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Financial advisors have made several excuses for why they can’t acquire testimonials from their clients. Among them are: testimonials are a compliance headache; they jeopardize private client data; they aren’t good sales converters; and referrals are working just fine.
All of the aforementioned are bunk. Advisors should also add to that list that they are burdening their clients by asking for a review — and are apt to get a negative one.
The truth is that most clients who had a positive experience with their advisor are happy to write a review, particularly if the process doesn’t take too long and isn’t terribly difficult. It’s often seen as a way to express appreciation for the service they've received. Rather than a thank-you fruit basket, a thank-you review can do wonders for an advisor’s reputation and online visibility.
Data Proves Clients Will Write Positive Reviews Most of the Time
On the heels of the fourth anniversary of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Marketing Rule, Wealthtender studied the more than 2,500 reviews on its platform. Eighty-six percent of those reviews were positive. And only half of 1% had a negative sentiment.
Additionally, it was telling that the average client review was 86 words, meaning clients are leaning into storytelling and therefore deeply invested in their advisors. After all, we know from human nature that if we’re not enthused about something, we give brief, succinct, and lackluster responses. But an average of 86 words — most reviews fell between 30 and 150 words — is a commitment, one that advisor has fostered with their clients.
Further evidence that clients are pleased with their advisor is that investors are nearly 25 times more likely to use their advisor’s name in a review rather than the firm’s. This is in stark contrast to how some segments of the industry have operated — pushing the idea that a firm’s clout or stature can carry more weight than the company’s advisors.
Data shows advisors make an impression — and in the majority of cases, a positive one — on their clients.
Fast to Bash & Slow to Praise?
Some sales professionals have helped the adage that a displeased person will quickly let a large swath of their network know they’re unhappy, while an impressed person may take a little while to make that time to write a review. Whether that’s true or not, the fact is that your raving fans will help you create more raving fans via testimonials, whether they write that testimonial immediately after their latest financial planning session or months later.
This notion that asking for a review is burdensome is illogical on its face. Advisors ask their clients during the onboarding process to fill out seemingly copious amounts of paperwork before the advisor relationship has truly started. But somehow asking a client to spend a few minutes relating their opinion of an advisor’s service in an easy-to-use online platform is overreaching? Really?
The data shows advisors shouldn’t fear negative repercussions and instead should look forward to likely positive reviews when they ask clients to rate their service.
Brian Thorp is chief executive officer of Wealthtender, a testimonial marketing platform designed with compliance in mind.
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Advisor Perspectives welcomes guest contributions. The views presented here do not necessarily represent those of Advisor Perspectives.
