Why Disclaimers Are a Must for Business Owners
You’ve worked hard to build your business, brand, and reputation. Don’t let the “small stuff” undermine everything you’ve accomplished. Unfortunately, too many business owners categorize legal matters as pesky “small stuff”, when the reality couldn’t be further from the truth. From trademarking your business name down to the one-liners in your social media posts that signal to your audience that they’re clicking on an affiliate link (aka, disclaimers!), getting your legal ducks in a row is absolutely worth your time and effort.
And here’s a little trade secret: It doesn’t have to take that much time and effort to legally protect your business and ensure website compliance!
Why Disclaimers Are Important
A disclaimer is a statement or statements that limit your business’s liability in the event of a dispute. And while there is some inherent risk in being a business owner, you should not be taking on any more risk than you have to—especially legal risk!
Here are three reasons disclaimers are important:
They limit your liability.
They provide transparency to clients/customers.
They are necessary to comply with laws (e.g., the FTC’s rules about affiliate marketing).
Types of Disclaimers
Not all disclaimers are alike. Each one serves a different purpose and needs to be worded differently to ensure your business is protected. Here are a handful of common disclaimer types:
Affiliate. If you’re participating in an affiliate marketing program, you need to disclose that you’re earning commissions off sales initiated by the links in your content.
Earnings. You can’t guarantee earnings, and you must make this plain to your customers. If you offer a coaching program, for instance, you must add a disclaimer that you cannot and do not guarantee earnings.
Professional-client relationship. This disclaimer defines what your business relationship is with clients/customers and what it is not. For example, my disclaimer is that I’m a lawyer but my contract templates and this website do not constitute legal advice.
Testimonials. When using testimonials, a disclaimer may be required to define the testimony giver’s relationship with the company (if there is one). The FTC also advises that businesses using testimonials: 1) Have adequate proof to back up claims about results, or 2) Clearly disclose the generally expected performance in the circumstances shown in the ad.
Warranty. In the event your products or services don’t meet your clients’ expectations, a warranty disclaimer will help protect you. There are different types of warranty disclaimers depending on your business and goods/services offered.
Financial/medical/legal. If you share information or advice within the finance, medical, or legal sectors, it’s important to use a disclaimer that clearly states what you are (i.e., a coach), and what you are not (a CPA, attorney, medical professional, etc).
Where to Put Disclaimers
Finally, it’s important to know where to put your disclaimer so it can be seen. From a simple statement and link in your website footer to a couple of paragraphs in your business contract, here are a few places you may need or want to include your business’s relevant disclaimers:
A clause within a contract
A clause within your website terms of use that’s linked to in the footer of your website
A separate landing page that’s linked to in the footer of your website
A statement within a blog post or social media post (for example, when you’re sharing affiliate links or talking about client results)
Protect your business and all of your hard work. Make sure you always have disclaimers on your website and in your contracts!
Need guidance creating appropriate disclaimers for your business? Check out this disclaimers template! We’ve got other business templates too!