When you hear the term "reviews," you're probably more inclined to think of write-ups about restaurants than, say, Roth IRAs. But today, online reviews are incredibly important for financial services institutions — especially after the revisions to the SEC advertising rule announced early this year.
You can click here for more general information about the update, but one important impact is that, with the new rules in place, advisors are now permitted to use testimonials or reviews subject to anti-fraud protections and other conditions. This is big news, considering that the vast majority of financial services and insurance customers (80%) say that they consider reviews to be extremely important in their decision process.* American Banker calls this the "Amazon effect," suggesting that banks need to spend a lot more time thinking about their digital experience — and how that can impact their online reviews.