, praise from someone who never used what you sell, reviews edited by somebody else, and genuine negative feedback that gets suppressed or removed. A testimonial page is the same kind of social proof, so work to the same standard.

Enforcement is real. In 2011 Citymove copied testimonials from an unrelated review site, altered them and published them as genuine. It paid a $6,600 penalty after an infringement notice, which is not a court finding. In court, the Federal Court ordered $600,000 in penalties against Service Seeking Pty Ltd, which let businesses draft their own reviews and auto-published them if customers didn't respond within 3 days (ACCC, 15 July 2026).

How do you collect customer testimonials with proper consent?

Ask the customer directly, in writing, and keep the reply. If the request goes out as a bulk email, check the commercial email rules first. Tell them where the words will appear (website, proposals, social posts) and let them approve the final version before it goes live. A short email thread is enough proof of where a quote came from.

Ask open questions. "What was the situation before we started, and what changed?" gets honest material, while "Can you say we were the fastest?" gets something you wrote yourself. Never draft a testimonial for a customer and publish it on their silence. That is the Service Seeking problem in miniature.

Get permission for names, photos and logos separately from the words.

What can you edit in a customer testimonial?

Typos and obvious punctuation slips, and nothing else without the customer's approval. Trimming a long message to the relevant passage is fine if you mark the cut with an ellipsis and the remaining words still say what the customer meant.

Changing meaning is where businesses get caught. Swapping "decent" for "excellent", or lifting a sentence out of a paragraph that qualified it, turns an opinion into a manufactured one. In March 2026 the ACCC announced that PhotobookShop (Tomsem Consolidated Pty Ltd) paid $39,600 across two infringement notices. The ACCC alleges the company edited an influencer's video to remove comments that its AI assistant tool was "fiddly" and "confusing", then posted it without disclosing the edit (ACCC media release, 24 March 2026). Paying an infringement notice is not an admission of a breach.

If the customer would be surprised by your edit, don't make it.

How should you disclose an incentive for a testimonial?

State it plainly, next to the testimonial. The ACCC says incentives tied to reviews must apply whether the review is positive or negative and must be clearly disclosed (ACCC, 15 July 2026). A discount offered only for a five-star quote fails the first test before you reach the second.

A line you can adapt: "This customer received a $50 voucher for sharing feedback, positive or negative." Put it under the quote, not in a footer.

Freebies work the same way. The ACCC alleges PhotobookShop told influencers on 107 occasions, between August 2024 and September 2025, not to disclose that they had received free products worth about $50 to $400 in exchange for reviews (ACCC media release, 24 March 2026). Whatever you hand over, your audience should hear about it.

Do you have to show negative feedback too?

You can't bury it to keep a page tidy. The ACCC's 2013 guidance (media release 268/13, 3 December 2013) says that leaving out negative reviews can mislead consumers as much as posting fake ones. The Federal Court ordered $2.9 million in penalties against HealthEngine, which admitted not publishing many negative reviews between March 2015 and March 2018 and editing others (ACCC, 15 July 2026).

A handpicked quote is normal marketing. The risk starts when a selection is presented as the whole picture, such as "what our customers say" above three quotes while a pattern of complaints goes unmentioned. Context matters for numbers too. The ACCC notes a rating can mislead without its base, so show 3 stars from 24 reviews rather than a bare score. If you quote a figure, show what sits behind it.

How do you write a case study with real results?

Start with the customer's problem in their words, describe what you did, then report what happened using figures the customer has confirmed. Every number should trace to something you can produce on request, like an analytics export or an invoice. If you can't verify a result, describe it qualitatively or leave it out.

Here is a hypothetical example only, not a real client. A Newcastle bookkeeping firm's owner says enquiries felt steadier after a site rebuild. You can print that sentence, attributed to the owner. Don't turn it into a percentage nobody measured. If you want numbers you can stand behind, our guide to conversion tracking setup is the place to start.

Have the customer sign off on the finished case study, headline included, and keep the email. If a one-off promotion helped the results, say so.

This article is general information, not legal advice. Check the ACCC online reviews guidance or get legal advice for your situation.

Common questions

Can I use a testimonial from a customer who has since left?

Yes, if they approved it and it still reflects their experience. Date it so readers can judge it fairly. If your service has changed a lot since, check the quote still describes what you sell today.

Can staff or family post a testimonial for me?

Only with the connection disclosed. The ACCC lists reviews from family, employees or paid people without a disclosed relationship as misleading (ACCC, 15 July 2026). Disclosure takes one sentence; leaving it out is the problem.

Do I need written approval for every case study?

It's the safest approach. A reply saying "happy for this to be published" takes the customer thirty seconds and gives you a record. Send the final text rather than a summary, so their approval covers what readers see.

Open your testimonials page today and match each quote to an approval email. Anything without one gets approved this week or comes down.