Marketing Mistakes That Trigger FTC Investigations (and How to Avoid Them)

Summary

Special Ops Podcast: Marketing Mistakes That Trigger FTC Investigations (and How to Avoid Them)
Release Date: July 4, 2025

In this incisive episode of Special Ops, hosted by seasoned entrepreneur Emma Rainville, Emma is joined by expert Ryan to delve deep into the common marketing pitfalls that can lead to Federal Trade Commission (FTC) investigations. The discussion is both timely and crucial for businesses aiming to navigate the complex landscape of marketing compliance.

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1. Common Misconceptions About FTC Compliance

Emma kicks off the conversation by addressing a pervasive misconception in the marketing industry:

“Everybody else is doing it. So I can do it.” [01:02]

Ryan echoes this sentiment, highlighting how many marketers justify risky compliance behaviors by observing their peers. The duo emphasizes that following the crowd doesn't equate to lawful practices. They compare it to speeding on a highway, where seeing numerous cars doing so doesn't grant permission to break the law.

2. The Unpredictability of FTC Enforcement

A significant point raised is the unpredictability of FTC enforcement:

“Enforcement actions are just like a roll of the dice.” [01:22]

Emma explains that despite widespread non-compliance, only some businesses face repercussions, making it a "crapshoot." This uncertainty should not be a reason to sidestep regulations but rather a motivation to prioritize compliance proactively.

3. Subscription Billing Compliance

One of the highlighted areas of concern is subscription billing:

“They're either not disclosing that people are enrolling into a subscription or it's a membership program that is not fully disclosed.” [03:19]

Emma and Ryan discuss how hidden subscription models and insufficient disclosures can lead to severe penalties, including millions in fines. They stress the importance of transparent billing practices, ensuring customers are fully aware of subscription terms before committing.

4. Deceptive Advertising Practices

The conversation transitions to deceptive advertising, where Emma defines it as:

“An advertisement needs to be truthful, not misleading and properly substantiated.” [07:09]

They explore how even truthful statements can be misleading if presented without context. For instance, boasting “I've got 5,000 five-star reviews” is only honest if it doesn't overshadow significant negative feedback.

5. Influencer Marketing and FTC Regulations

A substantial portion of the episode is dedicated to influencer marketing, a rapidly growing field fraught with compliance challenges. Ryan shares real-world examples illustrating common mistakes influencers make, such as failing to disclose material connections with brands.

“Even though they approached me, even if ... the second you start incentivizing them to post something about you... Yes.” [10:56]

They discuss the necessity of clear disclosures, recommending phrases like:

“We stand behind our products so strongly that we will give you a 120-day money-back guarantee just for trying us out.” [24:09]

Emma and Ryan further elaborate on the importance of placement and clarity in disclosures, ensuring they are prominent and easily understandable to the consumer.

6. Risk and Liability in Brand-Influencer Partnerships

The episode also touches on risk management in brand-influencer collaborations:

“Both could be liable. But practically it's going to be the brand every time.” [16:11]

They advise brands to draft comprehensive contracts that outline disclosure requirements and establish accountability, minimizing potential liabilities.

7. Best Practices for Compliance

Ryan outlines actionable steps for brands to ensure compliance when working with influencers:

1. Ensure Authentic Product Use: “Make sure that the influencer actually uses the product.” [17:27]
2. Clear Material Connection Disclosures: “Whether it's, can you believe I get paid for this? Or do you believe they send this to me for free... I'm so lucky.” [15:24]
3. Implement Audit Processes: “You need to have some sort of audit or tracking process in the back.” [18:54]

These practices help in maintaining transparency and integrity in marketing efforts, safeguarding businesses against potential FTC scrutiny.

8. Handling Testimonials and Reviews

The discussion also covers the management of customer testimonials and reviews. Emma explains the distinction between unsolicited reviews and endorsed testimonials, emphasizing that only the latter may require disclosures if incentivized.

“You can leave them up. Think about Amazon, right? ... you have no control over what they say.” [26:08]

They caution against actively promoting or responding to fraudulent reviews, as this can inadvertently create liability.

9. Final Thoughts on Influencer Marketing

In concluding the episode, Emma and Ryan reflect on the future of influencer marketing:

“It's a great way to build brand engagement. It is the most authentic way to do it.” [19:47]

They acknowledge the delicate balance between maintaining authenticity and ensuring compliance, urging marketers to prioritize transparency without sacrificing genuine connections with their audience.

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Key Takeaways

• Compliance Over Convenience: Following industry norms doesn't justify overlooking FTC regulations.
• Transparency is Crucial: Clear and unavoidable disclosures in all marketing practices are non-negotiable.
• Risk Management: Both brands and influencers must understand their responsibilities to mitigate legal risks.
• Authenticity Maintains Trust: Genuine product use and honest endorsements foster stronger consumer relationships while ensuring compliance.

For entrepreneurs and marketers striving to elevate their business responsibly, this episode provides a comprehensive roadmap to navigate the intricacies of FTC compliance in marketing strategies. Emma Rainville and Ryan offer invaluable insights that blend practical advice with legal considerations, ensuring listeners can grow their companies with confidence and integrity.

Download the free playbook associated with this episode here.

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Notable Quotes:

• “Everybody else is doing it. So I can do it.” — Emma Rainville [01:02]
• “Enforcement actions are just like a roll of the dice.” — Emma Rainville [01:22]
• “An advertisement needs to be truthful, not misleading and properly substantiated.” — Emma Rainville [07:09]
• “Both could be liable. But practically it's going to be the brand every time.” — Emma Rainville [16:11]
• “It's a great way to build brand engagement. It is the most authentic way to do it.” — Emma Rainville [19:47]

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Transcript

[A]

The FTC is going to say the material connection disclosure needs to be unavoidable. So you couldn't possibly miss this, that the consumer would read this and understand it. Number one, make sure that the influencer actually uses the product.

[B]

If you're going to do a product endorsement, make sure that they're continuously using the product. We stand behind our product so strongly that we will give you a 120 day money back. You can end up with a letter, a takedown letter, millions in fines, even real time. What is the most common misconception in our industry? Even a pause and say this, why your marketing might be illegal. I'd love Ryan, for us to talk about first misconceptions. Very often, commonly marketers have misconceptions about compliance and their duty to uphold the regulations that the FTC is put forward. So what do you see the most, what is the most common misconception in our industry?

[A]

Everybody else is doing it. Everybody else is doing it. So I can do it.

[B]

Even a pause. You say this?

[A]

No, it comes up on every.

[B]

Heard that quite a bit.

[A]

Quite a bit. No, it's, it's every client call, they're like, well, this company's doing it. This company's doing it.

[B]

You're doing $100 million, Emma. And, and they're doing it. Why aren't they in trouble? Can't we just tell on them? No, it's not all worse.

[A]

No. And it's a crapshoot because enforcement, enforcement actions are just like a roll of the dice. Why some people get picked.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Some. We'll never know for most of them. But yeah, I mean I, it really is. Everybody else is out there doing it, so why can't I? The problem is, is, you know, think about when you're speeding on the highway, you're going 95 and you get pulled over. It doesn't matter if traffic, that's traffic. Or Everybody around you.

[B]

10 cars around me are doing 95. I can't tell the cop, you can't pull me over.

[A]

No. I drove up here from Houston, like pulling over people left and right. It didn't matter how fast we were going. So I mean that, that's the biggest one. And I think the other misconception is like, well, if I plug it into chat, GPT or Google or something like that, I'm just going to get some answer that I can basically hobble along with and that'll be fine. Problem is it's a lot, usually a lot more complex. I mean think of environmental, environmental claims and things like that.

[B]

Right.

[A]

But. And so people just don't really know where to look or they can rely on Google or ChatGPT.

[B]

Yeah. So pretty much every aspect of our.

[A]

Businesses is regulated by some law, tangentially at least. So whether, whether or not it's the.

[B]

Vertical opinion on everything we do, pretty much.

[A]

I mean whether it doesn't matter what vertical you're in, the marketing channel that you're using, there's something out there that's going to govern what you're saying and how you can say it.

[B]

So as consequence of not following their guidelines, their rules, their regulations, you can end up with a letter, a takedown letter, millions in fines, even jail time. I want to focus for a moment because there are some new things that have happened in January and there are just like some, they've got a hard on right now for certain components. So I'd love to just walk through what are some of the things people don't know that could cost them millions a second they get caught doing it.

[A]

Yeah, I mean, I think the easiest one out there, subscription billing compliance.

[B]

I mean it's continuity.

[A]

Continuity.

[B]

Our continuity product.

[A]

Yeah. I think it's, it's not difficult to.

[B]

Do people doing wrong.

[A]

They're either not disclosing that people are enrolling into a subscription or it's a membership program that is not fully disclosed. Basically you get to the checkout page and you're, you're enrolling in a subscription. Nobody really knows that they're enrolling a subscription. I think that. Yeah, everybody. Exactly.

[B]

Tell me. I, I love telling Google what not to do because I think that's important. I think a lot of people don't understand the rules around subscriptions and force continuity and the pre checked box versus the not pre checked box versus the pre checked box. That can't be unchecked. If you've been listening to me long enough, I've talked about this quite a bit and we'll probably talk about it quite a bit in the coming months on this podcast. But I want to know. I, I want, I want to be compliant. I don't want to get in trouble. I want to make a lot of money and I want to have a subscription. What is your advice to me on how I make sure that my subscription part of my product is on the up and up and I'm not going to get in a whole lot of trouble for. So the example, besides calling you and having.

[A]

No, the example I use is go ask your grandmother, go ask your parents.

[B]

Grandmother if it's legal.

[A]

No no, tell.

[B]

Walk.

[A]

Give them your enrollment path.

[B]

Okay?

[A]

Just go on with the ftc. Nana's going to be fine with that. No, give your enrollment path to somebody who's older than you, you know, preferably over 65.

[B]

Right.

[A]

Not super tech savvy. You know, have them walk through it. Have them make a test purchase, or they don't need to click the button, but basically get to the end and then start asking questions. Be like, hey, grandma, what you buy, how often are you being built? Do you know? And if the answer is like, I think I only bought one bottle or, or something, you're gonna have a problem because that's the lens that regulators and to be honest, consumer protection attorneys are going to be using. So, I mean, you're going to get, you know, grandma from Nebraska enrolled in a dietary supplement and she thinks that she's buying one time, and then suddenly she's in a subscription. So, yeah, you know, at the end of the day, you want your subscription billing disclosure or just your continuity model to be clear, unavoidable, like all the. Everything.

[B]

Me 49amonth. I'm gonna send you X product every month on the 3rd of the month, and this is how you cancel.

[A]

Yep. And if we're hiding the ball, then that's gonna be a problem. I mean, if there's any question, especially now with the new regulations in place, if there's any question, by the time you get by, you hit that either buy now button or whatever you're using at the end on the checkout page. If there's any question whatsoever what you're buying, how often you're going to be billed, the going to be an issue, and it's not really defensible anymore.

[B]

Really. Okay. All right, that's. I mean, that's great to know. Terrifying, by the way, the model. But, you know, you gave us the path. So I'd like to go into. Deceptive advertising, to me means misleading claims, it means exaggeration of claims, and it means improper evidence of claims. So I'd love to dive into that because I think that for the most part, people who are selling understand what. What they absolutely cannot say. What they don't understand is how to say what they can say. And so just because it's true doesn't mean that I can say it. And I, I'd love to. Yeah.

[A]

Well, no, I mean, like, just getting the brass tax of it all. You. You summed it up. I mean, an advertisement needs to be truthful, not misleading and properly substantiated. And so you can have a statement that is perfectly truthful. I've got 5,000 five star reviews. Look at how great I am. Right. Okay, but just because that is true, if you have 10,000 one star reviews, you know, quoting that, hey, I've got 5,000 one star reviews. No, but okay, because the, I mean, no, no. Well, it's all going to be coming through the.

[B]

Can I try and play with words?

[A]

Sure.

[B]

Okay, so just ask one of the 5,000 people that left me a five star review.

[A]

Doesn't matter because the, the impression, the net impression of that statement is going to be. Well, a majority of consumers really, really, really, really like my product. And so you're hiding the fact that there's all these. An Overwhelming number of 1 star reviews out there.

[B]

Yeah. Wow. Okay, I would have, so I would have guessed that I could have said that. That's really, that's really interesting, Ryan. The state of influencer marketing in 2024. I actually when we were going through, we were picking, we don't really plan these out but we were picking topics. And so when we were picking our topics I said, ah, this one's probably gonna be the most boring and the fastest. And they're like, this is the most important. Why?

[A]

No, well, I think one of the biggest reasons is the FTC's trade regulation rule on consumer reviews, endorsements and testimonials. Immediate access to civil penalties. So that just ups the ante for compliance. But you know, I, it's, it's really easy to comply with. It's just people do it incorrectly all the time and just assume that they can rely on the platforms or you know, hope that their influencers are going to go out there and do exactly what, what the brand has told them to do.

[B]

I think most brands that engage most influencers, they're contacting each other and they have no idea that there is clients. I, I believe that. Okay, can I give you a couple examples?

[A]

Sure.

[B]

We'll do, we'll do three quick examples. Hotel contacts. Ryan, who has 120 followers because he loves fishing and he posts videos of him fishing and he's a really monetizing any of it. But they, the hotel is on like this fly fishing lake. Is it a lake? I don't know this place where people like to fish and they contact you and say, hey, come stay for free, eat for free, drink for free, fish for free, get paid a fish. I don't know, fish for free. And just post about our place so that the people who watch your show will want to come fish Here.

[A]

Yeah, that, that's going to be a testimony or endorsement the person is receiving that they need to disclose.

[B]

How do they disclose it?

[A]

A couple different ways. You could do it in the body of the endorsement or the testimonial. Be like, hey, this is Joe from Fish USA or whatever it is. You know, so and so jokes I.

[B]

Just had to filter out. Go ahead.

[A]

You know, this is Joe. We're on the lake. And so, and so they flew me out here to show me this great place. Like, you're embedding this in a more organic way, saying, hey, like, I'm receiving. Yeah, I'm receiving. So there's a relationship with the brand and that I'm being incentivized in some way. And so that should put the consumer on notice. Hey, by the way, I. You might want to be careful. I mean, I'm getting something. And so this might have influenced what I'm saying.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

But hopefully it's going to reflect their experience.

[B]

Okay. Donut shop gets approached by influencer, who does lots of taste tests of local food. Austin, Texas, where I live, tons and tons and tons of local food. We have a donut shop here that I won't say the name, but we have a donut shop here that has the most incredibly strange donuts you've ever seen. But they're allegedly delicious. And so she contacts them and says, hey, I'll make a TikTok of me tasting your donut and telling everybody how amazing it is. And if you're visiting Austin, Texas, they should come to Austin, because I have Austin beats TikTok and sure, come on and get a free donut. Are you in trouble from the FTC for that now?

[A]

The second you start incentivizing them to post something about you. Yes.

[B]

Even though they approached me, even if.

[A]

They approached you, it doesn't matter. Free donut doesn't matter.

[B]

Third, one, last one. I am a large brand and I sell $500 million and I approach a large celebrity and I pay them $100,000 to post my using my brand four times. And they say, oh, I love that. I partnered with so and so. My skin is so much clearer now. Compliant partnering.

[A]

Yeah, I don't think you're going to run into an issue there because I think for two reasons. One, really well known celebrity and then two, when they start, when you hire a really big celebrity, you know, insert famous person's name and they're like, look at my brand of vodka or skin cream or whatever it is most of the time. And there's a counter argument to that where the FTC addresses this and some guidance that, you know, a reasonable person would see. This is like, well, you know, you don't have like an A list celebrity sitting up there talking about some product that they just love out of the kindness of their heart. They're being compensated for it. Which is why when you turn on the television, right, when you see, you know, George Clooney talking about an alcohol brand or, you know, the Kardashians about something else, no reasonable person is going to think that they're doing that just because of, you know, because they wanted to.

[B]

I don't know that I agree with you.

[A]

Why?

[B]

Well, George Clooney, you know, he looks like an alcoholic to me. Seems like. Seems fair. Just seems fair. Maybe he's not. I don't know. Definitely looks like he pushes some back. But let's take the Kardashians. There is no aspect of the Kardashians life that isn't lived out on tv. From divorces to births to lies to big mistakes, to sisters fights, to hair dye to lip injections, to botch surgeries, to mental illness cheating. Like they live everything. They wake up in the morning, they get in their glam chairs. You watch them get all their stuff. They talk about the things that they love. They. There's salads that they like. Are they partnering with lemons? Like, you know.

[A]

You know what I mean? Yeah.

[B]

But you can, you could certainly just take it and think that it's just part of their every day.

[A]

No, very true. And that's why the FTC has come out and said yes, using a celebrity is like one of these factors, but at the same time. But saying partner is enough, but partner is not enough. So to. To make a material connection, disclosure, there's really two portions. You need to put the consumer on notice that there's a relationship between you and the brand.

[B]

So we're partners.

[A]

We're partners. But then the. Whether or not the, whether the person providing that endorsement or testimonial is actually being incentivized. So it's free.

[B]

Believe I get paid to use the skin care product.

[A]

I think you're going to be fine with that.

[B]

Okay, what if I just put hashtag ad?

[A]

Hashtag ad should be fine. But the problem. But the quite.

[B]

You know, I was about to do.

[A]

But it depends on where it's. Where it's appearing. So if you're on Instagram is a blow the fold and so is it, is it know hashtag ad at the very end of a. Of A lengthy discussion about the product buried Amongst, you know, 15 hashtags, 80 hashtags. No, it needs to be at the top. And the FTC says that the first hashtag. Yeah, it needs to be the first hash, not only the first hashtag. The FTC would say that it actually needs to be above the text. So you can get into these debates with.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

With regulators over where it should be. But the FTC is going to say the material connection disclosure needs to be unavoidable. So you couldn't possibly miss this. That the consumer would read this and understand, okay, well, this person's receiving something or it's an advertisement or a promotion for some sort of brand from an.

[B]

Operational standpoint, to not kill conversions. I would choose my way where the person is disclosing in a way that's letting their audience who loves them know that they love the product while still disposing it. Like, can you believe I got to partner with them and I get paid to actually do this? Or I get paid to use this product. Can you believe that I get this product for free just for posting it on here? Like I would spend money on this every day, you know what I mean? As you're looking at yourself. So I would certainly do it that way from an operational standpoint.

[A]

Well, yeah. And so, so many of the platforms now have the built in pay partnership, things like that. Now the FTC has come out and said you can't just rely on that. But even their kind of discussion about.

[B]

You know, you can't rely on it because it might not show up every time.

[A]

It might not show up every time or it's not prominent enough.

[B]

If it shows up, is it enough?

[A]

Ryan saying, I think it is fine. Especially in the meta platforms. I think it is very clear when you're using the paid partnership. I mean it's right at the very top.

[B]

I mean, you can't even say sponsor to pay partnership.

[A]

Like you can't, you can't actually get to what they're saying without missing that. I mean, I guess if you're not, don't have your glasses on, but I think that's pretty low risk.

[B]

Okay, all right, so let's talk about risk. I'm the brand, you're the influencer. We go into partnership. The disclosures, the FTC doesn't feel like the disclosures or not. They go after you or me.

[A]

Both could be liable. But practically it's going to be the brand every time.

[B]

Okay. Even if our contract says that you're responsible?

[A]

Yes. I mean the Contract is great to have because you're going to say, you know, the contract will say, I tried.

[B]

To in good faith.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Like you do what I'm supposed to do. And this influencers off the, like give.

[A]

Them the material connection, disclosure and every single post that you, that you put on social media about our brand, this is what you must say. Now granted, is that going to get you out? If an influencer goes out there and says stuff that one isn't truthful, um, is false about the product.

[B]

Okay. And then I see that and I send you a cease and desist takedown notice and you don't take it down.

[A]

Then that's at some influencer. That's going to be at the influencer. Because at that point, I mean, if you're talking to regulators, it's like, well, we're trying to actively get this down. Like, you can't just like send a letter and be like, hey, break your links.

[B]

Break your links. Break your links that they're using. If you do that. Okay, I don't want to get too hung up on that, but thank you. That's really good information. So I, I just want to. If, if you, your brand and you hire me as an influencer. Actually, I'm not going to do that. You're my lawyer and you got to give me three, four steps that I need to take every time I hire an influencer. What is it?

[A]

Number one, make sure that the influencer actually uses the product. So there have been instances where you have these influencers that just like, come to you and they're like, hey, can I just promote your brand? Can I promote your brand? Like, like they just want either free product or money. They don't really care how great the product is. They just want to be something.

[B]

Yeah, absolutely.

[A]

Right. So, I mean, some of that goes.

[B]

To authenticity and they have to use your brand.

[A]

Oh, they, absolutely. They have to use the product.

[B]

At least once. Right.

[A]

Well, like, if they're saying product review. Well. Well, product reviews are a little bit different.

[B]

Well, than product endorsements. I understand.

[A]

We have two different. Yeah. If you want to get.

[B]

We have two buckets. Product review, product endorsement. If you can do a product endorsement, make sure that they're continuously using your product.

[A]

Yes, continue. So if the endorsement was like, I love this guy, I love this skin cream. This is why I use it every day. Like, look, I don't have any wrinkles. Like, this is what I use on a daily basis. If that's not true, then that whole endorsement or testimonials is A lot. Yeah, exactly.

[B]

It's false and not false advertising. Deceptive advertising.

[A]

Exactly. So you want to mean. The first thing is make sure that they're actually going to use your product and look at what they're kind of going to be saying about your product. Number two would be if you are incentivizing them in any way, you know, they need to include a material connection disclosure, and that goes back to the contract we were just talking about. You can draft out the material connection disclosures that they need to present in every single one of their ads.

[B]

Whether it's, can you believe I get paid for this? Or do you believe they send this to me for free because I share it with you? I'm so lucky.

[A]

Exactly. And then I guess the third point is you might not, at certain size, you might not be able to review every single one of these testimonials or endorsements that gets placed, but you need to have some sort of audit or tracking process in the back. On the back end of all of this. So whether it's the influencer emails, an inbox somewhere that has a link to all the ads that at least someone at some period of some interval is going on and, you know, either doing keyword searches or something to figure out, like, what these people are saying, I mean, there's an obligation on the business to police what the Affiliates, not affiliates, what the influencers. Influencers are saying on their behalf. So those are the big. The, the three main things that I would recommend.

[B]

Awesome. Before we wrap up, any final thoughts on influencer marketing or what's coming?

[A]

No. I mean, I think it's a great way to build brand engagement. It is the most authentic way to do it.

[B]

And brand reputation is important.

[A]

It's truly. And I, and I, you know, I think we might disagree or come to, you know, we would politely disagree on whether or not some of these disclosures affect conversion. But I think at the end of the day, you know, you actually avoided.

[B]

That in this podcast somehow. I think that, that. I think that the, the putting the ads. Putting hashtag ad and saying nothing. I think that will absolutely. Like, I, I trust you to share with me what you're using as an influencer that I follow. I don't follow influencers, but I'm talking about the mindset of people who sit and watch other people's stuff constantly. We know what I watch. And it's not stuff like it's murder mystery stuff. But I think that when you bury it, when you And, And I know you're not burying it if it's the very top, it says hashtag ad. I think it would have very low conversion. I think you'd have a much higher conversion to just by being extremely upfront. I am beyond blessed that this is my life and this is my job and I get paid to share this with you all. Or can you believe that they send this stuff to me for free just because of you. Thank you guys for coming in and watching and buying the products that I recommend. Because of you, I get to do this. Right. So I think that that would be way higher converting than these written disclosures above the fold that you're talking about. I just think that people just aren't going to connect with it in the same way they connect with. Oh my goodness. Ryan went to this, Ryan went to this hotel and they gave him this free thing so that he could go. And he told me what to eat and he told me what to drink and he told me where to fish. And he was like, make sure you thank them for sending me out here so I could share this with all of you. And there's an authenticity that if I'm a follower, you know, they're cult like, right?

[A]

Totally.

[B]

So if they're a follower, they're going to follow you when you lead them. When you try and like have these disclosures that don't make sense sense to them, I just feel like they're looking at it as like they're not even, they're not even discussing it with me. They're just getting paid and they don't really feel this way. Does that, that makes sense. So I, I more like doing the bonuses that change for a limited time. When you buy X, you're going to get this, this, this and this for free. And then all of these things, they don't even have to massively change. I don't know how you're going to feel about this, but I've done it where it's the same ebook inside contents, different covers and names we didn't make any claims about. The ebook is like, here's a recipe guide for spring, here's one for summer, here's one for fall. We did recipes that could go for everything. Right.

[A]

But anyway, so well, think Mike Lindell my pillow.

[B]

Sure.

[A]

Oh, God, please perpetuate like he's got it. You know, he's, you see him in the press and he's gotten, you know.

[B]

He has a very big brain too.

[A]

Well, I mean, if anybody had a.

[B]

Big pillow for his big brain.

[A]

I mean, if you asked anybody how much is on my pillow. I mean, I think I actually don't know what it is.

[B]

No idea.

[A]

But it's. But it's always.

[B]

Never buy one.

[A]

But it's always 99.95 on sale for like, is it the same. It's always the same sale over and over and over again. And that's why he's got in trouble. Because it's, it's. He creates. I mean he got a slap on the wrist. Not.

[B]

Yeah, not during certain presidents years.

[A]

No. This is long before.

[B]

Yeah. Okay. Anyway, so guaranteed results. Let's move into that. I love guaranteed results. I absolutely love guarantees. Placed correctly worded, compliant guarantees can do a lot for your business. What I can't say is 100% results guarantee.

[A]

Yeah. A better way to do this is like we were talking, you tie it to a refund program, we know you're going to love it so much that buy our product if you don't like it, 100 refund guarantee with it.

[B]

We stand behind the. We stand behind the. Telling you the word we used the last time that beat control anyway, it was something like, we stand behind our products so strongly that we will give you a 120 day money back guarantee just for trying us out. Try this consistently for the next four months and if you don't see X and differences, we're happy to give you your money back. You're not guaranteeing the product's going to work. You're guaranteeing that if you don't like the results of the product, you'll give them their money back.

[A]

Exactly.

[B]

It's the same damn thing. I think that the money back is stronger. Stronger than the results.

[A]

Like because at that point there's no risk.

[B]

Right.

[A]

Because it's like, well, okay, try this.

[B]

Three for 120 days. You should see results in 90. Right. I want to just hop the fence for a minute. To testimonials without disclaimers. There are different types of testimonials. The first testimonial I want to talk about is I didn't ask for testimonial, didn't provoke you, coming and giving me a testimonial. You go on Yelp, trustpilot my Facebook anywhere and you say this product is great. I don't know why I became an image mouse there. This product is great. I loved it. I lost £20 in two weeks. I can't let anyone believe that that's totally fine.

[A]

So long as you do not incentivize it. You're not buying it on your Facebook group.

[B]

You Made me remove those before.

[A]

No.

[B]

Want me to pull up the email?

[A]

Probably. Okay. No. So long as you are not incentivizing it. You can. And you're not even soliciting at this point.

[B]

So you're not responsible for the reviews that your customers give. You don't have. You can leave them up.

[A]

You can leave them up. Think about Amazon, right? Amazon storefronts. You have no control over what they say. You know, somebody can go and take your product and say, this made me a million dollars last month, or this cured cancer, but you, you have no control over it. It doesn't matter when you start. Now, the qu. I think where it gets a little bit more murky is when you start engaging with it, when you start responding to the Q and A.

[B]

And when you start, you have to respond to reviews.

[A]

Not, not, I would say BBB reviews. And well, when you start responding. So if you have somebody who.

[B]

Okay, pause.

[A]

I'm going to pause you for a minute. Okay.

[B]

For those people who are listening that don't. You need to respond to your Facebook ads, to your Instagram ads, you'll screw your entire algorithm. You'll absolutely mess up your. Your ads. If you have a bunch of stuff on your pages that you're running ads from and you don't respond to even negative things, we still heart reply, hide, never delete. I just, just a little caveat from a marketing operational standpoint. Now from a legal standpoint here, there's a. This is marketing on trial.

[A]

Well, there's a difference between reviews and testimonials. Endorsements. You know, testimonial endorsements just put in one bucket, consumer, unsolicited, incentivized consumer reviews in one bucket, and then incentivize consumer reviews in another. Okay, so unsolicited, unincentivized person comes to your Facebook page, your website, wherever it is, and just leaves. Just, hey, I love the product. I lost £20 last month. I. This product cured cancer. You don't necessarily want it on there, but no liability. You haven't done anything with it.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

When you are actively.

[B]

Now, let's say it's in a Facebook group, the community. I want to make sure we all understand it's in a Facebook group, a community you're running ads off of all your buyers are being dumped into, all your potential buyers are being dumped into. So you can get organic following as well as run your apps.

[A]

Right? That's fine. You don't.

[B]

That's fine too.

[A]

Yeah, people can go in there. I mean, that's the Whole purpose, it's a community group where people are going to be talking, discussing ideas you don't have. So long as you are not encouraging them, buying the reviews, something like that, there's no liability. They can say whatever they want.

[B]

Thank you for your review. That's it.

[A]

I mean, I. So here, here's where it gets a little murky when you have. When you start interacting with these reviews.

[B]

So interact well from an operational standpoint, you've got to.

[A]

Okay, so if you start now. So let's take the example, you know, the products cured cancer. I mean, outlandish example.

[B]

I think that I would. I personally would remove this. That I personally would remove that. But I have. I have a different parameter than most people.

[A]

No, I mean, I think you should get rid of it as well. But if you start, then, you know, thank you for review. Liking it, Harding.

[B]

It.

[A]

I mean, you say you have to respond to all these things.

[B]

If you're running ads and you've got a community going, rule of thumb is generally you've got your customer service team that needs to respond to every question or every statement with something. Because what will happen is as you're running ads and Facebook sees people posting and you not responding, it assumes that you're not doing what you're supposed to be doing, and you can kind of screw the algorithm.

[A]

Well, so I think a good rule of thumb is whether or not your interaction with that you could leave one.

[B]

Review out of 50. It's not going to be.

[A]

No, no. But it's whether or not the. The business is adopting that review almost and turning it into kind of like an endorsement or testimonial. And so it's like, I know it's a fine line, but when you're like, you know, I love your product so much. It cured me of cancer, whatever it is.

[B]

And you're like, I keep saying cancer, I don't know, manifesting that like this. I keep saying, lost 20 pounds.

[A]

Just go for that.

[B]

Trying to manifest that for you, you jackass. Thank you.

[A]

Thanks, Emma. You know, I love this product so much. It helped me lose £20 in two weeks. Yeah, there's no way that this product would have ever done that. But you're, you know, either saying thank.

[B]

You like, like £700 and they go on juice fast. They very well could lose £20 in a week.

[A]

Well, that's what I'm trying to pick a more outlandish example.

[B]

The more outlandish.

[A]

Yeah, but. So if you.

[B]

You're not going to lose 20 pounds in six months. Because you don't have that much loose.

[A]

Yeah. Right. So. But the rule of thumb really is, are you in interacting with that review in such a way that it could be interpreted as you, like, adopting or endorsing that review, Kind of like touting it? So it's. It goes from just like an unsolicited. Like, this is your third thought.

[B]

Round and round we go. I want to make sure we're not confusing people. So I just want to go back to. Okay. All my advice about ads. Just make sure you respond to your Facebook ads. But for ads, for testimonials from your customers, you're essentially not responsible for those ads, short of you taking screenshots of them and using them as testimony.

[A]

So you were saying ads. There's a difference.

[B]

I keep saying we're just all over the place. This is terrible.

[A]

Keep going back.

[B]

I actually want to go back and start at the beginning of testimonials.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

And then I want to just keep it because we're going to confuse the. Out of people.

[A]

I know.

[B]

So, Jay, I'm sorry. I'm gonna re. Ask you about testimonials, and we're gonna cut this out. I'm sorry, buddy. We're making this really hard for you. Okay, so you ready?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Yeah. Definitely that or almost. Okay. So, Jay, we're going to go back to the original, which is. I'm going to ask him about testimonials. So we're just going to cut from there. Ready?

[A]

Yep.

[B]

So. Okay. Crazy. Thank you. So I want to move on to testimonials. There are multiple components of testimonials. I want to get this. I want to try and not, like, get. We get our wormholes. I'm going to try not to.