Lead marketplaces — n = 18

Can a consumer find the right advisor on a lead marketplace’s website?

We walked every one of these 18 by hand and tested each against the same six things. Here is what we found, firm by firm.

What this group does, and does not, let a visitor do

18 lead marketplaces audited here pass 2.22 of the six on average.

Against the 340 financial surfaces overall, this group is weakest on see a real person at all (56% here against 76% across the study) and reach them yourself (33% here against 60% across the study).

8 of the 18 reach nobody at all — no named advisor appears at any depth, so there is nothing for a visitor to choose between.

2 hand a visitor a named advisor they were given no way to choose.

2 pass all six. 8 pass none.

Can you see a real person at all?

56%

10 of 18

10 of 18 show a named advisor somewhere on the page without asking for a form first. On the other 8, a visitor never sees an individual at all.

Can you narrow by what you need?

28%

5 of 18

5 of 18 offer a control for specialty, credentials, or how an advisor is paid. On the other 13, location is the only thing a visitor can narrow by, or there is nothing to narrow by at all.

Can you narrow by who fits you?

17%

3 of 18

3 of 18 offer a control for the language a visitor speaks, the community they belong to, or the life event they are facing. On the other 15, who the visitor is makes no difference to who they are shown.

Can you reach them yourself?

33%

6 of 18

6 of 18 give a visitor that named advisor’s own phone, email, or calendar without submitting their details to the firm first. The other 12 do not.

Can you keep your details until you choose?

33%

6 of 18

6 of 18 let a visitor reach the advisor they picked without joining a queue, asking for a callback, or filling in a match form. On the other 12, the route runs through the firm.

Can a machine find them?

56%

10 of 18

10 of 18 put their advisors in the served bytes, where a crawler or an answer engine can read them. On the other 8, the advisors are invisible to machines.

If you run one of these: what Couplr does for wealth marketplaces. This page is the evidence; that one is what we do about it.

The rows

All 18, and what a consumer could actually do on each

Click a name to open its finding: the six with what carries each, what the walk ended in, every control on the page as the page labels it, and the URL we audited.

Lead marketplaces — all 18 audited pages, grouped by the route a consumer got. Fieldwork closed 11 September 2026.
SurfaceThe SixStepsChoose byEnded inMachines
Short, and you chose3
  • See a real person at all — passes
  • Narrow by what you need — passes
  • Narrow by who fits you — fails
  • Reach them yourself — passes
  • Keep your details until you choose — passes
  • Be found by a machine — passes
2Short, and you choseSpecialty/Service + locationTheir direct phone or emailYes
  • See a real person at all — passes
  • Narrow by what you need — passes
  • Narrow by who fits you — fails
  • Reach them yourself — passes
  • Keep your details until you choose — passes
  • Be found by a machine — passes
2Short, and you choseSpecialty · Firm + locationTheir direct phone or emailYes
  • See a real person at all — passes
  • Narrow by what you need — passes
  • Narrow by who fits you — passes
  • Reach them yourself — passes
  • Keep your details until you choose — passes
  • Be found by a machine — passes
2Short, and you choseIdentity/community · Religion · Ethnicity +6 more + locationA named advisor — but a shared numberYes
Longer, but the steps earned it1
  • See a real person at all — passes
  • Narrow by what you need — passes
  • Narrow by who fits you — passes
  • Reach them yourself — passes
  • Keep your details until you choose — passes
  • Be found by a machine — passes
3Longer, but the steps earned itHow they are paid (fee model) · Occupation served + locationA queueYes
Longer, and the steps bought you nothing2
  • See a real person at all — passes
  • Narrow by what you need — fails
  • Narrow by who fits you — fails
  • Reach them yourself — passes
  • Keep your details until you choose — passes
  • Be found by a machine — passes
3Longer, and it bought nothingName or firm (free-text lookup, not a facet) + locationNothingYes
  • See a real person at all — passes
  • Narrow by what you need — fails
  • Narrow by who fits you — fails
  • Reach them yourself — passes
  • Keep your details until you choose — passes
  • Be found by a machine — passes
3Longer, and it bought nothingLocation onlyA queueYes
You can see them. You cannot reach them.4
  • See a real person at all — passes
  • Narrow by what you need — passes
  • Narrow by who fits you — passes
  • Reach them yourself — fails
  • Keep your details until you choose — fails
  • Be found by a machine — passes
—Seen, not reachableLife stage (age band) · Occupation/industry · Specialty + locationA message you can sendYes
  • See a real person at all — passes
  • Narrow by what you need — fails
  • Narrow by who fits you — fails
  • Reach them yourself — fails
  • Keep your details until you choose — fails
  • Be found by a machine — passes
—Seen, not reachableNothingNothingYes
  • See a real person at all — passes
  • Narrow by what you need — fails
  • Narrow by who fits you — fails
  • Reach them yourself — fails
  • Keep your details until you choose — fails
  • Be found by a machine — passes
—Seen, not reachableNothingA queueYes
  • See a real person at all — passes
  • Narrow by what you need — fails
  • Narrow by who fits you — fails
  • Reach them yourself — fails
  • Keep your details until you choose — fails
  • Be found by a machine — passes
—Seen, not reachableNothingA queueYes
No named person at any depth8
  • See a real person at all — fails
  • Narrow by what you need — fails
  • Narrow by who fits you — fails
  • Reach them yourself — fails
  • Keep your details until you choose — fails
  • Be found by a machine — fails
—No route at allNothingNo named person at any depthNo
  • See a real person at all — fails
  • Narrow by what you need — fails
  • Narrow by who fits you — fails
  • Reach them yourself — fails
  • Keep your details until you choose — fails
  • Be found by a machine — fails
—No route at allNothingNo named person at any depthNo
  • See a real person at all — fails
  • Narrow by what you need — fails
  • Narrow by who fits you — fails
  • Reach them yourself — fails
  • Keep your details until you choose — fails
  • Be found by a machine — fails
—No route at allNothingNo named person at any depthNo
  • See a real person at all — fails
  • Narrow by what you need — fails
  • Narrow by who fits you — fails
  • Reach them yourself — fails
  • Keep your details until you choose — fails
  • Be found by a machine — fails
—No route at allNothingNo named person at any depthNo
  • See a real person at all — fails
  • Narrow by what you need — fails
  • Narrow by who fits you — fails
  • Reach them yourself — fails
  • Keep your details until you choose — fails
  • Be found by a machine — fails
—No route at allNothingNo named person at any depthNo
  • See a real person at all — fails
  • Narrow by what you need — fails
  • Narrow by who fits you — fails
  • Reach them yourself — fails
  • Keep your details until you choose — fails
  • Be found by a machine — fails
—No route at allNothingNo named person at any depthNo
  • See a real person at all — fails
  • Narrow by what you need — fails
  • Narrow by who fits you — fails
  • Reach them yourself — fails
  • Keep your details until you choose — fails
  • Be found by a machine — fails
—No route at allNothingNo named person at any depthNo
  • See a real person at all — fails
  • Narrow by what you need — fails
  • Narrow by who fits you — fails
  • Reach them yourself — fails
  • Keep your details until you choose — fails
  • Be found by a machine — fails
—No route at allNothingNo named person at any depthNo
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