Can I Bribe for Testimonials or is that Illegal?

Sell a really good product that they love.

Sure you can pay someone to give you a testimonial... you can also box up dog poop and tell someone its home made fudge.

Your clients are still going to know its dog poop.

Its definitely illegal to display dog poop and tell people its fudge.

You may want to read what the FTC guidelines are for endorsements and testimonials:

http://www.ftc.gov/os/2009/10/091005...esfnnotice.pdf

Just ask them, dude. They will give them to you for free if your product/service is exceptional.

Cheers,
Allen

Yikes Josh

I do sell a good product

But tons more people will TAKE ACTION if you offer SOME sort of incentive.

I could sell the best damn product in the world and yes, some would do testimonails, but MOST would not get off their butt, take a pic of themselves and then do an audio testimonial.

I am not trying to see dog poop. My products are wonderful.

And I am not going to do any hokey hyped up testimonials that the FTC would even look twice at.

I wouldn't.

The best way to get a good review that will matter is by offering a great product. If you deliver what you say in the product, you shouldn't have to go to get testimonials. They will come automatically - or should.

I don't think it is illegal at all but it is unethical! Usually, people will themselves send testimonials if they like the product!

Yikes people -- I am not saying I want to pay off some dude tons of to come up with some B.S. exaggerated testimonial about my product.

I simply wanted to help motivate people to give me some feedback. It takes work to record yourself and get your picture posted on a website. Not much, but many people are lazier than us.

Yes, its true, great products to generate their own testimonials, and I do get some naturally (not many, I do not sell a ton of the product), I just wanted to accelerate the process a bit here.

I don't see anything unethical about that.

I do not want some hyped up testimonial, just average ones from average people. Just public feedback.

Thanks for the feedback. I actually thought paying for them was illegal. But perhaps I will just consult with my attorney to verify that.

One of these days, I am going to make a crappy product, and offer to pay five people for testimonials.

Then I am going to post a thread asking for five reviewers who will get a free copy of the product.

Then I am going to post a WSO for some low price for the first five people and remind everyone who buys it to come write a testimonial.

And then I'm going to release my real product, and tell people "don't trust those damn testimonials," and print all those testimonials. "I gave Bob $10 and he said this. I gave Joe a free copy and he said this. I gave Alice a really low price and she said this. And here's the product they said this about. See what CRAP it is? Look at this garbage. They said all these wonderful things about this product, and it's complete and utter trash."

Now, granted, fifteen people will be a little annoyed at me for this... but I think they'll rather deserve it.

You can pay people for the testimonial. However, in EACH testimonial, you MUST clearly state language that says the Endorsee was paid for their testimonial. It must be on the front of your product offering, or sales page. Additionally, you must clarify whether or not that endorsee actually received the product, used it & whether or not they personally benefited that product or service with a verification mechanism. Meaning they need to be able to prove it if a customer asks.

Trading bonus ebooks is fine. However you still need to state that the endorsee received "SOMETHING" so that your testimonial will be valid.

At the end of the day, everyone is still not getting it. If you don't have a clear, verifiable, auditable process for not only the claims you make, or the testimonials you have, you are subjecting yourself to fines from the FTC.

If you have confidence in EVERYTHING you state - (for example a reasonable person can clearly track the $100,000 you made from every transaction, or reasonable people can clearly generate the same thing you are claiming) then you should be okay.

Otherwise, you shouldn't be selling ICE to Eskimos.

Thanks Darrin.

It looks like we both like to drink milkshakes.

Oilman, offer to have their website's or blog's URL goes together with their testimonials, that will have enough motivation to get people to give you a testimonial. Also offer to post a picture of themselves with the testimonial.

How many testimonials do you actually want/need?

Send out an email to everyone who has bought your product asking how they liked it, etc, and then ask for a testimonial.

See how many replies you get back - you may have enough.

Jeff

Paying money for a testimonial is a bad idea.

But offering an incentive is not as bad as it is being made out to be. Like you said, sometimes, people need some kind of an incentive to give you a testimonial.

Most of the times, offering to publish their "signature" along with their web site address, is good enough for most people. But what if you want someone to create a "video" testimonial for you? That would take more time than just writing you an email.

Instead of blatantly offering them money, you could make it a fun contest, saying the best video testimonial will get something for free (a free signed copy of your book or report, etc). I don't know if something like that would need to be disclosed as a "paid" endorsement.

- Ravi Jayagopal

Though I can't remember any names off the top of my head, I have actually seen some big names in IM offering bonus e-books and such in exchange for their subscribers/customers taking the time to send them an honest review about their product or service - they didn't ask you to say positive things or anything of that sort.

Just a "send me an honest review of this product and you can download _______ for free".

You can probably get people to do audio/video testimonials if you're offering something good for free.

I don't think it's illegal, it's just marketing.

EDIT: ofcourse you would need to notify them that their review may be posted on your website or other marketing materials.

I'm not a lawyer, and you should talk to one, but as long as you indicate it's a paid testimonial, it shouldn't be a problem.

Heck if it were, there wouldn't be enough room in the jail for all those celebrities endorsing stuff (and the biggest criminals would be Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan lol).

Josh laid out the downside to it pretty well, so I reiterate that here, but you should think about what he said real closely before doing this. While there is nothing wrong with it, it can leave a bad stink on your product if you're not careful.

No, I wouldn't pay for testimonials. Just provide good info and you'll get them. You said most people are too lazy to record an audio testimonial - and you're right, they are. So don't require audio. Just use whatever format they send it to you in, which will usually be email.

Oilman, I'm sure you offering a quality product.

I'm also sure that you would like to get testimonials.

There is nothing wrong with either of those things.

However, by reading between the lines, I get the sense that what you are really looking for is a shortcut. On the surface, bribing people for testimonials may seem like a shortcut, but in the end it will be counterproductive.

You WILL have to disclose that they are paid endorsements.

Now, that alone may not be a big problem if you word it legally and in such a way that doesn't turn people off.

BUT...here's where I see it being the biggest problem. A paid testimonial will sound like a paid testimonial. Customers will pick up on it, consciously or subconsciously, and not feel good about sending you their money.

Instead, wait for authentic testimonials that are not colored by the reviewers' profit motives.

In short:

Bribing for testimonials is time spent.

Getting authentic reviews is time invested.

All the best,
Michael

Without even reading any other responses I believe it is certainly immoral if not illegal, if you need to lower yourself to these kinds of tactics maybe you need another product.

Asking people to write reviews is one thing, paying them to write favourable is another.

Base not your popularity on how many people review a product but by how many people come and send their friends to acquire.

^ Perhaps less than 1:10,000 may write a review on their own initiative, but if you put in a counter for 1-10 stars they will be much more likely to click it and a downloads counter will also show how many times it has been downloaded, or bought.

I give people free review copies of my software computer games. Of course, many consider that to be bribery. The police state wants to make everything illegal.

Yes, you are giving people review copies, but are you actually paying them to give potentially false reviews?

Is it illegal? No Unethical? Yes. If you're product is solid then the testimonials will come.

Oilman,

If u are PAYING someone for a testimonial (either by way of money, product, discount etc), then NO, that would be unethical and wrong, without a fraction of a doubt, because in essence, these testimonials are not real, and is really a form of deception.

BUT, if u ask people to REVIEW your product, and offer them compensation for their TIME/EFFORT, through a free product, extended warranty etc, then Yes, that is absolutely fine.

Reason being, and on the proviso that you are asking them for an honest review ONLY, making it clear that it be an honest review, whether it be good OR bad. Simultaneously you'd ask them if it waz permissible to make their review/testimonial "public" - should it end up being a positive one.

Remember; a testimonial is simply someone's statement or declaration about the product or service they used. And that is what makes it social proof. On the contrary, paid testimonials is not social proof, but paid 'false words of favour'.

Not that i'm implying otherwize here:

Always always always be REAL in everything u do, and true north will have no other option but to submit to you - entirely!

Its unethical.

I know one product owner asked its customers to participate in a 'contest', whereby they would give video testimonials, and the best one will win $1000. Pretty unethical I think. Oh, they were also giving $100 to whoever gave testimonials.

Hmm...a good friend I know released a WSO here. With no solicitation at all people just wrote reviews in that section.

He started it as a dimesale and the price kept going up.

I'm sure 1/2 the people in this thread have released a WSO - did you have a similiar experience?

Or did you need to give them an incentive?

a good product or service always paid.yet if you have any confusion abt the product you have you can do the plan what u illustrated

I presume this thread was resurrected by a spammer.

It's TWO years old guys!!