Vouchedfor, the adviser listing website which gathers ratings from clients and was dubbed the ‘TripAdvisor’ for IFAs, has announced a substantial overhaul of its core subscription model and service, which will see its pay-for premium plan charges more than treble to £135 a quarter.
VouchedFor has revamped its pricing plans, with advisers on the recommended ‘professional’ plan paying £45 per month plus enquiry fees from next week, compared to the previous £40 per quarter. However, the adviser rating website claims to be giving advisers far more bang for their buck.
Advisers that are ‘top-rated’ will get their own website, which the firm says many smaller firms may otherwise be unable to afford, as well as search engine marketing, a professional photo and ‘top-rated’ badge, a monthly client newsletter, and quarterly PR services including press releases which will can be edited and sent to local journalists.
Charges for enquiries relating to mortgages have fallen slightly from a flat rate of £29 to £20, while charges for investment enquiries are now a flat rate of £25 as opposed to the net worth of the potential client. As part of the plan, advisers receive free credit of £200 and a money-back guarantee up to £300, and enquiries are unlimited.
Advisers can also choose from a ‘professional lite’ plan, which also costs £45 a month, but does not include enquiry charges as enquiries are capped at a maximum of two per quarter. Top-rated advisers on this plan will not get their own website or search engine marketing. Also, they will only get annual PR services, as opposed to quarterly.
A third ‘basic’ plan is free of charge. This is a listing only and advisers can not receive enquiries or marketing services.
The new system also asks whether you deal with mortgage enquiries or investments and what your wealth criteria is: any level of wealth, over £50,000, over £100,000, over £250,000 or over £500,000.
There are now 3,000 advisers on the website, compared to 1,000 around a year ago. There are also around 12,000 reviews on the website, up from 3,000 in August 2013.
Speaking to FTAdviser, Adam Price, VouchedFor founder, said: “IFAs need exposure. It used to cost £40 per quarter and the changes [we have made] funds all this [extra] marketing.
“We don’t expect to make more money but we expect to help advisers with the services and that will eventually bring more people to the site.”
