The trust signals that win prospects are the ones a prospect can check for themselves. Saying “fee-only” and “fiduciary” no longer sets a firm apart: 74% and 71% of fee-only firm websites say them, in our study of 1,792 sites. What sets firms apart is rarer. Only 52% publish a price we could verify, 21% show press, and firms that show client reviews spent $0.13 of marketing per $1 of new revenue in Kitces’ 2026 study, against $0.86 for firms doing the bare minimum. This guide covers four signals, a verified record, published prices, press and reviews, and how to use each without crossing the SEC marketing rule.
What every firm says, and what few do
Fee-only, fiduciary and the CFP still matter. They tell a prospect you’re safe to consider. They just don’t tell them why to choose you over the other fee-only fiduciary CFP on the list, and an AI answer names about 7.9 firms at a time.
1. A verified record
The strongest signal is a fact someone other than you has checked. Prospects check registration directly: the SEC’s adviser search shows a firm’s current Form ADV and relationship summary, registration status, and each advisor’s background and conduct. AI assistants send them there. In our study of 600 AI answers, 40% told readers to look the advisor up on the SEC’s site before hiring, and ChatGPT cited adviserinfo.sec.gov in 47% of its answers.
A verified record works because it agrees with that check. When your website says fee-only and your Form ADV shows no commissions and no broker registration, the claim becomes a fact. When an outside source has confirmed it and says so, the prospect doesn’t have to do the work.
What to do:
- Make sure your firm name, fees and services read the same on your website, Form ADV Part 2A and relationship summary.
- Get onto sources that check fee-only status rather than taking your word for it. ChatGPT cited napfa.org in 61% of its answers and feeonlynetwork.com in 57%.
- Link to your SEC record from your site. It shows you expect to be checked.
2. Published prices
A price is a trust signal because it’s specific and checkable. A prospect can compare it with other firms and with your Form ADV, and an assistant can quote it. Only 52% of fee-only firm websites state any price we could verify, and 31% state an ongoing planning fee.
Where firms do publish, the numbers are consistent: the median ongoing planning fee is $4,500 a year, with the middle half between $2,400 and $7,200 (Wellspent fee report). Publishing a number in that range doesn’t scare people off. It tells them what to expect before the first call.
What to do: put your starting fee, how it’s calculated, and your minimum (or “no minimum”) on a web page in plain text. A fee schedule that matches your Form ADV Part 2A is information you already file publicly. See Publish your fees.
3. Press
21% of fee-only firm websites show an “as seen in” or “featured in” badge. Press works when it’s specific: a quote in a national outlet on the topic of your niche tells a prospect, and an assistant, what you’re an expert in. A row of logos with no articles behind them tells them much less.
Your website’s marketing generally counts as an advertisement under the SEC marketing rule, and an advertisement may not include “information that would reasonably be likely to cause an untrue or misleading implication or inference.” A logo that suggests an outlet endorsed you, when it quoted you once in 2019, invites that question.
What to do: link each logo to the article. Prefer coverage on your specialty over general coverage. Date it, and retire it when it gets old. For how to earn the quotes in the first place, see How to get quoted in Forbes, CNBC and Kiplinger.
4. Reviews under the marketing rule
Client reviews are the signal with the largest measured effect. In Kitces’ 2026 study, firms showing reviews on their website spent $0.13 per $1 of new revenue, against $0.86 for firms doing the bare minimum.
Advisers have been allowed to use them since the marketing rule’s compliance date of November 4, 2022, with conditions:
- Disclosures. The advertisement must clearly and prominently say whether the person is a current client and whether they were compensated, with further disclosures about compensation and conflicts.
- Oversight. You must oversee compliance, and have a written agreement with anyone you pay to promote you, unless the pay is $1,000 or less in the past twelve months.
- Third-party ratings. “Top advisor” ratings are allowed with disclosures and only if the rating meets criteria for how it was prepared.
The SEC’s Division of Examinations published a Risk Alert on December 16, 2025 about how advisers were getting this wrong. As summarized by Groom Law Group, staff saw disclosures that were missing when a testimonial was shared, disclosures weakened by hyperlinks and small or faint type, and ratings shown without disclosures about links to third-party sites, dates and time periods, ratings logos and compensation paid.
What to do: work out a review process with your compliance team before you ask clients. Put disclosures beside the review, not behind a link. Treat awards with care: if you paid to be rated or to use the logo, say so.
The order to build them in
Start with the signals that cost the least and that every later signal depends on.
- Make your facts agree. Website, Form ADV, relationship summary and every outside page. Nothing else works if a prospect finds two versions of you.
- Publish your prices. An afternoon of work that puts you in the half of firms that can be quoted.
- Get onto sources that verify you. Independent pages that confirm your registration and fee-only status.
- Earn press on your specialty. It takes longer, and it compounds: each quote is another independent source.
- Add reviews once compliance is ready. The measured payoff is large, and so is the cost of getting the disclosures wrong.
Signals that backfire
- Words every firm uses. “Holistic”, “comprehensive” and “tailored” describe everyone. Replace one per page with a fact.
- Facts that disagree. An old address on a review page or a fee on your site that differs from your Form ADV undoes every other signal.
- Awards without context. A badge with no date, no rating provider and no methodology is what the SEC’s examiners flagged.
- Proof hidden in images and PDFs. If a credential or fee only appears in a banner graphic, assistants and many prospects never see it.
For how prospects run these checks in practice, see What prospects check before they book a call. For the channel economics, see How to get clients as a financial advisor.
Where Wellspent fits
A Wellspent record turns the first two signals into checked facts. It states your fees in plain numbers, the clients you serve and your specialties, with your SEC registration checked against your CRD, in the public graph at find.wellspent.co that AI assistants and search read. Membership is $89 a month and includes quarterly press placement with media partners, introductions from prospects with no lead fees, and a monthly report on who AI assistants recommend. Wellspent doesn’t collect client reviews. If reviews are your priority, Wealthtender is built for them (see Wellspent vs Wealthtender). See How it works.