Customer reviews on your site: showing them by the rules

Your customers’ reviews reassure those who are still hesitating. On your own website, you choose which ones to show and how, and that is exactly where the law steps in.

Here is what customers look at, what French law requires, what it forbids, and how to present reviews that inspire trust.

What customers look at

The most detailed studies on this subject are American. They describe reflexes every business owner gains from knowing, bearing in mind that they don’t measure the French public.

In the United States, 97% of consumers read reviews of local businesses, and 74% only take into account those from the last three months (BrightLocal, 2026). A review from 2021 no longer reassures anyone.

A perfect rating convinces less than you might think. An American study by the Spiegel Research Center, at Northwestern University, observed that purchase intent peaks between 4.0 and 4.7 stars, then drops as it nears 5 (2017). A few negative reviews make the others credible.

Three lessons, then: recent reviews, in numbers, and a whole that looks like reality.

What French law requires

Since January 1, 2018, anyone who collects, moderates or publishes consumer reviews online, even incidentally, must clearly inform their readers (articles L111-7-2 and D111-16 to D111-19 of the French Consumer Code). Bercy, the French economy ministry, specifies that the obligation applies to a business publishing reviews on its own website (2025).

Next to the reviews, visibly:

• the publication date of each review, and the date of the experience it describes;
• whether or not there is a review checking procedure;
• the ranking criteria, including chronological order.

In an easy-to-find section, for example a short paragraph “How we publish reviews”:

• the main features of that checking;
• whether or not anything is offered in exchange for a review;
• the maximum time for publishing and keeping a review;
• whether the author of a review can be contacted, and a review modified;
• the grounds for refusing to publish a review.

Since the transposition of a European directive, a professional who claims their reviews come from real customers must have taken steps to verify it (article L121-4, Bercy infos, 2025). Breaching these information obligations is punishable by an administrative fine of up to €75,000 for an individual and €375,000 for a legal entity, a company for example (French National Consumer Institute, 2018).

What is forbidden

The DGCCRF, France’s consumer protection authority, lists the practices forbidden to professionals (2024):

• falsely presenting oneself as a consumer;
• claiming that reviews come from customers without having taken the necessary steps to verify it;
• publishing, or having someone else publish, fake reviews;
• modifying reviews to show off one’s products or services.

These are misleading commercial practices, an offense punishable by two years in prison and a €300,000 fine. The fine can rise to 10% of average annual turnover, or half the expenses incurred for the practice (DGCCRF, 2024).

The checks are real. In 2024, nearly a third of the 397 businesses checked by the DGCCRF for fake reviews showed irregularities (French Ministry of the Economy, 2025). Its investigations also find negative reviews deleted or published late, and individuals paid to write positive reviews.

An invented testimonial is still a fake review, even when written by an AI tool and even if it “sounds like” what your customers say.

Presenting your reviews honestly

• Cite the source and the date. “Google review, March 2026”, with a link to the page where all your reviews appear.
• Don’t touch up the text. If you only show an excerpt, keep its meaning and link to the full review.
• Ask the customer’s permission before quoting their review with their name. A first and last name are personal data (CNIL). The first name and the initial of the last name are often enough.
• Also show the overall rating and the number of reviews, next to the chosen excerpts. Visitors then see that you are hiding nothing.
• Refresh them: replace the oldest ones as the months go by.
• Write your “How we publish reviews” paragraph, even for a few testimonials: the law requires it, and it reassures.

One detail about Google: it doesn’t show stars in its results for reviews that a business or company publishes about itself (Google Search Central, 2026). Marking up your testimonials won’t get you any. See structured data.

Collecting reviews without cheating

The best reviews to show are the ones you already receive. To receive more:

1. Ask all your customers, not just the happiest. Google forbids selectively soliciting positive reviews, and discouraging negative ones (Maps content policy).
2. Ask at the right moment: at the end of a job, after a meal, with a direct link.
3. Offer nothing in return. Google forbids discounts or gifts in exchange for a review. And on your website, the law requires you to say whether anything was offered.
4. Reply to every review, good or bad: see replying to reviews.

In the 29webs studio, a testimonials block is part of the library. Since the page copy there is first written by an AI, leave only real reviews in it, dated, and reproduced with their authors’ consent.

In short: show real, recent, dated reviews, with their source, without touching them up or hidden sorting. Say how you publish them. A fake review, even written by an AI, is an offense.