# Testimonials overview

> How Testimonials is laid out inside a site: what each tab is for, the setup checklist on a new site and what is stored about the people who write to you.

A testimonial is what a customer says about you: a few sentences, a
rating, or a video or audio recording. Testimonials belong to a site.
Open a site and choose **Testimonials** in the sidebar. This page says
what each tab is for and what the top of the Inbox shows on a new site.

## The tabs

Everything is behind that one sidebar item, in tabs.

| Tab | What it is for |
|---|---|
| Inbox | Every testimonial of the site. Read, approve, reject, tag and search them here |
| Forms | Pages where a customer writes or records a testimonial |
| Requests | Emails that ask customers for a testimonial, sent through your own email provider (Business) |
| Widgets | Testimonials shown on your own site |
| Walls | A Wall of Love, a public page of your approved testimonials |
| Images | A testimonial as a picture to share |
| Collections | Groups of testimonials to show together |
| People | The customers who wrote to you |
| Import | Testimonials from review sites, a spreadsheet or another tool |
| Analytics | How many testimonials arrive and how often they are seen |
| Settings | The brand kit, custom properties, languages, rewards and more |

Only an **approved** testimonial is ever shown to the outside world. A
new one arrives as pending.

## Plans

Each plan includes a number of new testimonials a month and a set of
features. The table of every plan, what counts toward the month and what
happens at the limit are on [Limits and plans](/docs/testimonials/limits).
A feature your plan does not include is switched off and says so. What
you made with it before is kept, never deleted.

## The numbers above the Inbox

While a site has fewer than 25 testimonials, the Inbox shows five numbers
above the list: approved, pending, new this month, the average rating and
how many approved testimonials are in use. Each number opens the Inbox
filtered to what it counts. The same numbers come from the
`testimonials_overview` operation, with what needs attention and the
latest activity.

## The setup checklist

Above the numbers is a short checklist: bring in testimonials you already
have, get your first testimonial, approve one, ask for testimonials, put a
widget on your site and invite a teammate. An item is ticked from what the
site holds, never by a click. **Dismiss** hides one item and **Dismiss
all** hides the checklist and the numbers. Dismissing needs the
`content.write` permission. `testimonials_setup_get` reads the checklist
and `testimonials_setup_update` dismisses an item.

## Privacy

A widget or a Wall of Love on your site sets no cookie, stores nothing on
the visitor's device and loads nothing from a third party. A form sets no
cookie and stores nothing on the device either. A form whose **Check that
the giver is a person** setting is on loads Cloudflare Turnstile for that
check, and so does the form a giver uses to ask for a testimonial to be
removed. See [Forms](/docs/testimonials/forms#settings) and
[Removal requests](/docs/testimonials/permalinks#removal-requests).

No IP address and no User-Agent is stored for the person who writes a
testimonial or for the people who see it. Views of forms, widgets and
walls are counted as daily totals only, never as events or visits. See
[Analytics](/docs/testimonials/analytics).

What is stored about a person who gives a testimonial is listed in the
[data inventory](/docs/privacy/data-inventory).

## Where to go next

- [Get started](/docs/testimonials/get-started): from nothing to a widget
  on your site, in five steps.
- [Inbox](/docs/testimonials/inbox): every control of the list and of a
  testimonial's page.
- [The Import tab](/docs/testimonials/imports): bring in the reviews you
  already have.