The law on this changed and most testimonial tools have not noticed
Schedule 20 to the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 makes a fake consumer review a banned practice. The definition is the part worth reading: a review "that purports to be, but is not, based on a person's genuine experience".
That covers writing your own, using one from somebody who never bought anything, and paying for one and presenting it as spontaneous. It is not a grey area any more and it is not a matter of taste.
A card generator cannot check whether a review is real. What it can do is not pretend the question does not exist.
Trimming is fine. Rewriting is not.
Real reviews are too long for a card, and cutting one down with an ellipsis is completely ordinary.
The edit that causes the problem removes a qualification. "Great job, once they finally turned up" becomes "great job" and the quote now says something the customer did not say. Same words, different meaning, and it is no longer their review.
The test is simple: would they recognise it? If you would not want them to see the card, that is your answer.
Incentivised is allowed. Concealed is not.
Giving somebody a discount for a review is legal. The Schedule catches a review "that conceals the fact it has been incentivised", which means the problem is the silence rather than the discount.
A prize draw entry counts. A free service counts. So does knocking something off the final invoice for it. One line on the card fixes all of them, and there is a switch here that puts it on.
Ask before you use their name
A review on Google is public. Your poster is a new use of it, with a named individual on it, and most people are pleased to be asked rather than annoyed.
A first name and an initial with a town reads better than a full name anyway. "Sarah T., Northwich, garage conversion" sounds like a person. "Sarah Thompson" on its own sounds like something that was typed in.
Detail beats stars
Five stars and "great service" persuades nobody, because anybody can write it and everybody has.
Four stars and "turned up when they said, cleared up after themselves, and the price was the price" is worth more, because the specifics could only come from somebody who was there. The rating on the card goes from none to five for exactly that reason.
A page of nothing but five star reviews reads as bought, which is the impression the new rules exist to prevent.
Short, because of where it gets seen
A card is looked at while somebody is scrolling. The text has one or two seconds and it is competing with everything else on the screen.
This tool will keep reducing the type size to fit a long review in, and it tells you when it has had to. Take that as the signal it is: the quote is doing too much. Pick the sentence that would make somebody ring you and cut the rest.
Three shapes, three jobs
Square at 1080 for the feed on Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn. Story at 1080 by 1920 for the vertical full-screen slots, including WhatsApp status.
Wide at 1200 by 630 is the link preview size. That is the image that shows when somebody shares a page of yours, so it belongs at the top of a web page rather than in a feed.
Common questions
Can I write the testimonial myself if it is basically what they meant?
No, and this stopped being an ethics question in 2024. Schedule 20 to the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act bans a fake consumer review, and defines one as a review that purports to be, but is not, based on a person's genuine experience. A tidied-up version of what you think a customer felt is exactly that. Nothing on this page can check it, which is why it says so rather than staying quiet.
Can I shorten a long review to fit the card?
Yes. Trimming with an ellipsis is ordinary and everybody does it. What changes things is cutting the qualification out of the middle, so that "great job, once they finally turned up" becomes "great job". That version says something the customer did not say, and that edit turns a real review into a misleading one.
What if I gave them a discount for leaving it?
Then say so on the card, and there is a switch that puts the line on. The same Schedule catches a review that conceals the fact it has been incentivised. A discount, a free service or an entry into a prize draw all count. The disclosure costs you almost nothing, and it is the difference between an incentivised review, which is allowed, and a concealed one, which is not.
Do I need their permission to use their name?
Ask. A public review is public, but your poster is a new use of a named person's data and a photograph of them would be more so. Most people say yes and are pleased to be asked. A first name and an initial, plus a town, is usually what people agree to and reads better than a full name anyway.
Should I only use five star reviews?
A wall of five stars reads as bought, which is precisely the impression the new rules exist to stop. A four star review with a specific detail in it is more persuasive than a perfect one with none, because a real person wrote it. The card takes any rating, or none at all.
How long should the quote be?
One or two sentences. The card will keep shrinking the text to make a long review fit, and this page tells you when it has had to, because a paragraph at small type in a social feed does not get read. Pick the sentence that does the work and cut the rest.
Which shape should I use?
Square for an Instagram, Facebook or LinkedIn feed. Story for the vertical full-screen slots including WhatsApp status. Wide is 1200 by 630, which is the size a link preview uses, so use it if the card is going at the top of a web page or being shared as a link.
Is there a watermark or a limit?
No. The PNG comes out at full resolution with nothing on it, and there is no account, no export cap and nothing uploaded. The card is drawn in your browser and the review never leaves it.