New FTC Rules

[Diogo Slov]

Hey guys,

I hope it isn't a repeated thread. Has anyone said anything yet about the new FTC rules?

We had a fellow WSO: Webmaster's Legal Guide - Back After 3 years - Limited Time Offer

I also read something else, more updated: FTC New Compensation Disclosure Requirements: Free Internet Marketing Special Report : Internet Law and Business Blog

Hey Brian, in case you read this... Are you going to update your WSO?

As for other people here: any resource you'd like to add?

Thanks,
Diogo

[Steve Crooks]

If you searched for FTC on here you will see there are already about 1 zillion threads already about this.

[Sumit Menon]

There have been a lot! I created one too..

Here you go:
What are the FTC rules in plain english?

You might wanna read this too:
The FTC sued me out of business two years ago yesterday- here is my story

[Diogo Slov]

Originally Posted by Steve Crooks

If you searched for FTC on here you will see there are already about 1 zillion threads already about this.

My bad. Thank you, though, for your prompt kindness.

Originally Posted by Sumit Menon

There have been a lot! I created one too..

Here you go:
What are the FTC rules in plain english?

You might wanna read this too:
The FTC sued me out of business two years ago yesterday- here is my story

Sumit, thanks for the link for your thread. I had seen the birthday one. I also found another thread:

FTC Guidelines for Product Creators and Their Affiliates

Best,
Diogo

[Diogo Slov]

Some info from another thread, Don't Listen to John Reese

Originally Posted by kindsvater

I'm reading Reese's 'Internet Marketing 2010 The Road Ahead' - which in large part is an account of personal failures and lessons that may be learned.

But then he says in reference to the new FTC guidelines: "REMOVE ALL TESTIMONIALS FROM YOUR MARKETING."

That is, in all seriousness, the worst marketing advice of the year.

Testimonials should be one of the most IMPORTANT aspects of your marketing. But don't take my word for it: Kennedy, Cialdini, etc.

This is what social media is all about - getting trusted recommendations.

The FTC is NOT against testimonials. It is concerned with fraud. Just more specific guidelines for fraudulent activity the FTC always could have pursued.

As I said in a prior post on the topic, if you have 10,000 buyers of an IM product and no one makes more than $250, but 1 guy makes $500,000, using the one $500,000 testimonial as the basis for getting new buyers is clearly deceptive. But everyone already knew that.

Here's my prediction for 2010 and beyond:

Testimonials will continue to be important, will appear on more and more websites, and yes, even John Reese will be using them.

After all, that is what Reese is doing when he pimps IM product after IM product. Using himself as a testimonial, a trusted resource, so he can make some affiliate cash.

Originally Posted by Razer Rage

He's talking about testimonials on your sales letter. And it's good advice, seeing as most of them are full of hype and can't be substantiated.

Let the people on forums and facebook be your testimonials.

Originally Posted by cgallagher93

Hi Brian,

In part I have to say I agree with you.

Reese's advice is quite clearly to "remove all testimonials from your marketing" which in my opinion is complete balls.

What the FTC propose is that anyone who includes outrageous or inflated results within testimonials can be prosecuted for misleading advice. Ok, fair enough. What they now say you have to do is include some form of notice which states results that typical users will achieve. This is where the FTC become absolute assholes by making it hard for honest marketers! I mean dude, what the heck?

This is insane and quite frankly well over the top. They're asking people to literally guess what the average user will achieve which based upon the fact that everyone's circumstances differ, could end up even more misleading than the previous testimonial!

I understand they're trying to prevent fraud, but it seems to me like someone had a bad day at the office and decided to come up with a quick master-plan to counter fraud and p*ss off all marketers in the process "because they can".

Jackasses.

With my rant over, here's my simple plan for avoiding prosecution by the FTC. Remove ALL testimonials that incorporate figures our indefinite claims such as...

"I made $5783079 ZILLION DOLLARS in 7 days!"

Instead, ask your customers to submit a testimonial that talks about the benefits of your product, how it's features helped them and how your way of teaching is brilliant etc. These are people's opinions and the FTC can't argue!

The whole point of testimonials is to include a form of social proof. To me, this approach is just as good as claims of making X in X amount of time as not only do they come across as more honest and natural, but claims involving sums of money are often debatable anyway.

Either way, don't do NOTHING!

Connor :-)

Originally Posted by Scott Ames

Found it Steven

Source:

PDF Download:

http://www.box.net/shared/static/y576k2d1q7.pdf

As posted on:

Income.com Blog

Originally Posted by kindsvater

Steve:

The PDF download is on a blog: Internet Marketing 2010: The Road Ahead

and yes, it is very hard to believe because it doesn't make any sense. Reese goes further and states "you can still be very successful without testimonials."

He is conclusively saying remove ALL testimonials.

Not just false testimonials. Not just overhyped testimonials. Not just unproven testimonials.

As I said: worst marketing advice of the year. I'm guessing Reese will rethink this and come back with something more rational.

As an attorney, let me say there are are infinite number of ways to handle the issue depending on the situation. It can be as easy as: "While we don't know what results all of our customers have achieved, here are some comments, feedback, and reviews we have received ... A complete list can be found here ..."

One thing is for certain: not only will testimonials not be removed from my websites, but more are in the process of being added.

Originally Posted by Kenneth Fox

I've seen some interesting points made on this thread but I
still feel it is to premature to assume what will happen.

Anyone giving advice (like John Reese did) should bite their
tongue for a little while until things start to reveal themselves.

There's no reason to start a panic. As long as you have a
legit product or service and any testimonials are from real
people that can be tracked, you have nothing to worry about.

Look at how many TV commercials have these testimonials
on them like Nutri-system and Proactive to name a few.

Again, I think we should all sit back and wait to see the whole
picture, not just the trailer, before we move in haste and do
some things that we could regret later.

I will keep on quoting whatever I find interesting on this same thread.

[Diogo Slov]

More useful information at FTC Guidelines for Product Creators and Their Affiliates

Originally Posted by 5starAffiliatePrograms

Hi nuneybopper,

Here are 2 important articles to read that answer most of your questions about advertisers being held accountable, what you should do and how enforcement will be handled. Also the FTC says they will not be issuing fines (but I think they still could if they want to.)

FTC Responds to Blogger Fears: “That $11,000 Fine Is Not True”
In one part they talk about enforcement and in another the fact that they are going after advertisers more than bloggers/marketers.

New FTC Rules for Testimonials and Endorsements in Marketing
Joel Comm's attorney weigh in on his interpretation and makes suggestions for affiliates and merchants/product owners.

[Diogo Slov]

Very ingenious! The FTC Just Helped Me Out With A Website...

Originally Posted by JasonValens

Recently I updated a 'review' style landing page to ensure that it complied with the upcoming ftc regs. That meant getting rid of the personal review and the subjective reasons why someone might click my damn link (with probably too much 'sizzle' and give me a conversion.

At first it seemd like a big job, figuring out how my copy could be persuasive and involve objective facts. Then I had a little lighbulb go on when I remembered Gary Bencivengas central principle of proof being the most persuasive element of any copy.

So that meant looking at the vendors website and identifying the elements of proof. In this case it was the provision of a 'star rating' user system and the facility for users to leave comments, along with a free trial offer.

With that I had the outline for the copy. The proof element for the headline was social proof (the number of customers), with points for the other proof elements (comments, ratings) available from the vendor. And the risk reversal of the free trial.

Result is a greater percentage of people (20 - 30% more) are clicking through to the offer. Conversions are batch processed, so it will take a while to see what influence this has on the conversion rate.

If you can find a way to position the product with (as near to possible) objective proof that differentiates it from other products and eliminates customer fears, then you have a more powerful tactic than some personal review which people are probably getting blind too like they did banner ads.

[Kay King]

Please stop! The threads are available to read and do not need to be "quoted" in another thread.

Half of the people interpreting this new set of regulations seem to be outside the US and this stuff is being passed on as "gospel" - it's only opinion.

Until kindsvater or another REAL attorney shares a definition for this, read the FTC ruling for yourself.

kay

[John_Reese]

Just to clarify something...

I was referring to removing all RESULTS-BASED TESTIMONIALS.

The ones that make any sort of claim as to specific results (outlandish or not) that someone achieved after buying the product. This is exactly what the new guidelines affect.

And read the FTC brief in detail. It's not about hype or big numbers. It's about ANY testimonial that claims results that would be greater than what MOST customers achieve.

I'm not an attorney and I am certainly not giving legal advice, but people need to pay close attention to the new guidelines and actually carefully read what they are saying.

-John Reese

[Noah Fleming]

Originally Posted by John_Reese

Just to clarify something...

I was referring to removing all RESULTS-BASED TESTIMONIALS.

The ones that make any sort of claim as to specific results (outlandish or not) that someone achieved after buying the product. This is exactly what the new guidelines affect.

And read the FTC brief in detail. It's not about hype or big numbers. It's about ANY testimonial that claims results that would be greater than what MOST customers achieve.

I'm not an attorney and I am certainly not giving legal advice, but people need to pay close attention to the new guidelines and actually carefully read what they are saying.

-John Reese

Hey John, I just had a chance to check out the report. It seems people are confused by what you're saying because in all CAPS you said "REMOVE ALL TESTIMONIALS FROM YOUR MARKETING."

Now you're saying you were referring to "results based testimonials" only but that's missing from the report.

Might want to clarify this on your site.

[John_Reese]

Originally Posted by Noah Fleming

Hey John, I just had a chance to check out the report. It seems people are confused by what you're saying because in all CAPS you said "REMOVE ALL TESTIMONIALS FROM YOUR MARKETING."

Now you're saying you were referring to "results based testimonials" only but that's missing from the report.

Might want to clarify this on your site.

I just did. Thanks for the heads up.