cherry use grows by more than 53%

Broker use of the forum cherryplc.co.uk has increased by more than 53% in the last year, with the number of page views growing from 861k to more than 1.32m.

Between 1st April 2020 and 31st March 2021 all major metrics have shown increased engagement with cherry as brokers have used the forum as an important way of communicating with their peers throughout multiple national lockdowns.

The number of individual broker sessions on the forum grew by more than 42% to 214,519, the number of pages per session increased from 5.71 to 6.16 and the average time on the site rose by more than 6% to 7 minutes 38 seconds. Overall, brokers spent more than 27,000 hours active on the forum throughout the year.

Donna Hopton, Director at cherry, commented: “We are really pleased that the cherry forum has been able to provide a platform for brokers to ask questions and bounce ideas off each other throughout this challenging period. Because the main forum is ‘adviser only’ it provides the only environment within which advisers feel secure to engage in honest, open dialogue. The feedback we’ve had from brokers is that forum engagement, or just observation, is always important, but has proven particularly valuable at a time when they haven’t been able to interact in offices or events. Access to cherry is free and as more brokers use the forum, we are confident it will become an even more integral part of their working day.”

Craig Owens from Just Mortgages said: “I have found cherry to be a massive help as it’s good to know that other brokers, who are experienced, also have struggles and have the same issues and problems as myself. It’s like a support network and they have zero desire to criticise or belittle. Some brokers have lots of colleagues and support and others are on their own and cherry levels the playing field by creating a community where we can support and help (or just rant).”

Jonathan Miller, IFA at Forte Financial Solutions, said: “Being a sole trader, you want to chat to people to see how business is going in terms of levels and processes etc. Also, the wealth of answers on the site provides a deeper knowledge of criteria than some of the specialist websites.”

Ian Rogers from C A Mortgage Services, said: “There has been a lot more interaction with younger more inexperienced advisers asking for help and guidance with cases, and lots on how to do more business, such as leads and life insurances.”

Published: 22 April 2021