The importance of customer reviews is undeniable. More than 80% of customers decide whether to buy a product or contact a business based on what past customers say about their experience. In 2025, customer reviews are no longer just a trust signal; they are a core driver of visibility, conversions, and local rankings.
Reviews influence how your business appears in Google Search, Google Maps, and the Local Pack. This impact is even stronger when your business has a properly set up Google Business Profile and a fully completed profile.
For businesses operating online or serving local customers, reviews act as both social proof and SEO fuel. Positive, authentic feedback helps build credibility, while consistent review activity signals relevance and trust to search engines. This is especially important in competitive local markets, where reviews directly influence Google Maps and Local Pack rankings. Customer reviews also play a critical role in purchasing decisions and search performance. Multiple studies confirm reviews help SEO by improving engagement, increasing click-through rates, and reinforcing brand trust.
However, simply collecting reviews is not enough. Businesses must actively manage, respond to, and showcase reviews in a compliant and strategic way. Knowing how to collect reviews ethically and use them to strengthen local SEO is essential for long-term growth. When handled correctly, customer reviews become one of the most powerful assets for improving rankings, strengthening brand reputation, and driving sustainable conversions.
When maximizing your customer reviews, it is important to take into consideration the legal issues that may occur. You have to understand the relevant laws as they relate to customer reviews and make sure you avoid every possible pitfall. Interestingly, there are a couple of legal tips to consider for your customer reviews; these tips are shortly outlined.
Do Not Copy and Paste Customer Reviews from Other Sources
Copying and pasting customer reviews from other sources could be tantamount to infringing on someone else’s intellectual property. This is a legal offense. A lot of websites provide detailed information in their Terms of Service regarding the ownership of the customer reviews.
If you are hell-bent in copying the customer reviews, you need to properly go through the Terms of Service and ensure that you are not violating the intellectual property. Better still, it is better to avoid this in toto. Rather, you can add a link to the website to allow your users to access the reviews from the site. Furthermore, using a customer reviews platform such as Wiremo could be an even better way of getting the reviews on your site.
The Reviews Should Be Accurate
A customer review or testimonial is required by law to be accurate, true, and it should reflect the people’s beliefs and honest opinions. In other words, customer reviews must not be misleading.
Providing a false and unsubstantiated statement via your customer reviews and testimonials could have a grave or serious penalty. If your business is operating in the United States, you could be held liable by the FTC (Federal Trade Commission).
Obtain Written Permission from Customers to Use Their Reviews
Never assume that you are free to reuse customer reviews and testimonials as much as you want. It is necessary to obtain written permission from your customers before doing so. Using reviews without permission from your customers could attract a grave legal penalty.
Interestingly, you can obtain written permission from your customers in a number of ways. One way to do this is through emails and once the agreement is made, you can use the reviews within the timeframe. Another way to navigate around this odd is to include a clause that “customer reviews submitted by customers in your website will be used for marketing” in your Terms of Service.
Make Your Relationship with Your Endorser Known
If you have any relationship with your endorsers, it is required that you make it known. The endorser could be your employer or not. You can show this relationship by using a hashtag in your social promotion, such as your tweets on the product. It is also necessary to make the disclosure as clear as possible, and it should be written in simple language. Failure to disclose your relationship with your endorsers could attract some legal penalties.
Wiremo makes it easy for you to use customer reviews and testimonials without falling into legal pitfalls. It makes sharing and getting customer reviews in your site a breeze. Thus, you can focus on what truly matters to your business rather than being worried about actions or inactions that could attract legal penalties.
