Am I allowed to advertise with my clients?

Advertising claims become more realistic when they are backed by real customer experiences. Therefore, many companies resort to so-called testimonials. But posting references for clients can also be helpful. True to the motto: “Well, even if the well-known company XY is a customer there, the product must be really good.”

But be warned: There are some drawbacks with advertising of this type.

Don’t just post customer data

The joy is great when a famous name suddenly sends you a subscription to a newsletter or orders a product. Can’t that be directly used for marketing? But be careful: just post the clients name like that, it doesn’t work even if it’s a company name. After all, customer data is protected by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

If you want to advertise under certain names from your client list, you need to ask for permission anyway.

Note the ban on hidden ads

Often, companies don’t just “post” names on their homepage. Signals are often associated with the rating of specific customers. So it comes down to the promotional use of reviews. Advertising companies must again be mindful of the prohibition against misleading ads, particularly hidden ads. If the review was paid for, such as a discount or cash payment, the review should be marked as an advertisement. In addition, there are still relatively new rules from the Omnibus directive: according to this, it must be indicated whether the ratings have been checked for correctness, and if so, how.

Content check: a matter of responsibility

Good reviews should also not be used for advertising. By using reviews in this way, companies make those reviews their own. So you are responsible for the content. This liability applies, for example, to reviews that contain unauthorized health-related statements.

Usually, the retailer is not responsible for such statements in reviews (BGH), because it is clear to the customer that the statement reflects personal experience. By specifically selecting such a review and using it to advertise a product, the Company agrees to place it explicitly with the content and should expect a warning under competition law.

This must be taken into account when advertising with testimonials

Consent must be obtained before ratings that include names and possibly images can be used for advertising purposes. As always, written consent is recommended. Paid reviews should be flagged as ads. In addition, the content of the statement should always be checked for violations of competition law.