Sesame: Elevation Frequently Asked Questions

Elevation is an enhanced client survey from VouchedFor used by over 7,000 advisers.

It uses client feedback to help meet Consumer Duty requirements AND grow revenue.

The survey is built on 250,000 clients’ feedback, 12 years’ expertise, focus groups with advisers, regulatory experts and consumers and 1,000s of question tests.

Elevation offers completely private feedback, reports, dashboards and industry benchmarking showing you the great job you're doing. Along with the most powerful things you can do to consistently delight clients, boost referrals, up cross-sells and mitigate any risk.

While feedback on Elevation is private, there is the option to put the relevant parts of it (star rating, comments on how the adviser helped etc.) public through verified membership of VouchedFor.co.uk if you wish to. There is no obligation or expectation here.

If you have any questions at all please email customer_service@vouchedfor.co.uk.

All UK advice networks need to collect regular, in-depth client feedback to meet Consumer Duty requirements and avoid significant regulatory challenges for them and their members.

Sesame researched different survey options and ran a 6 month pilot of the Elevation system with 50 advisers at the start of 2024.

Feedback from pilot advisers was very positive, and here are some of their results:

*665 clients left feedback (max. response rate 57%, avg. 26%)
*5 out of 5 average adviser rating
*99.5% of Sesame clients say they would recommend their adviser
*£150 average extra revenue opportunities (referrals, cross-sells etc.) found in just one Sesame client's feedback

Elevation helped advisers on the pilot celebrate their strengths, drive efficiencies and grow revenue.

As a result, Elevation is being rolled out to the whole Sesame network in phases, starting from September 2024.

The advantage to you in Sesame choosing Elevation is that the system is not just a compliance tool and feedback is not collected behind closed doors.

You get access to all its insights, at no cost to you (it's fully funded by Sesame), to help you strengthen and grow your business.

Elevation is proving very popular with 7,000+ UK advisers and was a big hit with the Sesame advisers who took part in the recent pilot.

Elevation helps consistently delight clients and mitigate any risks.

On average Elevation helps advisers unlock an extra £150 per mortgage client and £100 per protection client.

The time requirement for advisers using Elevation is minimal. You'll be invited to a 30 minute launch webinar and a 30 minute 121 Client Insights Review call. After that you can log in to see your dashboards as and when you see fit.

Our team is on hand to help in any way we can, feel free to reach out at any point -customer_service@vouchedfor.co.uk.

February 2024 - February 2025
50 Sesame advisers took part in a pilot of the Elevation system.

March 2025
30 new Sesame advisers will be added to Elevation.
If you are one of these advisers, you will be invited to a launch webinar giving you everything you need to know.
A heads up email and then feedback invitation, will go out to clients who have completed mortgage or protection business recently. This is to create a baseline of valuable data.

Remaining Sesame advisers will be added to Elevation in tranches, each month.
When it is your turn, you will be invited to a launch webinar giving you everything you need to know.
A heads up email and then feedback invitation, will go out to clients who have completed mortgage or protection business recently. This is to create a baseline of valuable data.

August 2025
All Sesame advisers will have been onboarded.
Regular invites to be sent to clients who have completed a mortgage or written protection since the previous invitation.
Drop-in sessions are available with advisers to address any questions.

At the point you reach 5 pieces of feedback
Once you reach 5 pieces of feedback, you will be invited to attend a 1-2-1 Client Insights Review call where you will see your Elevation dashboards and receive access to your feedback.

You will be invited to book a Client Insight Review call with a member of the VouchedFor team once you have 5 pieces of feedback.

The primary purpose of the call is to share your Elevation data and talk through how it works and the opportunities it contains to help you drive your goals.

You know your clients best so are best placed to say how to act on each piece of data, though we're happy to share what's working well for other advisers if helpful.

On the call we will ask if you are interested in putting parts of your feedback public through verified membership of the VouchedFor website. If you say that you are, we will explain what's involved along with details of the discount available to Sesame advisers. There is of course no obligation to go for this.

The call is a chance for you to gain ideas and ask questions. Most advisers find it valuable.

Feedback requests will go out to everyone who has completed a mortgage or written business since the previous invites were sent.

If you'd like to see a precise list of which of your clients have been invited so far, please email customer_services@vouchedfor.co.uk and we'd be happy to help.

The Elevation team has tested questions with many thousands of clients to arrive at the most valuable from a Consumer Duty and commercial perspective. The feedback form typically takes 5 minutes to complete and has an average completion rate of 40%.

You can see the questions that will be asked at the links below:
Mortgage clients
Protection clients
Equity release clients

In this case please get in touch at customer_service@vouchedfor.co.uk and we will be delighted to help.

Which questions to ask, including how many, is quite subjective and often leads to differing opinions. We rely on regulation, data and evidence to steer our question set. We've run thousands of tests and run focus groups with consumers and others to arrive at a set of question that achieves a healthy responsible rate, goes down well with clients and generates the best outcomes for advisers and their customers.

The survey takes 5 minutes and the data it produces helps advisers deliver the best possible service for all their clients. The average response rate is currently 40% and it is exceptionally rare that clients share critical comments about the survey (<0.01% of recipients). Interestingly, our data shows that clients are much more likely to complain about being asked to leave a Google review, despite it being a much shorter form, because it requires a Google account.

The invites are sent using the VouchedFor system, using data supplied by Sesame. The invites take the form of a plain text email signed off by you.

The feedback invitation coming from you ensures a higher response rate.

This is important from a Consumer Duty perspective as, at one of their recent events, the FCA cited a low feedback response rate for an adviser being cause for concern.

Plus, the higher the response rate, the more valuable data you/your firm get to strengthen your Consumer Duty response and drive revenue.

Lastly, clients know you, not always your firm, so the invitation coming from you helps reduce concerns the email is spam or suchlike.

If you have any questions about this, we'd love to help. Please email customer_service@vouchedfor.co.uk

Reviews are powerful so it's great that you are already collecting them.

However, in isolation reviews do not go into enough depth to satisfy the Consumer Duty.

Elevation collects feedback that gives you deeper insights to help with the Consumer Duty.

You have the option to put the relevant parts of this feedback public on VouchedFor and/or you can choose to collect feedback on other platforms too and that's absolutely fine.

Most clients are used to completing both a more detailed survey and a testimonial and are happy to oblige.

In terms of process, here are two options...

1) Some advisers choose to invite a review on another platform straight after completion while letting the client know that a more in-depth survey will follow later.

An example of such an email is below:

Subject line: Review request

Hi [Client Name],

It's been a pleasure working with you.

I'd very grateful if you could take 2 minutes to leave a short review of my services on my [Facebook/Google/Trustpilot] page.

Separately, as part of our efforts to deliver a consistently great service, you will also receive a 5 minute survey through the VouchedFor system in a few days time.

I care deeply about delivering the best possible service to as many people as possible so would be grateful if you could take a few minutes to complete each form. But please don't feel under any obligation to do so.

Best wishes

[Your name]

2) Many advisers choose to reach out to clients who have completed the Elevation survey, with an email like this:

Subject line: Your feedback

Hi [Client Name],

Thank you so much for completing our recent survey. I'll use your feedback to ensure I deliver the best possible service for you and others.

Please don't feel obliged, but I'd very grateful if you could take 2 minutes to add the relevant part of your feedback to my [Facebook/Google/Trustpilot] page.

All you'd need to do is copy the below text (feel free to edit it if you'd like):

[Insert the answer to 'How did the adviser help you?' from their Elevation feedback]

And then add a star rating and paste it here ['here' hyperlinked to the appropriate page].

I'd be very grateful if this is possible, as am keen to strengthen my online presence and help more people. No problem at all if not.

Best wishes

[Your name]

After your Client Insights Review call, you will be sent a link which will allow you to set up an account on VouchedFor, from there you can log in and look at your feedback and Elevation data at any time. If you haven't received this after your Client Insights Review call or if you have any questions at all, please email us at customer_service@vouchedfor.co.uk

Verified membership enables advisers to put the relevant parts of their Elevation feedback public on VouchedFor.co.uk, the review site which 2 million clients use each year to find and check financial and mortgage advisers.

Verified membership gives advisers access to a range of reputation tools, a stronger presence on Google and the ability to qualify for the annual Top Rated Adviser Guide, which in 2025 will feature in The Times, The Telegraph and elsewhere.

Advisers who wish to can access Verified membership. A minimum of two pieces of client feedback is required to become a verified member.

As stated above, there is no obligation to become a verified member at all.

While this is an understandable concern, we collect feedback from 1000s of mortgage clients each week and the vast majority is positive. Elevation is much more about helping advisers go from good to consistently great than it is about identifying issues.

<1.5% of feedback reflects significant risk and identifying this early helps stop and protect against complaints.

In the course of collecting feedback from over 350k clients, we know of no instance where feedback has sparked a complaint. However we know of multiple instances where niggles have been identified early and that has helped prevent a future complaint. We also know of multiple instances where data collected through Elevation has helped protect an adviser in the event of an unfounded complaint.

The following at Sesame Bankhall Group will have access to Firm level data: Central management, Compliance, and Training teams.

We understand that some advisers are nervous about their client feedback being viewed by others. However, it is a necessary part of Consumer Duty and your client feedback is generally excellent, so there shouldn't be anything to worry about.

The system is much more about helping advisers go from good to consistently great rather than calling out poor performance.

Client feedback is centrally managed by Sesame, ensuring that all clients who have completed a mortgage or received initial protection advice are invited to provide input. This approach saves advisers time while also meeting both regulatory and commercial requirements.

Sesame’s central data team compiles a list of clients who have had a mortgage submission, plus 10 days, on a monthly basis. This data is then securely shared with the VouchedFor team, who process it, send a heads-up email, and shortly after, distribute the actual survey invitations.

To maximise the number of surveys issued, advisers should ensure that client names and email addresses are accurately recorded in Smartr. Our analysis has shown that many clients have missing or incorrect email addresses, which directly impacts the volume of surveys sent—limiting your opportunity to collect valuable feedback.

Survey invitations are sent out as part of a structured monthly process. Clients receive a maximum of one invitation per year.

Sesame firmly believes in the power of client feedback. Engaging with clients’ perspectives enhances the overall client experience and ultimately delivers greater business value for both advisers and Sesame.

Consumer Duty brings the importance of direct client feedback into sharper focus. It is now a regulatory obligation for advisers and advice principals to obtain direct client feedback. And it is vital that this is driven centrally otherwise Sesame would have the impossible task of trying to reconcile multiple different surveys and data gaps, which would not land well with the regulator.

Elevation enables consistent, robust reporting, helping you stay compliant, while empowering you and with insights to help strengthen and grow your business.

Sesame is paying for Elevation for you and is confident you will receive value from it. In time, as this is an enhancement to Sesame’s service, they will consider it when they conduct their annual review of the fees they levy to be part of the Network.

If you choose to take out a public profile on VouchedFor you would need to fund that yourself, but benefit from a 25% discount due to being part of Sesame.

Some advisers may already collect client feedback, so it’s important to emphasise both the value of feedback collection and the need for a consistent methodology.

Feedback must be gathered in the same way across Sesame to present a consistent, robust picture to the regulator, demonstrating the excellent service provided to clients.

Consumer Duty requires all of us to obtain client feedback and show how it informs service improvements.

While we will support you in embracing Elevation in a way that works for you – including enabling you to issue surveys yourselves – opting out entirely will not be permitted.

Please get in touch, we'd love to help and to add your question to this FAQ doc if it would help others. You can reach us at customer_service@vouchedfor.co.uk.