Testimonials vs reviews vs ratings vs private feedback
They all come from customers, but they do different jobs. Mix them up and your Wall of Love will either lie or stay empty.
Updated 3 min read
- A testimonial is a story you have permission to show. A review lives on a public platform. A rating is a score. Private feedback is for you only.
- Decide the type when you ask, so an angry comment can’t slip onto a public widget.
- Turning private feedback or a rating into a testimonial should always be a deliberate step, with the customer’s permission.
Testimonials, reviews, ratings and private feedback all come from customers, and they are easy to lump together. But they do different jobs, have different owners and follow different rules. Treating them as one thing is how angry comments end up on a public widget, and how honest customers stop telling you what’s wrong.
The four types at a glance
| Type | What it is | Who controls it | Public? | Main job |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Testimonial | A story in the customer’s words, given for you to show | You, with the customer’s permission | Yes, on your site | Persuade future buyers |
| Review | An opinion posted on a public platform | The platform | Yes, on the platform | Help strangers judge you |
| Rating | A score, such as CSAT, stars or a smiley | You | Usually not | Measure how things are going |
| Private feedback | A candid comment, often critical | You | Never, without permission | Find and fix problems |
Testimonials
A testimonial is a public story you have permission to show: text or video, with a name, or an explicit choice about how the person is displayed. You usually ask for it, at a good moment, and the customer approves what you publish.
Testimonials belong on your website, beside the decisions buyers make: pricing, sign-up, feature pages and a Wall of Love. See how to ask for a testimonial and where to put testimonials.
Reviews
A review is posted on a platform you don’t control, such as Google, G2, Trustpilot or an app store. Anyone can leave one, good or bad, and the platform decides how it’s shown. Reviews matter because strangers trust them, and because they appear in search results and comparisons.
You can bring the best reviews onto your own site, with care. See how to show Google reviews on your website.
Ratings
A rating is a score: a CSAT rating after a support conversation, stars after a purchase, an effort score after onboarding, or an NPS score. Ratings are for measurement. They show trends, compare teams or moments, and flag where something is going wrong.
Ratings can feed an aggregate badge, but an individual rating isn’t a testimonial. A customer who taps five stars after a support chat hasn’t agreed to be quoted on your homepage.
Private feedback
Private feedback is what customers tell you in confidence: a complaint after a difficult delivery, a candid note in a cancellation survey, a suggestion they don’t want attributed. It’s often the most valuable feedback you’ll get, precisely because it’s honest.
It must stay private. If customers think their criticism might end up on a public page, or that only praise is wanted, they stop telling you the truth.
Why mixing them causes problems
Most testimonial tools store everything as a testimonial and hope you remember to hide the angry ones. That fails the first week you run a post-purchase survey: a frustrated comment lands in the same list as the praise, and one wrong click puts it on a widget.
The opposite failure is just as common: teams so worried about mixing things up that they never publish anything, and the Wall of Love stays empty.
Decide the type when you ask
The fix is simple: decide what you’re collecting at the moment you ask.
- For your sales pages, use a testimonial form that asks for a story and permission to show it.
- For measuring moments, use a quick rating or CSAT survey.
- After sensitive moments, such as a cancellation, a complaint or a tough project, use a private feedback form.
- For reviews you already have, import them as testimonials only after you approve each one.
Moving between types, on purpose
Sometimes a rating or a piece of private feedback deserves to become a testimonial: a customer who rated you 10 and wrote a glowing comment, or a private note that turns into praise after you fix their problem. That’s fine, as long as it’s a deliberate step and the customer agrees to be quoted.