New Year 'advice rush' to see IFA leads increase by over 50%

• 56% uplift in leads between Q1 and Q4 last year
• Average views per IFA firm increased by six per month in Q1 2011 compared to the previous quarter
• Unbiased.co.uk is offering a third off the first three months of a subscription to the enhanced advertising package

With the New Year almost upon us, unbiased.co.uk, the professional advice website, urges IFAs to prepare their business for the ‘New Year advice rush’. Unbiased.co.uk’s data shows that Q1 2011, traditionally the busiest quarter for consumer leads to IFA firms, saw an increase of 56% on the unbiased.co.uk website from Q4 2010, indicating a busy period ahead for the IFA market.  

The data revealed that this increase translated into an average uplift of six consumer views per IFA firm listed on the unbiased.co.uk ‘find an IFA’ search per month. Unbiased.co.uk deals with over 450,000 consumer enquiries for independent financial advisers per year, matching consumer enquiries with one of the 15,000 IFAs on their database.

Karen Barrett, chief executive of unbiased.co.uk, comments: “The tax year end has always been a very busy period for the IFA market but hopefully our stats help to put a real value against just how big this increase is. With personal finances on the news on a daily basis, we expect Q1 2012 to be just as busy if not busier than last year. It is absolutely crucial for IFA firms to make sure they are marketing their business in the right way to be able to capitalise on the upcoming advice rush.

“We know that the majority of consumers now research the best adviser for their needs online and having a standout online profile has become more and more important, if not imperative, over the last years. Having a website that is up to date and engaging is only a start – social media is becoming more and more important in a time where trust in financial services is low and consumers are looking for reassurance via new information channels. Make sure all your advisers qualifications are listed as nearly a third of consumers choose an adviser with an incremental qualification listed when making their selection.”

Gary Lucas, director at Burlington Associates Ltd added “At Burlington Associates we find unbiased.co.uk’s Enhanced Advertising Package extremely profitable. The leads generated are high quality and most importantly they are specific to our advice expertise. In the last twelve months a number of leads have generated around £13,000 income.”

To help IFAs make the most of their lead generation strategy, unbiased.co.uk is currently offering a third off the first three months of a subscription to the enhanced advertising package. The enhanced advertising package offers adviser the following additional benefits for their ‘find an IFA’ profile on ubiased.co.uk:

• Links to your website/email
• Display your social media profile
• ‘Call me back’ function
• Monthly advert traffic statistics
• Entry into the media services Bluebook directory
• Entry to Professional Connections, the business to business referral directory