Adam Price said he was also looking to create physical and virtual endorsements, similar to those offered by holiday review site TripAdvisor, for intermediaries who receive positive feedback from the website.
He said: “We want to increasingly establish VouchedFor as a respected token of endorsement. Lots of clients find advisers through word of mouth so we want to increase awareness of the site among consumers as a tool for finding quality advisers quickly and effectively.”
Mr Price said advisers with more than 10 reviews on the site were attracting four or five inquiries a month on average. He said a well-reviewed adviser in a dense area such as London who targeted clients at all levels of wealth could expect up receive to 10 reviews a month.
He added: “The site is only as good as the number of reviews it attracts and, while we have good advocacy among the advisers currently on the site, we need greater awareness among advisers.”
VouchedFor has formed partnerships with the platform FundsNetwork and the Institute of Financial Planning and Mr Price said he was seeking new link-ups to take the business forward.
Mr Price said eight private ‘angel’ investors recently backed VouchedFor to the tune of £175,000. The website also recruited two new employees, swelling its team to eight members.
| Background |
| VouchedFor was previously questioned by Justin Modray, former adviser and founder of the Candid Money website, for featuring exclusively positive verdicts on advisers. Mr Price said at the time that he would welcome more critical reviews but that advisers were more likely to guide clients towards the website to rate them highly. Advisers paid a quarterly fee in order to appear on the website in return for leads generated through online searches. |
