FPA relaunches PlannerSearch to match clients and planners

The Financial Planning Association and marketing technology firm Snappy Kraken on Oct. 1 launched a redesigned PlannerSearch intended to link prospective clients with financial planners through a 12-question intake and an automated follow-up process within five minutes. The platform replaces a basic directory with an interview-style intake that aims to improve initial matching and increase appointment rates.

The intake asks about recent life events, emotional drivers and decision-making behavior. Responses feed a Mindset Matrix that plots a prospect’s financial well-being and readiness to engage on two axes and categorizes prospects into four client mindsets. FPA CEO Dennis Moore, during a demonstration, said the tool is designed to help people find ‘true financial planning and planners.’

The Smyth Group led design and development work for the project. Jamie Smyth, Smyth Group’s CEO, said the team avoided a simple ZIP code search or static directory and began development after conversations with planners and consumers to reflect user needs.

Planner profiles are pulled from the FPA database. Advisors can select up to three significant life events and client demographics to indicate specialties and can describe what clients should expect when working with them. A planner dashboard displays profile views and incoming leads so advisors can monitor engagement and refine their messaging over time, Nikita Nilges, strategic designer at Smyth Group, said.

Automatic follow-up is a central feature. The platform sends an initial contact within five minutes of a lead entering the system. Snappy Kraken’s team estimates that contacting prospects within five minutes raises the probability a lead converts to an appointment to about 85%. Waiting 24 hours or more, they estimate, lowers conversion below 10%. The industry average response time is roughly 24 hours.

PlannerSearch incorporates artificial intelligence to support message drafting and discovery. When a planner receives a prospect’s Mindset Matrix results, the platform can generate a first-draft message explaining the planner’s approach. Project designers also structured planner profiles so they can be read and indexed by major AI engines, increasing the likelihood that consumer-facing AI tools will find and cite individual advisors.

The relaunch is part of a multiyear partnership between the Financial Planning Association and Snappy Kraken to improve how consumers locate credentialed financial planners. The platform’s intake quiz, profile features and follow-up workflow are intended to address undifferentiated advisor listings, slow lead response times and consumer difficulty in finding advisors who match specific needs.