The SEC Marketing Rule allows financial advisors to promote client testimonials on their websites (and elsewhere), but doing so compliantly requires careful attention to disclosure requirements and best practices.
In this guide, learn how to add widgets from Wealthtender to display testimonials on advisor websites compliantly. Whether you’re creating a dedicated testimonials page or adding reviews to your homepage and bio pages, you’ll find step-by-step instructions, links to live examples, and answers to frequently asked questions to help you leverage the power of social proof while staying within regulatory guidelines.
Jump to a Section:
- Three Reasons Why Testimonials Matter for Advisors More Than Ever
- The Role of Disclosures When Promoting Testimonials
- Two Popular Ways to Promote Testimonials on Advisor Websites
- Approach #1: The Comprehensive Approach for Multi-Advisor Firms
- Approach #2: Homepage Spotlight for Solo Advisors and Smaller Firms
- How to Access Your Wealthtender Embed Codes
- Are You Ready to Promote Testimonials on Your Website?
- FAQs: Review Widgets, Troubleshooting & More
Three Reasons Why Testimonials Matter for Advisors More Than Ever
Testimonial marketing is quickly becoming an integral component of effective growth strategies employed by advisors and wealth management firms for three key reasons:
1. Building Trust with Prospects: When potential clients research financial advisors online, testimonials provide the social proof they need to feel confident about scheduling an introductory call. Reviews published on third-party platforms like Wealthtender and displayed on advisor websites demonstrate the real-world experiences of clients that offer prospects a glimpse of what to expect.
An August 2025 Wealthtender consumer study reinforced the reasons why financial advisors interested in getting found and hired should incorporate online reviews and testimonials in their marketing plans. The report showed that almost all Americans preparing to hire financial advisors will research at least two advisors online before making a hiring decision, and 83% of consumers ranked online reviews as the first thing they will look for after being referred to an advisor.
With fewer than 10% of advisors currently using testimonials in their marketing activities, it’s no surprise why advisors with online reviews and testimonials published on their websites are most likely to get the first call.
2. Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Traditional search engines like Google and Bing reward advisors who publish authentic client testimonials on their websites and who have positive reviews on reputable third-party platforms. Online review platforms like Wealthtender use SEO best practices like ‘review schema’ when coding advisor profile pages to ensure search engines recognize the reviews and ingest them properly to improve their effectiveness. With proper coding, these testimonials send positive trust signals to search engine algorithms, helping advisors rank higher in search results. And consumers are drawn to search results that display gold stars.
3. AI Platform Discovery: As more consumers turn to AI tools and answer engines like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews to find and research financial advisors, these platforms actively scan for credible online reviews and testimonials. Advisors with a robust collection of reviews and testimonials online are more likely to be recommended by AI tools in generated answers to consumer queries. As FMG Chief Evangelist Samantha Russell often suggests, online reviews represent one of the most important elements of an effective Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) strategy and Wealthtender offers one of the most impactful AI-optimization tools for advisors and wealth management firms.
The combination of these three factors means that advisors who embrace testimonial marketing today position themselves to capture a disproportionate share of new client opportunities in the years ahead. By combining the power of online reviews published on Wealthtender with the testimonial marketing tools provided by Wealthtender to display reviews compliantly on advisor websites, in social media posts, and other marketing materials, financial advisors and wealth management firms can stand apart from more than 90% of all advisors and expect to convert more prospects into clients.
For a more robust discussion of the SEC Marketing Rule and how to get started with testimonial marketing compliantly, please review the SEC Marketing Rule Education Series or download your Testimonial Marketing Playbook from Wealthtender.
The Role of Disclosures When Promoting Testimonials
While the SEC Marketing Rule now permits financial advisors to use client testimonials in advertisements, the regulations come with specific requirements that must be followed carefully. This is especially important when choosing how you will display reviews to display on your website. Before inviting clients to write reviews or publishing testimonials online, be sure to speak with your compliance officer for regulatory guidance and to ensure adherence to firm policies and procedures.
Understanding Disclosure Requirements
The SEC makes it clear that every promoted testimonial should ‘clearly and prominently’ disclose details intended to provide consumers with important information to judge the merits of each review, including:
- Is the reviewer a client or non-client?
- Was any cash (or non-cash) compensation paid for the review?
- Do any conflicts of interest exist that may have influenced the reviewer?
The SEC expects these three clear and prominent disclosures to always be visible alongside the review. In other words, clear and prominent disclosures effectively become a part of the review itself and cannot be hidden or accessible only via a link.
When all reviews for a financial advisor are displayed in one place (e.g., on an advisor’s Wealthtender profile page or a dedicated testimonials page on an advisor’s website), then these three clear and prominent reviews may be the only disclosures required as shown in the screenshot just above extracted from an advisor’s Wealthtender profile page. But if you wish to promote a single review (e.g., in a social media post) or a handful of reviews (e.g., a carousel of 3 reviews on your homepage), additional disclosures must be added to satisfy regulatory requirements as we’ll discuss next.
Compliance Requirements To Promote One or a Few Testimonials
When you display just one or a select few testimonials in your marketing activities (e.g., on your homepage), additional disclosure requirements apply. Specifically, your disclosures must also indicate that the single or selected reviews are ‘not representative’ and you must provide easy access for consumers to view all (or a representative selection) of your reviews, most often by sharing a URL or QR code.
This increases transparency and reduces the optics that you’re only showing your best testimonials while hiding less favorable feedback. Linking to your Wealthtender profile page where all reviews are accessible or to a dedicated testimonials page on your website that includes all of your reviews can satisfy this critical compliance requirement.
Let’s consider two examples.
First, in the screenshot just below, a single testimonial is featured in a social media post that satisfies the SEC Marketing Rule disclosure requirements as follows:
- The three ‘clear and prominent’ disclosures are conveyed in the first sentence within the disclosure area.
- The second sentence addresses the ‘views not representative’ disclosure requirement.
- The ‘Read more reviews…’ statement satisfies the regulatory requirement to provide consumers with an easy ability to access and read all reviews for this advisor, available by visiting the URL: wt.reviews/josh-ross
Example of a compliant social media post displaying a single testimonial. The three ‘clear and prominent’ disclosures are conveyed in the first sentence within the disclosure area. The second sentence addresses the ‘views not representative’ disclosure requirement. And the ‘Read more reviews…’ statement satisfies the regulatory requirement to provide consumers with an easy ability to access and read all reviews for this advisor, available by visiting the URL: wt.reviews/josh-ross
Second, in the screenshot just below, you’ll see a carousel feature on the homepage of an advisor’s website that displays just a handful of testimonials. This approach satisfies the SEC Marketing Rule disclosure requirements as follows:
- The three ‘clear and prominent’ disclosures are conveyed in the first two sentences within the disclosure area. In this example, the wealth management firm ensured that each testimonial displayed is from a 1) current client, who was 2) not compensated, and where 3) no conflicts of interest exist.
- The first sentence also addresses the ‘views not representative’ disclosure requirement.
- The last sentence lets consumers know where they can go with a link to read a complete list of all of the firm’s reviews “on our Wealthtender profile page”.
Example of a compliant carousel feature displaying a curated selection of testimonials on the homepage of an advisor’s website. The three ‘clear and prominent’ disclosures are conveyed in the first two sentences within the disclosure area. The first sentence also addresses the ‘views not representative’ disclosure requirement. And the last sentence lets consumers know where they can go with a link to read a complete list of all of the firm’s reviews “on our Wealthtender profile page”.
Two Popular Ways to Promote Testimonials on Advisor Websites
Most website providers make it easy to implement testimonials in compliance-friendly ways using Wealthtender widgets and/or ensuring the flexibility for advisors to add required regulatory disclosures to testimonial carousels and lists. Based on our work at Wealthtender with financial advisors and wealth management firms using a variety of website providers, we’ve identified two popular approaches to compliantly promote testimonials that work especially well:
- The Comprehensive Approach (popular among multi-advisor wealth management firms)
- The Homepage Spotlight Approach (popular with solo advisors and smaller firms)
Let’s explore each approach in detail.
Approach #1: The Comprehensive Approach for Multi-Advisor Firms
Wealth management firms with multiple advisors often take a strategic, layered approach to displaying testimonials across their website. This method balances firm-wide social proof with individual advisor credibility.
Step 1: Implement a Testimonial Carousel on Your Homepage
Ask your website provider or search their help documentation for access to a carousel feature you can use to display a rotating selection of three to five standout reviews on your homepage. For maximum effectiveness, prioritize reviews with content aligned to your Ideal Client Profile (ICP) – e.g., If your ideal clients are Chevron executives nearing retirement, displaying a review that includes text like “…helped me make the most of my Chevron benefits as I transitioned into retirement…” will prove especially impactful. This immediately captures visitor attention, establishes trust, and makes it very likely you will be the first advisor a prospect chooses to contact.
Important Compliance Reminder: When using a carousel to display a curated selection of testimonials, you must also clearly display all required regulatory disclosures immediately below the carousel. Refer back to the section above for the specific disclosure requirements.
Step 2: Create a Dedicated Testimonials Page
Create a standalone testimonials page on your website where prospects can view your complete collection of client reviews. You can then link to this page (and/or your Wealthtender profile) to satisfy regulatory requirements.
To ensure this page continuously reflects all of your client reviews, we recommend using a widget from Wealthtender (also known as an ’embed code’) available from your Wealthtender dashboard.
Recommended Wealthtender Widget: The Wealthtender JavaScript widget is ideal for testimonials pages. This widget inherits formatting used elsewhere on your site and automatically displays all of your firm’s reviews in reverse chronological order (newest first), which satisfies SEC requirements about not filtering reviews to only show the highest ratings. The JavaScript widget includes built-in compliance disclosures for each review and is responsive across all devices. Your website provider’s help desk should be able to implement this widget quickly using the embed code from your Wealthtender dashboard. (Alternatively, the Wealthtender iframe HTML widget can be used.)
Here’s an example of a testimonials page on a wealth management firm’s website that used the Wealthtender JavaScript widget:
Step 3: Display Reviews on Individual Advisor Bio Pages
Take your testimonial strategy a step further by featuring advisor-specific reviews on each advisor’s bio page. Wealthtender offers widgets that display only the reviews written specifically for individual advisors for firms that collect reviews at the individual advisor level. This approach helps prospective clients see testimonials most relevant to the specific advisor they’re considering working with, while the firm-wide testimonials page and Wealthtender profile provide access to all reviews for complete transparency.
Here’s an example of an advisor bio page on a wealth management firm’s website that used the Wealthtender JavaScript widget:
Real-World Example: Seasons of Advice Wealth Partners
Seasons of Advice Wealth Partners provides an excellent example of the comprehensive approach in action. Their website features:
- A homepage carousel showcasing client testimonials that immediately greet visitors
- Clear, compliant disclosure language integrated naturally into their design
- Links to view all reviews on their dedicated testimonials page and Wealthtender profiles
- Individual advisor pages highlighting reviews specific to each team member
This multi-layered approach maximizes the impact of testimonials across the entire website while maintaining full regulatory compliance.
Approach #2: Homepage Spotlight for Solo Advisors and Smaller Firms
Solo advisors and smaller wealth management firms often prefer a more straightforward approach: prominently displaying all reviews on their website’s homepage using Wealthtender’s iframe HTML widget.
Homepage Implementation
Many advisors in the Wealthtender community embed a Wealthtender iframe widget directly on their homepage, making testimonials one of the first things prospects see when visiting their website. This immediate social proof motivates website visitors to schedule introductory calls.
Wealthtender Widget Options: Advisors can choose either the Wealthtender JavaScript or iframe HTML embed code options to display reviews on their website.
Compliance Note: Unlike selecting just a few reviews to feature in a carousel, when you use a Wealthtender widget that displays ALL of your reviews, you’re showing a complete and representative sample. This approach automatically satisfies the SEC requirement to provide access to your full review history because visitors are already seeing it – no additional linking required.
Here’s an example of a solo advisor who displays an iframe widget on his homepage:
Dedicated Testimonials Page Option
Alternatively, some advisors choose to create a dedicated testimonials page as the primary location for their reviews, then link to that page prominently from their homepage and throughout their site. Either approach works well from a compliance standpoint, as long as the widget displays your complete collection of reviews rather than a filtered selection.
Real-World Examples
Today, many advisors and wealth management firms have incorporated the homepage spotlight or testimonial page approach with the iframe HTML widget embedded on their websites, including these examples:
Whitman Wealth Management – Features client testimonials prominently, making social proof a central element of their homepage experience.
Energized Retirement – Integrates testimonials seamlessly into their website design, helping prospects immediately understand the value they deliver to clients.
Allegiance Financial Group Advisory Services – Uses testimonials strategically to build credibility and trust with website visitors.
Lifewater Wealth – Created a dedicated testimonials page that serves as a powerful social proof repository for prospects to explore.
Eudaimonia Wealth – Showcases how solo advisors can leverage testimonials effectively
Each of these firms demonstrates that when reviews are displayed compliantly, they become one of the most powerful trust-building elements on an advisor’s website.
How to Access Your Wealthtender Embed Codes
To access your embed codes from Wealthtender, it’s easy to do:
- Sign in to your Wealthtender account and visit your dashboard
- In the left sidebar menu, look for Embed Codes
- Preview and then choose the embed code(s) you’d like to use and look for the Copy Code button
Once you’ve copied your preferred embed code, you can:
- Share it with your website provider contact, who can implement it for you (all website providers and developers should be familiar with these industry-standard embed code formats and able to add them quickly)
- Add it directly to your website if you manage your own site content
- Email it to your marketing team if they handle website updates
The widget implementation typically takes just a few minutes, and once live, your testimonials will automatically update whenever you receive new reviews – no additional website updates required. (Please note: Depending upon your website cache refresh settings, your widget may take a few minutes or several hours to reflect your new reviews. Speak with your website representative to discuss your cache settings.)
Are You Ready to Promote Testimonials on Your Website?
The way consumers find and compare financial advisors is shifting rapidly as AI tools like ChatGPT become a popular discovery and research platform. Consumers expect to find online reviews for financial advisors just as they do for doctors, attorneys, and other service providers. Advisors who proactively collect and promote client testimonials compliantly are positioning themselves to capture a disproportionate share of new client opportunities.
With Wealthtender as your digital marketing partner, you already have a strong foundation to generate strong growth through your powerful online presence. Now it’s time to amplify your advantage by implementing client testimonials strategically across your website.
Whether you choose the comprehensive approach with testimonials featured in a homepage carousel and advisor bio pages, or the homepage spotlight approach featuring your complete review collection in one place, both strategies shine on advisor websites and help you stay fully compliant with SEC regulations.
Ready to get started?
- Log into your Wealthtender dashboard and grab your embed codes
- Share them with your website contact or implement them yourself (don’t overlook disclosure requirements)
- Start showcasing the testimonials you’ve worked hard to earn
Your future clients are online right now, searching for a financial advisor they can trust. Make sure they find you and that they see the proof of the exceptional service you provide through the voices of your satisfied clients.
FAQs: Review Widgets, Troubleshooting & More
Where can I view live examples of Wealthtender widgets on advisor websites?
To view examples of the Reviews List (JavaScript) widget, visit the following pages for this advisory firm: Seasons of Advice Wealth Partners
To view examples of the Reviews List (iFrame) widget, visit the following pages for these advisors and advisory firms:
- Cordant Wealth Partners
- Rather & Kittrell (homepage) | Jay Slagle, CFP®, AIF® (advisor bio)
- Quotient Wealth Partners
- Beacon Wealth
- Level Wealth Management
- Thayer Financial
- Focus Planning Group
- Water Street Wealth Management
- Insight Financial Strategists
Screenshot Example: Cordant Wealth Partners
To view examples of the Gallery View widget, visit the following advisory firm websites:
To view examples of the Reviews List + Form (iFrame) widget, visit the testimonials pages for these firms:
Examples:
Instead of using an embed widget to display testimonials, other advisors have chosen to create a testimonial page using designs they created within Wealthtender Testimonial Marketing Studio.
Have an FMG website? Learn how FMG and Wealthtender offer ways to display testimonials on your website.
If you’re a financial advisor or wealth management firm using FMG as your website platform and Wealthtender as your digital marketing partner, you have a powerful opportunity to showcase client testimonials in ways that build trust with prospects while maintaining regulatory compliance.
Visit this guide to learn how FMG users are successfully promoting testimonials on their websites using FMG’s carousel feature and widgets from Wealthtender.
Beyond websites, how can financial advisors promote client testimonials on social media?
You’ll have opportunities to promote your reviews on popular social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and X (Twitter), but doing so compliantly within the character count limitations and other constraints means it’s important to proceed with caution. Fortunately, each of these platforms permit creating posts with image and video files which can be designed to incorporate the required disclosures.
To compliantly promote a client testimonial on social media, you’ll need to ensure you incorporate the required clear and prominent disclosures alongside the review, along with a link to a representative sample of your testimonials (e.g., all of your reviews on your own website or Wealthtender profile page).
For financial advisors in the Wealthtender community, we created Testimonial Marketing Studio to help advisors promote their online reviews compliantly in social media posts and beyond.
With Testimonial Marketing Studio, you can:
✔️ Access a growing library of professionally designed video and image templates
✔️ Import your online reviews from Wealthtender into Studio projects with just two clicks
✔️ Create scroll-stopping social media content and impactful resources for marketing campaigns in < 2 minutes
✔️ Preview and regenerate projects to optimize their design and ensure disclosures satisfy compliance requirements
Illustration showing an example of a LinkedIn post created in Wealthtender Testimonial Marketing Studio with required regulatory disclosures, including a link to a representative sample of reviews. Click here to view additional examples, including images and animated designs.
Where can website developers access embed codes for Wealthtender review widgets?
Please visit the Wealthtender dev portal to preview and access embed codes for financial advisors and wealth management firms with profiles on Wealthtender. Questions? Please contact yourfriends@wealthtender.com. We’re always happy to help.
How can I troubleshoot issues with a SquareSpace website?
(October 2025) An isolated issue with the Wealthtender JavaScript embed code resulted in the display not output properly only in the Google Chrome browser. To rectify this issue, the code below was tested and provided to an advisor as a solution. The issue lies in the way google chooses to render the page on mobile.
Note: The code below will only work by relacing the id “XXXXX” with the correct provider ID for the applicable Wealthtender profile. Questions? Please contact yourfriends@wealthtender.com. We’re always happy to help.
<iframe id="wt_embed" src="https://wealthtender.com/embed/?type=reviews-block&id=XXXXX&height=400" style="width: 100%; border: 0px;"></iframe>
<script>var wtFrame = document.getElementById("wt_embed"); window.addEventListener("message",(event)=>{var width=event.data[0];var height=event.data[1];wtFrame.height=parseInt(height);console.log(event)},false);
function refresh(){ document.getElementById("wt_embed").src = document.getElementById("wt_embed").src; } setTimeout(function() { refresh(); }, 2000);
</script>Choosing Wealthtender as Your Testimonial Marketing Partner
We hope you found this article helpful, and we encourage you to read each of the articles in our SEC Marketing Rule Education Series for more ideas to compliantly attract new clients and grow your business with online reviews and testimonials. Financial advisors who embrace online reviews in their marketing efforts will lead the industry in attracting new clients during the historic transfer of wealth from Baby Boomers to Millennials over the next decade.
Online reviews establish a human connection with prospects, demonstrating your trustworthiness and increasing their confidence in contacting and hiring you. But online reviews are just one important part of an effective marketing plan to strengthen your online reputation and attract new clients in today’s world.
At Wealthtender, we’re dedicated to helping you grow your business compliantly with Certified Advisor Reviews™ and our Modern Advisor Marketing platform, providing you with the tools to ensure prospects can find you online and feel confident about their hiring decision.
If you have questions, feedback, or would like to discuss the SEC Marketing Rule with us, please email yourfriends@wealthtender.com or call Wealthtender Founder and CEO Brian Thorp directly at (512) 856-5406.
↗️ Take an Interactive Tour of Wealthtender | ↗️ Learn More About Testimonial Marketing Studio
About the Author
Brian Thorp
Brian is CEO and founder of Wealthtender and Editor-in-Chief. He and his wife live in Austin, Texas. With over 25 years in the financial services industry, Brian is applying his experience and passion at Wealthtender to help more people enjoy life with less money stress. Learn More about Brian
