Meet Consumer Duty Requirements | Verified Reviews

Why customer feedback is a compliance tool, not just a trust signal

Most financial services firms already know that reviews build trust. Fewer have considered what verified feedback can do for their compliance position.

Consumer Duty places the burden of proof on firms. You need to show the FCA that your customers are receiving good outcomes — across understanding, support, product value, and pricing. Customer feedback, collected systematically and tied to verified transactions, gives you exactly that evidence.

70% of UK consumers already trust verified reviews more than non-verified feedback. But beyond trust, verified reviews give your compliance team something anonymous platforms cannot: a documented, auditable record of real customer experiences that you can act on, report on, and stand behind.

When a customer flags confusion about a product term, or describes a support interaction that fell short, that feedback becomes a data point. Patterns in that data reveal systemic issues. Addressing those issues — and evidencing that you have done so — is precisely what the FCA expects.

Firms using open platforms, where anyone can post anonymously, face a structural problem: they cannot follow up with reviewers, cannot verify the feedback is genuine, and cannot demonstrate accountability. That makes open platform reviews difficult to use as compliance evidence, regardless of volume.

How can financial institutions safely publish customer testimonials online?

Publishing customer testimonials is permitted, but requires care. The FCA’s financial promotions regime applies to any communication likely to influence a consumer’s decision to buy a financial product or service. Testimonials describing good service are generally lower risk than those implying financial performance or guaranteed outcomes.

In practice, firms should follow these principles:

Only publish feedback from verified customers — unverified testimonials are difficult to defend if a regulator asks you to demonstrate they are genuine
Do not select testimonials that are unrepresentative of the typical customer experience
Ensure the presentation of reviews is balanced — show rating distributions, not just top scores
Avoid editing testimonial content in ways that change meaning or remove relevant context
Retain records of the review submission process, including who was invited, when, and in relation to which transaction

A platform like Feefo, where the invite, submission, moderation, and publication steps are all documented and tied to verified transactions, gives financial institutions a defensible audit trail — which is what regulators want to see.

How Feefo helps financial services firms meet Consumer Duty requirements

Feefo works with financial services brands including Atom Bank, LV=, AXA and SecureTrust Bank to collect and manage verified customer feedback that supports Consumer Duty compliance. Every review is tied to a confirmed transaction — giving you a clean, documented process that satisfies the core compliance question: where did this feedback come from, and how do you know it is genuine?

Custom feedback questions

Tailor your review requests to capture the insights that matter for compliance. Identify vulnerable customers through targeted questions, and trigger follow-up queries automatically when a low rating signals a potential issue.
Feedback Request Manager

Collect verified feedback across every customer touchpoint — online, in-branch, post-purchase, or towards the end of a policy term. Segment by customer type, product, or journey stage to build a complete picture of outcomes across your book.
Private feedback campaigns

Gather insights without publishing reviews publicly. Useful where a customer has closed an account or cancelled a policy — and valuable for evidencing that you are actively monitoring outcomes, not just showcasing positive feedback.
AI Moderation and AI Replies

Maintain consistency and quality at scale. AI Moderation removes inappropriate content; AI Replies enables prompt, consistent responses to customer feedback. Both help demonstrate the kind of active oversight the FCA expects.

Ready to turn customer feedback into compliance evidence?

Feefo gives financial services firms a verified, auditable review platform built for the demands of Consumer Duty. Join brands like Atom Bank, LV= and AXA in collecting feedback that satisfies regulators and builds lasting customer trust.

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FAQs

What is the FCA Consumer Duty?

The FCA’s Consumer Duty came into force in July 2023, setting a higher standard of care for all financial services firms operating in the UK. It requires businesses to actively demonstrate that they are delivering good outcomes for customers across four pillars: products and services, price and value, consumer understanding, and consumer support.

The key distinction from previous regulation is the burden of proof. Firms must monitor customer outcomes, identify where those outcomes fall short, and take documented action to address the root causes. Good intentions are not sufficient – the FCA expects evidence. The FCA has published guidance on good and poor practice across the Consumer Support outcome, which gives firms a useful benchmark for where the regulator’s expectations sit in practice.

FCA: Consumer Support outcome — good practices and areas for improvement

How do verified review platforms support compliance in regulated industries?

For financial services firms, the compliance question around reviews goes beyond the DMCC Act. The FCA’s Consumer Duty requires that customer communications are fair, clear, and not misleading – and that firms can demonstrate accountability for customer outcomes.

Verified review platforms support this in three ways. First, they provide an auditable chain from transaction to review, so firms can show that published feedback came from real customers. Second, consistent moderation policies remove the risk of selective suppression, which regulators treat as misleading. Third, review data is held in a structured way that can be retrieved and reported on if a regulator asks.

Because every Feefo review invitation is tied to a confirmed transaction, firms can point to a clean, documented process that answers the question regulators are most likely to ask: where did this feedback come from, and how do you know it is genuine?