SEC-registered investment advisers can use client testimonials and endorsements in advertising, as long as they meet the conditions in the Marketing Rule: clear and prominent disclosures, oversight of the promoter, a written agreement when compensation is more than minimal, and no disqualified promoters. State-registered advisers face a patchier picture that depends on the state. This guide walks through the conditions, the mistakes examiners keep finding, and a practical way to collect and publish testimonials without creating a deficiency.
TL;DR
- The SEC Marketing Rule (17 CFR § 275.206(4)-1) permits testimonials from current clients and endorsements from non-clients, with disclosure, oversight and disqualification conditions.
- Disclosures must appear at the time the testimonial is shown and be as prominent as the testimonial itself. A hyperlink or small print does not do the job.
- Paying for a testimonial is allowed, but it usually requires a written agreement, a bad-actor check and conflict disclosure. The exemption applies only at $1,000 or less over 12 months.
- Online reviews fall under the FTC's fake-review rule as well. You cannot condition an incentive on a positive review.
- State-registered advisers must check their own state's rule before publishing anything.
Table of Contents
- What counts as a testimonial or an endorsement
- The conditions you have to meet
- What examiners are finding
- Third-party ratings and review platforms
- Collecting testimonials and online reviews
- Paying for testimonials and endorsements
- A sample disclosure, and why wording is not enough
- State-registered advisers: check before you publish
- Perspective: why compliance is a marketing problem, not just a legal one
- How we help advisors put this into practice
- A pre-publish checklist
- FAQ
- Sources
What counts as a testimonial or an endorsement
The rule draws a line that many advisers miss. Under the rule's definitions, a testimonial is a statement by a current client or private-fund investor about their experience with the adviser, or about soliciting or referring clients to the adviser. An endorsement is a similar statement by anyone else: approval, support, recommendation, experience, solicitation or referral.
That split matters because the requirements differ slightly depending on who is speaking. It also means the definition covers more than the quote on your homepage. A video clip from a client, a Google review you repost, a podcast host recommending you, and a centers-of-influence referral arrangement can all land inside it.
Compliance firms report that many RIAs wrongly assume referral programs, influencer partnerships and lead-generation arrangements are not endorsements, which leads to oversight gaps. If someone is saying good things about you and you gave them something of value, start by assuming the rule applies.
The conditions you have to meet
The SEC's small-business compliance guide summarizes the framework: testimonials and endorsements are permitted in advertisements only with the required disclosures, adviser oversight and disqualification controls. We find it easier to think of three conditions, which we also cover in our piece on the three conditions RIAs must meet to use testimonials.
1. Clear and prominent disclosures
You must disclose, clearly and prominently, whether the person giving the statement is a current client, and whether they were compensated. If there is compensation, you also disclose its material terms and any material conflicts of interest that arise from the relationship or the arrangement. Compensation includes non-cash items, so a gift card, a free service or a fee waiver counts.
These disclosures are required at the time of dissemination, meaning when the testimonial is actually shown to the audience, not on a separate page the reader might find later.
2. Oversight and a reasonable basis
Before a compensated testimonial or endorsement goes live, you need a reasonable basis to believe it complies with the rule. In practice that means someone at the firm reviewed it, checked it against your policies and kept a record. Generally you also need a written agreement describing what the promoter will do and how they are paid.
3. Disqualification screening
You cannot pay a promoter who is an ineligible person, which means someone subject to specified disqualifying disciplinary events. Run the check before the arrangement starts, and repeat it on a schedule your policy defines.
The de minimis exception
The written-agreement and disqualification requirements do not apply when there is no compensation, or when compensation is de minimis, which the rule defines as $1,000 or less, or equivalent non-cash compensation, during the preceding 12 months. Note that the exemption covers the agreement and bad-actor pieces. It does not remove the need for the disclosures themselves when compensation exists, and it does not excuse a misleading statement.
The rule also has carve-outs for certain adviser personnel and affiliates, where the affiliation is apparent or disclosed and documented. Do not lean on this one without writing down why the relationship is apparent to the audience.
What examiners are finding
The SEC Division of Examinations has kept testimonials and endorsements on its radar. Its December 2025 risk alert, Additional Observations Regarding Advisers' Compliance with the Marketing Rule, looks at testimonials, endorsements and third-party ratings. Commentary on that alert notes that many advisers still fail to provide disclosures at the time of dissemination or to make them clear and prominent.
The recurring errors are mundane:
- Burying the disclosure. Advisers often rely on a hyperlink or smaller font, and neither meets the requirement that the disclosure be as prominent as the testimonial.
- Policies on paper only. Examiners have said that updating the compliance manual is not enough. Firms must follow the policy in real marketing activity.
- Unrecognized endorsements. Referral deals and paid social partnerships get treated as ordinary marketing and skip the oversight steps.
- Weak diligence on ratings. Some advisers lacked enough information about how a rating survey was designed to form a reasonable basis for using it.
Third-party ratings and review platforms
Awards, "top advisor" lists and star ratings are their own category. According to the SEC's December 2025 observations, you may use a third-party rating only after you have a reasonable basis to believe the questionnaire or survey made favorable and unfavorable responses equally easy and was not designed to predetermine the result.
You should also disclose clearly and prominently the rating provider, the date of the rating, the period it covers, and any compensation connected with obtaining or using it. The same alert found advisers using ratings on websites, social profiles, brochures, pitchbooks, press releases, newsletters and blogs, so the disclosure has to travel with the rating to every one of those places. For more on how recognition fits a marketing plan, see our post on awards and recognition in advisor marketing.
Collecting testimonials and online reviews
The SEC rule is not the only one in play. The FTC's Consumer Reviews and Testimonials Rule took effect October 21, 2024. It prohibits fake or false reviews, buying reviews you know or should expect to be false, incentives conditioned on a particular sentiment, certain undisclosed insider reviews, misrepresenting company-controlled review sites as independent, and certain review suppression.
The FTC's guidance gives advisers some room. You may make a generalized request asking clients to review their experience. You may offer an incentive only if it is not expressly or implicitly conditioned on positive or negative sentiment, and a disclosure of the incentive may still be required. Paying for a five-star review is prohibited even if the reviewer is told to disclose the incentive.
A collection process that holds up
- Ask everyone. To avoid cherry-picking accusations, reach out to your whole client list rather than hand-picking happy clients. A consistent, scheduled approach to review request automation helps make that repeatable, provided your compliance team approves the wording.
- Ask neutrally. "Tell us about your experience" is fine. "Leave us five stars" is not.
- Record the context. Note who gave the statement, when, whether they are a current client, and whether anything of value changed hands.
- Review before it goes live. Your CCO or designated reviewer signs off on the exact text and the exact placement.
- Attach the disclosure where the testimonial appears. On a web page, that means next to the quote. On video, in the frame and in the audio or captions as appropriate. In an email, in the body.
- Don't edit selectively. Trimming a quote so it sounds more positive than the full statement invites a misleading-advertisement problem under the rule's general prohibitions.
- Re-check on a schedule. If the client leaves, if a promoter's status changes, or if your own disciplinary or business facts change, revisit the content.
For ideas on what strong testimonials sound like, see our client testimonial examples for financial advisors, and for what a good one should show about your process, the post on the role of client testimonials.
Paying for testimonials and endorsements
You can compensate a client or another person, as long as the arrangement is supported by a written agreement (unless de minimis), the material terms and conflicts are disclosed, and the promoter is not an ineligible person. Before you sign, work through these questions:
| Question | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Is the speaker a current client? | It decides whether the statement is a testimonial or an endorsement, and what you disclose. |
| Is anything of value changing hands, cash or not? | Any compensation triggers disclosure of that fact. |
| Will total value exceed $1,000 in 12 months? | Above that, you need a written agreement and a bad-actor check. |
| Does the promoter have a conflict you must describe? | Material conflicts from the relationship or pay must be disclosed. |
| Who reviews the final content, and where is it kept? | You need a reasonable basis and proof you followed your policy. |
A fee waiver for a client who agrees to appear in a video is compensation. A thank-you gift after a review is compensation. Treat them accordingly.
A sample disclosure, and why wording is not enough
There is no single magic disclaimer, and the rule does not supply one. A disclosure for a compensated client testimonial typically has to say that the speaker is a current client, that they received compensation, what the material terms were, and what conflict that creates. Something along these lines, adapted by your compliance counsel:
This statement was provided by a current client of our firm. The client received [describe compensation] for appearing in this video. This arrangement creates an incentive for the client to speak favorably about us.
What makes it work is the placement: visible when the testimonial is, readable at the same scale, and not reachable only through a link. Your counsel should also decide whether you need any additional performance-related language if the testimonial refers to returns, since the rule's general standards on misleading claims still apply.
State-registered advisers: check before you publish
Everything above is the federal framework for SEC-registered advisers. State-registered advisers answer to their state securities regulator, and many states have historically barred testimonials. Reporting in 2025 said about 25 states still did not allow state-registered RIAs to promote testimonials and online reviews, while NASAA proposed amendments to its model advertising rules that July.
That has since moved forward. In May 2026, NASAA approved amendments to four model rules on adviser advertising, bringing them closer to the federal standard. Model rules are not law in your state, though. Each state decides whether and when to adopt them, so confirm the current text with your state securities regulator or your compliance counsel before posting a single review. This is the one place where "the SEC allows it" does not settle the question.
Perspective: why compliance is a marketing problem, not just a legal one
We are practicing advisors who have built real advisory practices, and we have lived on both sides of this. Testimonials are the part of marketing prospects trust most, and the part advisors are most nervous about. That nervousness is healthy, but it too often turns into doing nothing.
Our view is that a testimonial program should be designed backwards from the disclosure. Decide where the disclosure sits, how it reads and who signs off, and then build the collection process around that. When you do it in that order, the content is easy to produce and easy to defend. When you do it the other way around, you end up with a good quote and a bad footnote.
We also think the quality bar is higher than the legal bar. Examiners care whether the rule was followed. Prospects care whether the story tells them how you work: how you listen, how you explain and what changed for the client. A testimonial that speaks to process is both safer and more persuasive than one that praises results. If you want a broader map, our ranking of RIA fiduciary marketing messages by risk shows where testimonials sit among other message types.
— Josh
How we help advisors put this into practice
If you would rather not build the process alone, our team produces the pieces that testimonials live in: webinars, seminars, a compliance-friendly content library, email campaigns, social content and advisor websites, all built for the regulatory demands and long buying cycles of financial services. You can see the full list on our services page, or start with the overall growth approach. Your compliance officer still has final say on anything you publish, and we build around that review step instead of working around it.
A pre-publish checklist
Run every testimonial, review or endorsement through these questions before it goes live. Our broader compliance marketing checklist covers the rest of your marketing.
- Is the speaker's status (current client or not) clear and stated?
- Is any compensation, cash or non-cash, identified and its terms described?
- Are material conflicts disclosed in the same place as the statement?
- Is the disclosure as prominent as the testimonial, not a link or fine print?
- Is there a written agreement if compensation exceeds $1,000 in 12 months?
- Did you check that a paid promoter is not an ineligible person?
- Was the request sent to all clients, not a hand-picked group?
- Did a designated person approve the exact text and placement, with a record kept?
- If a rating is involved, do you have the provider, date, period and compensation details?
- If you are state-registered, does your state allow it today?
FAQ
Can financial advisors use client testimonials?
SEC-registered advisers can, under the Marketing Rule, if they follow the disclosure, oversight and disqualification conditions. State-registered advisers must check their own state's rules first, because some states have not yet aligned with the federal standard.
Do I need a disclaimer on every testimonial?
You need the required disclosures with each testimonial or endorsement at the time it is shown. That means saying whether the speaker is a current client, whether they were compensated, and any material conflicts. The disclosure has to be clear and prominent, so a link to a separate page is not enough.
Can I give a client a gift for a review?
You may offer an incentive only if it is not conditioned, directly or by implication, on a positive or negative review. Under the SEC rule, anything of value is compensation, so you would also need to consider disclosure and, above $1,000 in 12 months, a written agreement. Check the plan with your compliance officer first.
Can I repost Google reviews on my website?
Reposting turns a review into part of your advertisement, so the Marketing Rule conditions apply to it. Ask all clients for reviews rather than selected ones, avoid editing them selectively, and attach the disclosures where the review appears.
Sources
- 17 CFR § 275.206(4)-1, Investment adviser marketing
- SEC small business compliance guide: Investment Adviser Marketing
- SEC Division of Examinations risk alert, December 2025
- FTC: Consumer Reviews and Testimonials Rule, Questions and Answers
- RIA Compliance Blog: SEC risk alert on adviser testimonials
- Alternative Regulatory: Testimonials, Endorsements and RIAs
- Nelson Mullins: Marketing Rule risk alert
- Comply: Can financial advisers have Google reviews?
- InvestmentNews: NASAA moves to let state RIAs use client testimonials
- Securities Regulation Daily: NASAA adopts amendments to modernize adviser advertising rules