Asset management firms face a tug of war when it comes to gating resources and content for advisors. On one side, firms want to promote engagement and loyalty with a user-friendly website experience: limited friction, high-value tools, and helpful product information. On the other side, firms want to gate their highest-value content to encourage advisors to create accounts and build the firm-advisor relationship.
Corporate Insight’s asset management research team examined this push-and-pull in a recent comparative analysis report, Asset Management Monitor – Secure Site Resource Availability. The report examined how and when 18 firms gate content, focusing on the types of resources and features that firms gate, as well as how and where firms indicate gating.
Below, we preview two summary findings from this research: How firms indicate locked content, and which tools and practice management features firms decide to lock.
The majority of the coverage set implements icons to help advisors identify locked content, although few do so consistently
CI’s UX research has found that icons are often confusing without proper labelling. (The only consistent exception? Users universally understand that a gear icon indicates Settings.) For advisor-facing sites, the inconsistent application of lock icons risks creating a confusing digital experience, drawing attention to the mechanics of navigation rather than the resources a firm has to offer. When advisors cannot easily identify which content requires secure site registration, navigating a site becomes a process of clicking through resources that appear freely accessible but instead lead to login pages. This adds friction to routine tasks such as fund research or portfolio construction.
This research found that while 78% of firms denote secure site content with icons, few (33%) do so with complete consistency. Franklin Templeton, for instance, leaves the fund Watchlist feature on its Mutual Funds page unmarked, only surfacing a Sign In to Add to Watchlist lightbox after an advisor attempts to add a fund. Invesco similarly routes advisors to a generic login page from unmarked links throughout its practice management suite.
Login prompts (78%) and contextual messaging (61%) represent additional methods firms use to signal gated content, though their presence alongside inconsistent icon use further underscores the fragmented approach across the coverage set. While gating content behind registration is standard practice, inconsistent labeling reframes an access requirement as an unintentional navigational inconvenience. This experience gap can detract from the quality of the content itself.
PIMCO’s approach to signaling locked content stands out across the coverage set for its consistency in applying a variety of locked content indicators. At a baseline level, lock icons appear reliably across individual pages wherever content requires registration, ensuring advisors do not need to test links to discover restrictions. What elevates PIMCO’s approach beyond mere consistency, however, is the deliberateness of its signaling implementations. Throughout the site, the firm pairs lock icons with login and registration prompts. Most distinctively, upon login the firm transforms locked icons into unlatched equivalents, actively signaling to advisors that they have gained access to content of value rather than simply removing the restriction marker. Taken together, PIMCO’s implementations reflect a signaling approach that treats the lock as a reinforcement of the secure site’s overall value proposition.
Firms take a selective approach to gating within both tools and practice management, reserving resources with the most direct advisor utility
Firms in this research do not uniformly restrict tools and practice management content behind the login. Instead firms draw deliberate lines based on a resource’s depth and direct relevance to advisor workflows.
Among tools, firms most frequently lock portfolio construction and analysis capabilities (56%) as well as comparison tools (50%), both tied to advisors’ core investment decision-making processes. Retirement tools reflect an equally high restriction rate (50%), particularly notable given that retirement represents the primary investment goal for most clients.
Similarly, advisor-facing practice management materials (61%) and CE courses (56%) rank among the most commonly restricted content types, reflecting their role as high-value resources tied to professional development and day-to-day advisory operations. By contrast, firms largely leave broader practice management resource pages (11%) and college planning tools (6%) publicly available.
These splits suggest a strategic calculus: resources that deliver proprietary analytical value or deepen advisor engagement warrant a login, while those that reinforce a firm’s expertise or serve as promotional vehicles—like college planning tools that can funnel advisors toward 529 offerings—are more effective when left open to drive discovery and site exploration. CI survey data reinforces this approach; when asked which resources justify MFA, advisors highlight proprietary tools and high value resources as key categories, specifically referencing portfolio analytics, advanced planning tools and proprietary research. This suggests that firms’ gating patterns align with advisor expectations about where authentication adds rather than detracts from the experience.
Franklin Templeton epitomizes this selective approach. The firm locks its Portfolio Analytics Tool and TargetDateVisualizer behind login, both of which require advisor-specific inputs, such as client portfolio holdings, and generate personalized outputs, like customizable reports, thereby fitting the pattern of reserving authentication for resources with direct practice utility. At the same time, it keeps tools like its Municipal Bond Ladder Tool publicly available. This tool functions as both an advisor resource and a product promotion vehicle, funneling users toward the firm’s SMA resources via an Explore Our SMA-Related Content section at the bottom of its interface.
The firm applies a similar logic across its practice management suite, restricting deeper resources like CE courses and client seminar materials while keeping broader practice management content publicly available as a showcase of the firm’s advisory support capabilities. This extends to the firm’s Insights Library, where most commentaries remain publicly available but downloads of deeper content within specialized hubs, like the Private Markets microsite, require registration. The public site effectively functions as a preview of the firm’s full resource depth, allowing advisors to browse freely while reserving login for the content most likely to drive sustained engagement and repeated visits.
For more on the latest digital experience trends across financial services, insurance, and healthcare, visit CI’s Insights page. And learn more about our Asset Management – Advisor research solutions.
Deirdre Kelshaw
Deirdre Kelshaw is an analyst on CI's asset management team.