How To Start An Online Consultation Marketplace

Last Updated: 02 August, 2024

Online consultation is gaining popularity worldwide. Individuals seek online consultation in various fields from career advice, relationship consultation, health and wellness consultation to legalization, business management, and more. According to Mintel’s report, approximately 33% of individuals consider online consultation over face-to-face meetings. 

Considering the trend, launching an online consultation marketplace is a good idea for aspiring entrepreneurs. Focusing on bringing consultation seekers and consultants together on a platform, this business idea is an innovation in itself. FATbit analyzed the inside out of this business and created a guide for entrepreneurs who want to be part of this revolution. What follows next is popular online consultation market players, the business model, and the key steps to start an online consultation marketplace. 

Top Online Consultation Marketplace Players

Online consultation is a profitable business and many popular players are achieving sustainable growth in the industry. By gaining insights into these popular online consultation marketplaces you can position your business strategically in the industry, avoiding potential pitfalls. Let’s know about the popular online consultation marketplaces.

Clarity

A popular online consultation marketplace that connects entrepreneurs and budding startup owners with experts from various industries for one-on-one consultation. Till now, 73k+ successful sessions have been conducted on this platform. 

Founded in: 2012

Founder: Dan Martell

Country: United States

Revenue: $6 million per year

Niche: Startup Advice from Experts

Business Model: One-on-one Consultation 

Catalant

Catalant is a renowned consultation platform that allows entrepreneurs to gain access to a network of more than 65,000 independent experts, experienced business professionals, and expert consultants for guidance in their entrepreneurial journey. Around 10 K+ consultants are experts with Fortune 500 experience on this platform. 

Founded in: 2013

Founder: Rob Biederman, Pat Petitti, Joe Miller and Peter Maglathlin

Country: United States 

Revenue: $23.5 million per year

Niche: Business Consultation

Business Model: One-on-one Consultation Marketplace

Comatch

Connecting more than 15000 consultants, and experts, with consultation seekers,  Comatch is a popular online consultation platform. This platform has a presence in more than 26 countries worldwide. 

Founded in: 2014

Founder: Christoph Hardt, Jan Schächtele

Country: Germany

Revenue: $41.9 million per year

Niche: Management Consultation

Business Model: Online Consultation for Companies

Expert360

Expert360 enables businesses and organizations to consult experts from diverse fields such as management consultants, project experts, marketers, data analysts, finance experts, and more. 

Founded In: 2012

Founder: Bridget Loudon, Dmitry Alimov, Emily Yue

Country: Australia

Revenue: $22.4 million per year

Niche: Business Consultation

Business Model: Online Consultation for Companies and Organizations

Therapy Panda 

Therapy Panda (built by Yo!Coach) is a popular virtual consultation platform to connect psychologists, therapists, counselors, and community listeners with those suffering from mental health issues. This online consultation platform supports online and in-person consultation business model. Since its launch, they have onboarded 130+ practitioners and helped thousands of individuals in obtaining therapy. 

Co-Founder and CEO: Martin Pendrigh

Country: United Kingdom

Niche: Mental Health Consultation

Business Model: Online and in-person consultation

Nexia Wellness 

Nexia Wellness (built by Yo!Coach) is a popular online health and wellness consultation marketplace that successfully connects individuals seeking online health support with experienced health practitioners. 

Founder: Mary Solis

Country: United States

Niche: Health and Wellness 

Business Model: Online Consultation

Business Model Of An Online Consultation Marketplace

The online consultation marketplace is a common meeting point between consultants and consultation seekers. Here is the business model of an online consultation marketplace: 

• The business owner launches the online consultation marketplace in the industry. The consultants and consultation seekers register themselves on the marketplace by sharing their details.
• The consultation seekers search for consultants based on their requirements and book the consultant that best suit their needs by paying consultation fees. 
• Depending on their availability, consultants and consultation seekers can connect through video conferencing tools. 
• After the completion of the consultation session, the business owner charges a commission from the consultant’s fees and releases their share of revenue. 

Further, let’s know the work-flow of Admin, consultant, and consultation seekers on an online consultation marketplace.

Admin Roles

• Admin is responsible for running and managing all the operations of an online consultation marketplace.
• Admin verifies and approves registrations from consultants, manages client accounts, and addresses any issues that may arise. 
• Admin also oversees the course creation and categorization of subjects offered on the platform. 
• Financial transactions, payments, commissions, and revenues are also managed by the admin on the platform. 
• Booking and scheduling of sessions is also overseen by the admin and they handle the cancellation and rescheduling requests as well. 
• Admin is also responsible for providing customer support to consultants and consultation seekers if they face any issues. 

Workflow Of Consultants

• Sign up on the website.
• List your expertise and provide appropriate certification for the same.
• The profile approval request goes to the admin of the platform. Once the admin approves the profile, the consultant then can mark his/her availability on the calendar to receive session bookings.
• After the consultant receives a booking, he/she can start the session at the time decided beforehand, else the consultant can request the client to reschedule the booking.
• Once a session is delivered successfully, the admin transfers the session fees to the consultant after deducting the commission.

Workflow Of Consultation Seekers

• Sign up on the website
• Search relevant keywords in the search bar to find an appropriate consultant as per the requirement.
• A list of all the matching consultants is displayed on the page and the client can schedule a free demo with the consultant of his/her choice as per his availability calendar.
•  After having a demo session, either the client can look for another consultant or schedule further sessions with the same consultant.
• For scheduling the session, the client can make the payment and start attending the session.
• In case, the client faces any issue regarding the sessions, he/she can raise a ticket to the admin for a refund.

After gaining an in-depth understanding of the business model of an online consultation marketplace, the next aspect is to know how to start an online consultation marketplace.

Steps For Starting An Online Consultation Marketplace

Starting an online consultation marketplace is a cumbersome process to begin with, however, with the right knowledge and technology, this can be achieved easily. Therefore, to help out the aspiring entrepreneur, we have gathered all the relevant information you need to start your own online consultation marketplace. Here is the step-by-step guide:

Step 1: Do Market Research

Gain insights about the online consultation industry. Analyze your competitors, successful players, and the target market effectively. Utilize the information gained in solving the pain points of your target market while making a business plan and launching the online consultation marketplace.  

Step 2: Define Your Target Market 

This is a crucial step in starting an online consultation marketplace. Defining your target market and choosing a niche is the key to success. By focusing on a particular niche market, you can offer more value to your target audience eventually differentiating your business among competitors. Various niches present in the online consultation industry include: 

• Career consultation
• Financial consultation
• Business consultation
• Dating consultation
• Legal consultation
• Astrology consultation
• Fitness consultation
• Health and wellness consultation

Read this blog to know more about different business niches in the online consultation industry. 

Step 3: Select the Features Of Online Consultation Marketplace

Business owners often find themselves in a quandary over which features to include in their online consultation platform. Below listed are some of the most pertinent features for increased growth and better client engagement.

• Audio/Video Chat: Having the potential to bring both parties in close contact, this feature is actually an asset to the online consultation platform. Consultants and clients can communicate remotely in real-time over a secured network. It elevates the quality of consultation as the consultant can easily interpret the client’s problem and communicate the consultation effectively.
• Text Chat: Instant chat between the consultant and client saves a lot of time and helps both parties to offer/get immediate consultation right from their home before, during, or after a session.
• Session Scheduling: In situations that require an increased number of consultation bookings, an online consultation platform should have the ability to plan and schedule appointments. It helps consultants to manage their time efficiently and offer on-time consultations to their clients.

• Session Duration Flexibility: This functionality easily allows you to set the duration of consultation sessions on your platform and charge accordingly.

• File-Sharing: This is another great feature that lets clients share their reports and statistics seamlessly to take the consultation further. The file-sharing feature should be secured as one is free to share all the confidential reports over the platform.

• Reviews and Ratings: Allow clients to provide feedback for consultants by sharing reviews and ratings on the platform. This also helps in building trust and credibility among users on the platform.

• Advanced Search: The search functionality in the online consultation platform allows the clients to search for the consultants by filling in their preferences without browsing all the consultants. Providing a seamless user experience to the users, search functionality also increases their time on your platform.
• Notifications and Alerts: Instantly share important information and details with users on your platform with real-time notifications and alerts. 
• Multiple Payment Gateways: Providing multiple payment gateways like Stripe, PayPal, and more makes it easy for users to make and receive payments, that too in their preferred currency. 
• Multiple Payment Methods: To provide convenience and flexibility to users on the platform offer multiple payment methods such as eWallets, net banking, debit/credit cards, and more.

• Multilingual and Multicurrency Functionality: With this functionality, cater to a global audience effectively. Multilingual functionality allows you to connect with clients breaking language barriers. Whereas, multicurrency functionality, enables users to set the currency as per their preference.

• Time zone synchronization: With this feature, cross the geographical limitation effectively by synchronizing the time zones of the different regions on your platform.

• PWA: This functionality allows you to deliver an app-like user experience across the desktop and mobile web, eventually increasing user engagement and satisfaction.

• Ready-Made Mobile App: Leverage mobile apps to provide a flexible learning experience to learners on the go. Intuitive and user-friendly mobile apps can heighten user satisfaction on your platform.

Step 4: Finalize The Revenue Channels

The right revenue model for your online consultation marketplace will help you reach your business goals and sustain long-term growth. Below listed are some revenue models that can be adopted for your online consultation business.

Commission: One of the primary sources of revenue for the online consultation marketplace is commission. The consultation seekers are charged per session and the payment is transferred to the Admin account. After deducting the pre-decided commission, the admin transfers the remaining amount to the consultant.

Subscriptions: Consultants and consultation seekers can access the platform for free for a limited time and sessions, post which they need to purchase the monthly/ annual subscription of the platform to access the platform. The payment from the subscription fee is a direct revenue source.

Featured Section: Admin can opt to add a featured listing section on the platform to display the popular consultants in lieu of a nominal fee. Being listed in the featured section will give them more visibility and more clients.

Sponsored Ads: Partner with the relevant businesses whose advertisements you can display on your website. These ads can be served by any third-party ad network like Google AdSense.

Step 5: Build An Online Consultation Marketplace

The final step to building an online consultation marketplace is to decide on the development approach for your online consultation marketplace.  There are two ways to build an online consultation marketplace: 

1. Custom Development
2. Ready-made Software

Custom development involves hiring a team of web developers and designers to build your online consultation marketplace from scratch. This development approach takes a lot of time, effort, and financial investment. 

Ready-made software solutions are pre-designed to launch your online consultation marketplace. These software solutions already have all the features and functionality required to launch and run an online consultation marketplace. The time-to-market is much less for ready-made software than for custom development. Moreover, this approach is highly cost-effective and offers several benefits. 

One such popular ready-made software available in the industry is Yo!Coach. It is a feature-packed ready-made software that can effortlessly launch your online consultation marketplace. Cutting-edge features for admin, consultants, and clients make it an ideal option for entrepreneurs.

Moreover, the software can be easily tailored to the personal needs of any consulting service and additional functionalities can be added as required. Currently serving a huge clientele, the software is in high demand because of the following features:

• Audio/Video Chat
• Screen Sharing and Recording
• Session Scheduling
• Reviews/Ratings
• Multilingual/Multi-Currency
• Marketing & Reporting Features

Bridging the gap between the consultants and consultation seekers, Yo!Coach is not only a powerful software but also the need of the hour that can help you start your venture with a solid footing.

Other benefits offered by Yo!Coach include:

• White Label ready-made software
• Self-Hosted 
• No coding or technical knowledge required
• GDPR complaint
• Global clientele
• Years of industry experience
• Free demo
• One year of free technical support
• Industry-specific features
• Android and iOS ready-made mobile apps
• A team of qualified experts

Online Consultation Marketplaces Built with Yo!Coach

Yo!Coach team has helped several entrepreneurs in successfully establishing their online coaching and consultation businesses worldwide. Many entrepreneurs could effectively enter the online consultation industry by utilizing the capabilities of Yo!Coach. Here are the popular online consultation marketplaces built with Yo!Coach:

The Legal Rooms

The Legal Rooms team reached out to us with the mission to digitalize the legal industry. They wanted to build a feature-packed online platform to connect legal practitioners with clients seeking legal assistance. Yo!Coach team successfully implemented their business idea. Since its launch, many reputable legal practitioners have joined this platform to provide legal assistance. 

Founder: Ghassan Haddad

Country: UAE

Niche: Online Legal Consultation

AirSide Chat 

AirSide Chat is a unique online consultation platform bringing together aviation professionals and enthusiasts across the globe. Through this platform, aviation enthusiasts could connect with experts who already have established careers and years of experience in the aviation industry. 

Founder: Sebastian Hall and Paul Tom Linson

Country: UAE

Niche: Aviation Consultation 

The Story Ink

This is India’s first one-stop platform that bridges the gap between creative industry experts and aspiring professionals in the film industry. The founder envisioned building a one-on-one consultation platform, incorporating features like calendar availability, time zone synchronization, and more. Since its launch, 100+ clients have successfully attended sessions on this platform.  

Founder: Sidharth Jain

Country: India

Niche: Online Film Consultation

Know more about our diverse global client base 

Final Thoughts

As the consultation market is growing exponentially, having an online consultation marketplace is a lucrative one. By considering the information mentioned in this blog you can successfully start an online consultation marketplace. Remember to research the market and choose a niche in continuous demand to launch a fruitful business venture. If you need further guidance in starting your online consultation marketplace, feel free to contact us.