Hear how consumer reviews can be harnessed as a marketing tool and help you identify areas to enhance your service. Angus Woods, managing director and founder of Adviser Ratings, discusses.

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Angus Woods: I am the Managing Director of Adviser Ratings and the founder. Adviser Ratings at its core is a review and rating website. So consumer reviews, aggregated consumer reviews on advisers.

How can consumer review websites be a marketing tool?

AW: Consumer reviews are really valuable marketing tool. We know that 92% of consumers now use review websites to look for a service proposition, a product, what have you. We also know that 88% of people in the marketplace actually prefer using review websites, as opposed to personal recommendation. I know in the advice industry personal recommendations is still very, very strong, but we're finding now more and more that consumers are actually going to websites such as Google, such as Facebook, such as Adviser Ratings to get real, alternate opinions beyond their family and friends, which gives a much more general flavor around the particular adviser.

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Why should advisers collect consumer feedback?

AW: What consumer review tools allow advisers to do is to it seeks real-time feedback on how they can improve the experience within their practice, or the experience and the actual value that they deliver back to consumers. As an advice firm or an adviser it gives you the ability to find out "where do I need to improve my service delivery or my value proposition?" Things that these platforms do allow you to do as well, is to seek validation for your business model in the marketplace.

Clients will actually look for you in different ways. So it's important to be part of their experience, and where they're looking. With reviews, you've got your hardcore sort of stats, which you can utilise, but when it's about how do you tell stories around some of the qualitative type answers that sometimes come through review platforms. I know some of our advisers are going through the next level, utilising this data, then going, "Great this is a good advocate for my business. These particular clients," and then going to the next level about putting them on video, like we're doing now. Getting them in there, getting it to actually advocate for you more.

Learn more about online survey, review and rating tools

Read How client feedback can change your advice business for the better and download the 2018 AdviceTech research report.