Fear, time pressures, and compliance concerns are all reasons why advisers and planners don’t run client surveys.
Considering advice fees are probably one of their clients’ largest annual expenses, those reasons (perhaps “excuses” would be a better word) really don’t cut it. To compound the error, not running client surveys also means opportunities to improve businesses, boost marketing, and generate more referrals are missed.
So, this week’s blog reveals five reasons to run a client survey, when to do it, and how we can help. We’ve also asked some firms to share their experiences with client surveys.
In typical Simon Sinek tradition, though, let’s start with why.
5 reasons to run a client survey
We know asking your clients how they feel about your service probably makes you nervous, perhaps even fearful. However, there are five reasons why you should feel the fear and do it anyway.
Reason #1. It shows you care, are listening and acting
The simple act of asking your clients for their opinions shows that you care about their views and are committed to improving both your service and your business.
Then, when you publish the survey results (as we recommend firms do), while explaining any changes you’re going to make, it shows you’ve listened.
Reason #2. It helps improve your business
Your client survey will inevitably reveal aspects of your service and business that your clients like. They’re nice to hear, but they won’t help you improve things.
However, if you ask the right questions, your survey will also reveal what clients don’t like about your service and business. As well as things they’d like you to do that you don’t currently do. Those things might be tough to hear, but they’re golden opportunities to improve your service.
Reason #3. Data to use in your marketing
Prospective clients can only take your word for the value of working with you. If the results are good, your client survey results prove it.
For example, if 98.65% of clients say they’d recommend you to other people, that statistic should be used in your marketing.
Reason #4. Identify potential issues early
We often find that networks, compliance consultants, and PI insurers block client surveys (or at least complicate the process) because they’re worried about encouraging client complaints.
We prefer the reframe offered on a Yardstick webinar last year from John Netting, Chief Operating Officer at BareRock. John believes client surveys are a fantastic opportunity to identify problems when they are small and relatively simple to fix, compared to later when they’ve grown.
Reason #5. Underpinning your recommendation strategy
We don’t believe you should include a Net Promoter Score (NPS) question in your client survey.
Instead, we recommend using three simple questions to identify:
- The proportion of your clients who are advocates (people who are happy to recommend you to others)
- Those who are active advocates (the clients who have recommended you in the last 12 months)
- The barriers stopping clients from recommending you.
This data will help you build a comprehensive referral and recommendation strategy.
A word about Consumer Duty
If you’re eagle-eyed, you’ll have noticed that we’ve not mentioned the Consumer Duty.
Naturally, you must comply with your regulatory obligations, so let’s add that as a sixth reason to run a client survey in 2026.
Don’t just take our word for it
Showing beats telling, so we asked two firms, which Yardstick ran client surveys for this year, to tell us about their experiences:
Leanne Greenfield, Director, Broom IFA
“We were quite anxious about running a survey. Historically, we had ruled this out and worried more about negatives than considering the positives; we also thought our PI insurers wouldn’t like it.”
“However, seeing the results made us feel proud. They highlighted that we were achieving what we wanted our clients to feel and experience from our service. It also enabled us to identify areas for improvement (for example, biscuits were mentioned frequently!), and it provided us with data to help build our growth plans.”
“We would absolutely recommend that other firms run client surveys. It has helped us with our Consumer Duty report, given us direction in our growth plans and also great kudos for the team.”
Anne Bowes, Managing Director, Lawrence Clarke Financial Planning
“We all felt very nervous before the survey went out. This was new to us; we were worried about how our clients would react to being asked to complete the survey, and we were also slightly worried about negative feedback.”
“The results were fantastic for various reasons; they validated that we are doing a great job for our clients, we were able to recognise some ‘star players’, and the administration team, who are overlooked, received some fantastic praise which we shared with them.”
“I’d absolutely recommend that other firms run client surveys. We were able to take on board what our clients had said and to take action. Review meetings are more focused as we know what our clients want and the areas of concern they have. The fact that the majority would be happy to refer family and friends to us means that the financial planners need not be nervous about asking for referrals.”
Jane Taylor-Davies, Regional Sales Manager, Milecross
“Before running a client survey, we felt uninformed; we didn’t know what we didn’t know. We always try to do the best job we can but didn’t have the validation.”
“After the survey, we felt really proud; we had so many positive comments from our clients, in their own words. We also loved getting the personal feedback for the advisers and so did they. This feedback was such a boost. It really cements how our hard work has paid off and the difference we can make. We also had some good learnings that we could take on and improve.”
“We’d absolutely recommend other firms run client surveys– there really is nothing to lose. Why wouldn’t you want to hear what you are doing well and where you could improve with targeted feedback from the people who matter the most.”
So, there you have it: not five, but six reasons to run a client survey, plus proof there’s no need to worry, and insights into the huge benefits it’ll bring to your business.
If you’re convinced, the next obvious question is: when should surveys be run?
Run client surveys every one or two years at fixed points in time
In our experience, most firms that run client surveys send them after someone has become a client or after an annual review meeting.
We believe there’s a better time to send them.
We recommend sending surveys to all your clients at one fixed point, typically every one or two years, depending on the pace of change in your business. For example, you might decide to run your client survey annually in February or every other year in June.
This approach has three key benefits over the other option:
- In our experience, you’ll get more responses.
- It’s easier to compare changes from results at two specific points in time.
- It opens a window, after taking on a new client or an annual review, to ask for Google and VouchedFor reviews.
A done-for-you client survey service
If we’ve convinced you about why and when to run a client survey, pressures on your time might mean we still need to overcome the “how” objection.
And that’s where our done-for-you client survey service comes in.
If you ask us to run the survey project for you, we will:
- Advise you on the questions you should include
- Allow you to add other questions of your choice
- Build a branded survey, using cutting-edge technology to make it easy for your clients to respond
- Send a series of three branded emails carefully written to maximise responses
- Advise you on other ways to increase the response rate
- Present the findings back to you, while recommending actions you should take
- Write a follow-up email communicating the results to your clients
- Recommend opportunities to use the survey results to boost your marketing.
It’s a comprehensive service that’s done entirely for you.
Currently, we charge £875 if your firm has up to three advisers/planners and £950 if you have more.
If you’d like to learn more about this service, email abi@theyardstickagency.co.uk or call 0115 8965 300, and we’ll set up a call when we can understand whether it’s right for you.
