Using Customer Reviews in NZ Advertising

Customer reviews can make an ad feel credible in a way polished copy cannot. The risk is that a glowing quote, star rating or customer video can become misleading if it is fake, cherry-picked, edited out of context or used without the customer's permission.

New Zealand businesses often trip up by reposting Google reviews in paid ads, shortening a testimonial until it overstates the result, or asking staff and friends to leave reviews without making the relationship clear. These choices can create issues under the Fair Trading Act 1986, the Privacy Act 2020, copyright rules and advertising standards.

A practical review process helps you decide which testimonials are safe to use, what consent you need, how much editing is acceptable and when an endorsement needs to be labelled as advertising.

Customer Review Compliance Checklist for NZ Ads

A customer review is safest to use in advertising when it is genuine, recent, accurately presented and backed by clear permission.

For a founder launching a paid social campaign, a retailer adding testimonials to a product page or a service business preparing a proposal deck, the same core checks apply. Treat reviews as advertising claims, not just nice words from customers.

• Confirm the review is real: Check that the reviewer actually bought, used or experienced the product or service they are commenting on.
• Check whether the claim is still true: A review about delivery speed, product availability, pricing or customer support can become misleading if your operations have changed.
• Get permission before reuse: A public review on a platform is not automatically permission to use the person's name, photo, words or video in your own ads.
• Keep the meaning intact: Editing for length is usually lower risk than editing in a way that changes the overall impression.
• Disclose incentives and relationships: Free products, discounts, affiliate commissions, staff connections and founder friendships can affect how consumers interpret a review.
• Be careful with star ratings: A star rating should reflect a real and fair data set, not a hand-picked subset designed to look better.
• Keep records: Save the original review, permission, date obtained, incentive details and any approvals for the final ad.
• Check platform rules: Google, Meta, TikTok, Trade Me and marketplace review tools can restrict scraping, reposting, review gating or incentivised reviews.

A useful internal rule is to ask: would an ordinary New Zealand customer get the same impression from the ad as they would from seeing the original review in context? If the answer is no, the ad needs work before it goes live.

Reviews can appear in many forms. Written testimonials on a landing page, screenshots from social media, star ratings in search ads, influencer posts, video case studies, before-and-after images and quotes in investor decks can all raise similar legal issues. The format does not remove the need for accuracy and consent.

For B2B businesses, the issue can be more sensitive because a testimonial may reveal a customer's supplier relationship, internal project details or business results. A SaaS company using a client quote about revenue uplift, for example, should check not only the wording of the testimonial but also whether the client is authorised to speak on behalf of their organisation.

Fair Trading Act Risks With Reviews and Testimonials

The Fair Trading Act 1986 can apply when a review, testimonial or star rating gives consumers a misleading impression about your business, product or service.

The Act prohibits misleading and deceptive conduct, false or misleading representations and unsubstantiated representations in trade. In practical terms, testimonial advertising rules in NZ are not just about avoiding made-up quotes. They also require care with context, proof and the overall impression created by the ad.

The Commerce Commission can take action where businesses use reviews in a way that misleads consumers. Customers and competitors may also complain if review practices appear dishonest. Reputational damage can be immediate, particularly where fake reviews are called out publicly.

Fake Reviews and Review Manipulation

Fake reviews under the Fair Trading Act are a high-risk area because they can directly influence purchasing decisions. A fake review might be entirely invented, posted by someone who never used the product or written by a person with a hidden connection to the business.

Common examples include:

• asking employees to leave five-star reviews without disclosing they work for the business;
• paying a third party to post positive reviews from accounts that look like genuine customers;
• creating customer profiles to review your own product;
• encouraging family or friends to post reviews without revealing the relationship;
• posting negative reviews about a competitor under a fake identity;
• using testimonials from a previous business or product as if they relate to the current offering.

A business owner might think a small number of seeded reviews simply helps launch a new product. The problem is that those reviews can create a false sense of market validation. If the reviewer did not have a genuine customer experience, or if their connection to the business is hidden, the ad can mislead.

Cherry-Picking and Leaving Out Context

Cherry-picking is risky when the selected reviews create an impression that is not representative of the customer experience.

There is nothing inherently wrong with featuring positive reviews. Businesses advertise their strengths. The issue arises when you omit context that a reasonable customer would need to understand the claim.

For example, a gym might use a review saying, I lost 10kg in 8 weeks. If that result came from a highly personalised programme, strict nutrition plan and unusual starting point, presenting it as a typical outcome could be misleading. A better approach is to make the circumstances clear and avoid implying that most customers will get the same result.

Similarly, an online store should avoid promoting only five-star product reviews if there is a known recurring defect that many customers complain about elsewhere. The safer path is to fix the underlying issue and ensure the review being used still reflects the current product.

Claims Inside Testimonials Still Need Support

A customer testimonial can contain claims that the business must be able to support if it chooses to use them in advertising.

A quote such as the most durable work boots in New Zealand may sound like customer opinion, but once you put it in an ad, it may be treated as a claim your business is making. If the statement is specific, comparative or performance-based, you should consider whether you have a reasonable basis for it.

Some testimonial claims also overlap with the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993. If a review suggests a product will last for a particular period or perform in a particular way, make sure your marketing does not overpromise beyond what the product can reliably deliver. A customer quote should not be used to sidestep your own obligations to provide accurate information.

Current Reviews Matter

Old reviews can mislead where the product, service, ownership, pricing or customer experience has changed.

A cafe bought from a previous owner should be careful about using historic reviews that praise the old menu, old staff or old fit-out. A software company should review testimonials after major product changes, especially if features have been removed or pricing has materially changed.

As a working practice, build a review audit into campaign refreshes. Ask whether each testimonial still reflects the product, whether the customer still agrees to the use and whether any claim in the quote remains accurate.

Consent, Privacy and Ownership of Customer Words

You should get clear customer consent before using a reviewer's name, photo, video, voice, business name or identifiable story in advertising.

A public review does not give your business unlimited rights. A customer may be comfortable leaving feedback on a review platform but not with their words appearing in a Facebook ad, billboard, email campaign or sales deck. That difference matters for privacy, copyright, brand trust and platform compliance.

Customer Consent for Testimonials

Customer consent for testimonials should cover where the testimonial will appear, how long it may be used and whether it can be edited.

For simple written reviews, consent can often be handled by an email approval or a checkbox at the time the customer submits feedback. For more prominent campaigns, such as video testimonials, case studies, influencer-style reels or ads using a customer's image, a written release is usually the cleaner option.

A good testimonial consent should address:

• the exact quote, video, photo, logo or story you want to use;
• the channels where it may appear, such as your website, social media, paid ads, brochures and pitch materials;
• whether the customer's first name, full name, job title, business name or location will be shown;
• whether you can make minor edits for length, grammar or formatting;
• whether the customer received any incentive, payment, discount or free product;
• how the customer can ask you to stop future use;
• whether the permission is ongoing or limited to a campaign period.

For B2B testimonials, confirm the person giving approval has authority to speak for the business. A junior employee may love your product, but their employer may not want its name or logo used in your marketing.

Privacy Act 2020 Issues

Personal information in a review must be collected, used and disclosed in line with the Privacy Act 2020.

Names, photos, voices, social media handles, locations, health information, purchasing details and identifiable stories can all be personal information. If you collect reviews through a survey, post-purchase form or customer interview, your privacy consent wording should tell customers how their feedback may be used.

Privacy risk increases where testimonials reveal sensitive details. Allied health providers, fitness businesses, childcare services, financial services, education providers and disability support businesses should take particular care. A customer story about weight loss, injury recovery, debt stress, a child's learning needs or health treatment can reveal information the customer may not expect to see in advertising.

If you want to use a detailed story, ask for specific approval rather than relying on broad wording in your terms. Give the customer a chance to review the final version before publication.

Copyright and Platform Terms

The customer may own copyright in their original words, photo or video, and the platform hosting the review may impose its own rules.

Copying a review from Google, a marketplace or a social media post into your ad is not always the same as sharing it within the platform's built-in tools. Review platforms often have terms that restrict how reviews, ratings, profile photos and screenshots can be reused.

From a practical standpoint, ask the customer for permission to use their words directly, rather than relying on the fact that the review is public. Keep a copy of that permission with the original review. If you use screenshots, check that the image does not reveal other customer information, platform branding used incorrectly or comments from people who did not consent.

Incentivised Reviews

Incentivised reviews can be lawful, but the incentive should not be hidden and should not be conditional on a positive review.

If you offer a discount, free product, loyalty points or prize draw entry in exchange for feedback, make it clear that honest feedback is welcome, whether positive or negative. Avoid wording such as leave us a five-star review to receive 10% off. That can distort the review pool and mislead future customers.

If an incentivised review is used in advertising, disclose the incentive where it could affect the weight consumers give to the endorsement. The disclosure should be easy to notice, not buried in fine print.

Editing Reviews, Star Ratings and Endorsements

You can usually edit a testimonial for clarity or length, but you must not change the meaning or remove context that affects the customer's overall message.

Many advertising mistakes happen after a genuine review is collected. A marketer shortens a quote, a designer crops a screenshot, a founder rounds up a star rating or an influencer posts a glowing endorsement without saying they were paid. Each step can change what the audience understands.

Safe and Unsafe Edits

Minor edits are lower risk when they correct grammar, remove irrelevant words or fit a quote into a design without altering substance.

For example, changing I have been using their bookkeeping app for three months and it saves me around two hours a week to It saves me around two hours a week may be acceptable if the context still makes clear which product is being discussed and the timeframe is not relevant to the claim.

Riskier edits include:

• removing qualifying words such as for me, so far, in my case or after the premium plan upgrade;
• combining sentences from different reviews into one quote from one customer;
• turning a customer service review into a product performance claim;
• removing a disclosure that the reviewer received a free product;
• using ellipses to hide a negative or mixed part of the review;
• adding bold text or headlines that make the review sound stronger than it is.

When in doubt, send the edited version back to the customer and ask them to confirm that it is accurate. This is especially helpful for video testimonials, case studies and ads making measurable claims.

Star Ratings and Average Scores

Star ratings should be calculated and displayed in a way that reflects the review data honestly.

Problems often arise when businesses select only reviews from a favourable channel. For example, displaying 4.9 stars from happy customers based only on reviews collected through your own post-purchase survey may mislead if public marketplace reviews are much lower and concern the same product.

Be clear about the source and scope of a rating. If the rating is based on website reviews, say so. If it relates to one product line rather than the whole business, do not present it as a company-wide rating. If the score is old, consider whether it still fairly represents current performance.

Avoid rounding or simplifying ratings in a way that materially improves the impression. If a product has a 4.4 average, calling it five-star rated because some customers gave five stars is likely to be risky. If you say rated 4.8 out of 5 by over 1,000 customers, keep records showing the calculation and review source.

Review Gating and Negative Feedback

Review gating can be misleading if it filters happy customers towards public reviews and directs unhappy customers away from them.

A typical example is a post-purchase email asking customers to rate their experience. Customers who choose four or five stars are prompted to post publicly, while customers who choose one to three stars are sent to a private complaint form. This can artificially inflate public ratings.

It is sensible to invite unhappy customers to contact you so you can fix issues. The risk is using that process to suppress negative reviews. A fairer approach is to ask all customers for honest feedback and give the same review options, while also offering support channels.

Influencer-Style Endorsements

Influencer endorsements need clear disclosure when the influencer receives payment, free products, discounts, commissions or another benefit.

Influencer-style advertising is not limited to celebrities. It can include customers with a strong social following, affiliates, industry experts, ambassadors, creators, franchisees or loyal customers who post in exchange for perks. If the endorsement is commercial, the audience should be able to recognise that.

The Advertising Standards Authority's Advertising Standards Code is relevant to ads directed at New Zealand audiences. The key principle is that advertising should be identifiable as advertising and should not mislead. Labels such as ad, advertisement, paid partnership or a clear written disclosure are usually safer than vague tags such as thanks, collab or gifted on their own.

Businesses should brief creators on what they can and cannot say, including any advertising claims that need support. A skincare brand should not allow an influencer to claim a product cures a skin condition unless that claim is lawful and supported. A software business should not let an affiliate promise guaranteed savings unless those savings can be substantiated.

Your creator brief should require honest opinions, clear disclosure of the relationship, approval for legal claims before posting and prompt correction if a post is inaccurate. The influencer contract should also cover content usage rights if you want to repost the endorsement in your own ads.

Practical Review Workflow

A simple approval workflow reduces the chance that a useful testimonial becomes a legal problem at the final design stage.

1. Collect: Gather reviews through a process that asks for honest feedback and explains potential marketing use.
2. Screen: Remove reviews that appear fake, incentivised without disclosure, irrelevant, outdated or unsupported.
3. Verify: Check purchase records, customer status and claim accuracy where the review contains factual statements.
4. Consent: Obtain permission for the proposed use, especially if the customer is identifiable.
5. Edit: Make only fair edits and keep the original meaning intact.
6. Approve: Have a responsible person review the final ad, including website copy, design, captions and hashtags.
7. Monitor: Recheck reviews when products, pricing, offers or customer outcomes change.

For small teams, one shared folder or marketing register can work well. Store the original review, consent, campaign asset, disclosure details and expiry or review date. That record can be very useful if a platform, regulator, customer or competitor questions the ad later.

FAQs

Can I Use a Google Review in My Facebook Ad?

You should get the customer's permission before reusing their Google review in a Facebook ad, especially if their name, photo or exact words are shown. Also check whether the review is accurate, current and used consistently with the review platform's terms.

Can I Edit a Customer Testimonial?

Yes, but only in a way that keeps the meaning fair and accurate. Edits for grammar, length or formatting are usually lower risk. Removing qualifications, changing the context or making the result sound more typical than it is can be misleading.

Are Fake Reviews Illegal in New Zealand?

Fake reviews can breach the Fair Trading Act 1986 if they mislead consumers or create a false impression about the business, product or service. Reviews from staff, friends, paid reviewers or related parties can also be risky if the relationship is hidden.

Do I Need to Disclose Free Products or Discounts?

Yes, disclose free products, discounts, payments, commissions or other benefits where they may affect how consumers view the endorsement. The disclosure should be clear, close to the review and easy for the audience to notice.

Can I Show Only My Best Reviews?

You can feature positive reviews, but the overall impression must not be misleading. Avoid presenting selected reviews or star ratings as representative if they hide common issues, outdated experiences or a broader set of less favourable feedback.

Key Takeaways

• Customer reviews used in ads are marketing claims, so they need to be genuine, accurate, current and not misleading under the Fair Trading Act 1986.
• Get clear customer consent before using names, photos, videos, business logos, identifiable stories or exact review wording in your marketing.
• Editing testimonials is acceptable only where the original meaning and context remain intact.
• Star ratings should be based on a fair and clearly identified data set, not a hand-picked selection of favourable reviews.
• Influencer-style endorsements, affiliate reviews and incentivised testimonials should clearly disclose payments, free products, discounts or other benefits.
• Keep records of original reviews, consent, substantiation and final approvals so your team can support the ad if questions arise.

If you want to use reviews confidently in your marketing, Sprintlaw can help with testimonial consent wording, influencer agreements, privacy policy updates and review compliance processes. Contact us on 0800 002 184 or at team@sprintlaw.co.nz for a free, no-obligations chat.