# Review and testimonial images: star ratings and customer quotes from real reviews

> Turn real customer reviews into branded images with star ratings: testimonials, product reviews and rating summaries, from your review export or API.

Published 2026-11-07 · https://shareglint.com/en/use-cases/review-images

Reviews sell, but a review buried on a product page reaches few people. Turned into images — a customer's quote with five stars, a product review, "4.8 from 2,340 reviews" — they work on social media, in ads, in emails and on landing pages. Each image is the same layout with new words, so it is a template job: Shareglint renders review images from the review data you already have, in every size you publish in.

## Templates for reviews

| Template | Shows | Fields |
|---|---|---|
| `testimonial-stars` | One customer quote with a star rating | quote, rating, rating label, name, role, company, site, avatar |
| `product-review` | A product with its rating and a review | product, rating, reviews, review, reviewer, badge, site, photo |
| `rating-summary` | An average rating, the review count and the distribution | subject, average, count, distribution, platform, platform logo, image |
| `movie-rating` | A critic's or reader's rating of a film, book or show | title, year, poster, score, scale, genres, verdict, reviewer |

They render in every size preset (og 1200×630, square 1080×1080, portrait 1080×1350, story 1080×1920, pinterest 1000×1500, youtube 1280×720): square and 4:5 for feeds, 9:16 for stories, 1.91:1 for link previews and ads. See them on the [review and testimonial templates page](https://shareglint.com/en/templates/format/reviews-testimonials).

## One review, three sizes

```bash
curl -X POST "https://shareglint.com/v1/images?wait=true" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sk_live_..." \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "template": "testimonial-stars",
    "sizes": ["square", "portrait", "story"],
    "format": "jpeg",
    "modifications": {
      "quote": "Set it up on Friday, the whole team used it on Monday.",
      "rating": "5",
      "name": "Tom Hale",
      "role": "Operations lead",
      "company": "Northwind",
      "avatar": "https://cdn.example.com/customers/tom.jpg"
    }
  }'
```

The square image goes to LinkedIn and the feed, the 4:5 to Instagram, the 9:16 to stories. JPEG is the format for anything a tool will post to Instagram, whose publishing API accepts only JPEG ([Meta for Developers](https://developers.facebook.com/documentation/instagram-platform/content-publishing)).

## From the review platform to images

Most review platforms and shop systems export reviews as CSV, and many have an API. A simple routine:

1. **Pick the reviews.** Filter the export by rating and length — short, specific reviews make the best images — and keep only reviews you are allowed to reuse.
2. **Map the columns** to the template's fields: the review text to `quote`, the stars to `rating`, the name and role as the customer agreed.
3. **Render as a batch.** `POST /v1/batches` with the CSV and `"sizes": ["square", "story"]` returns every image and one ZIP. Rows per batch by plan: Free 50, Starter 500, Pro 1,000, Scale 2,000, Business 5,000.
4. **Schedule them** in your social tool, one or two a week.

For a running "new five-star review" post, an automation tool can watch the review platform or a spreadsheet and render one card per new review ([integrations](https://shareglint.com/en/integrations)).

## A rating summary that stays current

`rating-summary` shows your average, the number of reviews and the distribution of stars — the image version of the widget on your homepage. Render it from the current numbers once a week or whenever they change; each new set of numbers is a new image, and an unchanged one is served from cache for free. It also makes a good `og:image` for a "reviews" page: a signed URL with the current average in the page's template keeps the preview current when the numbers change ([signed image URLs](https://shareglint.com/en/guides/signed-image-urls)).

## Where review images work best

- **Social feeds and stories:** one short review at a time, with the reviewer's first name and role.
- **Ads:** a real quote with a star rating often outperforms a slogan; check the ad network's rules on text in images first.
- **Landing pages and emails:** a `rating-summary` image beside the call to action, rendered from current numbers.
- **Sales decks:** a handful of `testimonial-stars` cards in the 16:9 `youtube` size fit slides without cropping.

Rotate the reviews you show rather than repeating the same three; a batch of twenty from the export covers months of posts.

## Keep it honest

Review images are advertising, and the rules for reviews apply to them. In the US, the FTC's [Rule on the Use of Consumer Reviews and Testimonials](https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-16/chapter-I/subchapter-D/part-465) (16 CFR Part 465, adopted in 2024) makes it unlawful for a business to create or disseminate reviews or testimonials that misrepresent that the reviewer exists, used the product, or what their experience was. Other markets have similar consumer-protection rules. In practice:

- **Use real reviews, unchanged.** Shorten with an ellipsis if you must; never change the meaning or the rating.
- **Do not invent reviewers.** No made-up names or stock photos presented as customers. Use the customer's own photo only with permission, or no photo.
- **Show where it came from** when it helps credibility — the platform's name and logo in `rating-summary`, the date of the review.
- **Ask before reusing.** Your review platform's terms may limit how reviews can be republished; check them before turning reviews into ads.

The template prints exactly what you send — accuracy is in the data.

## Cost

One render per image and size; repeats are free. A weekly review post in two sizes is about 9 renders a month; 100 reviews from an export in two sizes are 200, once. The Free plan's 100 renders carry a watermark; Starter is $9 a month for 2,000 renders ([pricing](https://shareglint.com/en/pricing)).

## What it does not do

- No direct connection to review platforms; review data comes from exports, APIs or automations you run.
- No review collection, moderation or display widgets — this makes images from reviews you already have.
- No posting to social networks or ad accounts.

For quotes from talks, articles and podcasts, see [quote cards](https://shareglint.com/en/use-cases/quote-cards); for product images with prices and sales, [e-commerce product images](https://shareglint.com/en/use-cases/ecommerce-product-images).

## FAQ

### How do I turn customer reviews into images?

Export the reviews you want to show — text, rating, name, date — and send each one to a testimonial template, or the whole export as a batch. Every review comes back as an image in the sizes you post in, with your brand colours.

### Can I edit a review before putting it on an image?

Shortening with an ellipsis is common practice, but changing what the customer said is not. US rules on consumer reviews prohibit presenting reviews that misrepresent the reviewer's experience; keep the words and the rating as given.

### Can the images update when new reviews come in?

Yes. A rating summary rendered from your current average and count is a new image when the numbers change; the old image keeps its own URL. Automations can render a card for every new five-star review.

### Do you connect to Trustpilot, Google or app store reviews?

No direct integration. You send the review data, from an export, your review platform's API or an automation tool.