Internet Leads Buying Guide

When getting started with buying internet insurance leads many agents will tend to put too much emphasis on lead price.  Lead price is completely relative to an array of other variables which makes a price point decision flawed.  There are many other variables in the lead buying equation that can determine if a $30 shared lead is cheap or a $3 lead with another company is expensive.  A primary piece of the equation is lead quality.  Unlike the price of a lead, quality isn’t a known at the beginning of the process.  An agent will typically have to do some lead testing to get a good feel of the quality a lead company has to offer.  Before getting to that point you can increase your odds by qualifying a lead company against the following criteria.

Lead Generation
How does the lead company generate their leads?  It’s perfectly reasonable to ask this question.  Most companies will tell you they generate leads through paid search (PPC programs like Google Adwords) or through their own websites.  The leads generated through their own websites could come from organic search results which are your typical search engine listings or through affiliate partners that send traffic to the lead companies site for a paid commission.  Many agents take issue with affiliate generated traffic as it can be very low quality with some programs.  We don’t really see affiliate traffic as a negative across the board like some agents do though.  Affiliate traffic can be very high quality if the affiliate program they are working with runs a tight operation.  Lead companies that have affiliate programs on the commercial side need to keep tight control of their affiliates and incoming traffic quality.  Paid search is generally seen as an acceptable form of traffic generation but it can be a source of poor leads if the lead company is bidding on poor keywords that have lower bids.  Don’t be afraid to ask lead companies for some sample keywords they use for PPC search and ask yourself if you’ve like a prospect searching for that keyword.  This area takes a bit of experience and research to get to the bottom so we generally suggest you use it as a guidance point.  Affiliate and search traffic can result in good or poor quality leads depending on how the lead company manages them.  Organic search is typically going to be the best source so if the lead company claims organic search as a lead source ask them for the website URLs.  If they do have a property that is listed on the first page of Google for your preferred terms you can expect to see some good leads come through.

Lead Content 
The data that a service provides with a lead is critical information.  You are typically going to want as much relevant information as possible which is collected at the point of quote generation.  Most companies will have freely available lead samples on their websites so you can see this information prior to buying the leads.  If they do not by all means ask them for a copy of a sample lead before spending any money.  If a lead company doesn’t provide you a copy of a sample lead then you should just move on.  This is typically a red flag of the way they do business which will likely net you poor quality leads with an insufficient amount of data.

Bogus Leads
Lead companies are constantly looking to apply new technologies to scrub leads against bogus data prior to agent delivery.  This is quite a tall task considering most leads are delivered in real time.  The bottom line is that you will get bogus and fake leads with every insurance lead company.  Of course you don’t want every lead to be bogus but you will see plenty as it is just part of the game.  The thing that matters the most in regards to bogus leads is the credit policy of the lead company.  You want to look for a company that is very flexible with crediting bogus leads and makes the process as easy for you as possible.  Although not all the good services offer online crediting we do prefer it.  Time is money and if you have to spend a lot of time fighting to get bogus lead credits then you have to ask yourself if the business relationship is worthwhile.

Lead Volume 
The amount of leads an insurance lead company can provide is another aspect to consider when selecting a lead source.  Some companies have better coverage both by line of insurance and geographic areas which can play into the amount of leads that will be sent to you.  It is nice to have a consistent and dependable flow of leads but this variable is not one that we would consider a deal breaker.  If a lead company can provide high quality leads you’ll probably want to stick with them even if they only send you a few leads per month.

Leads Per Agent
When considering shared insurance leads the lead to agent ratio can play a major factor in your ability to close a sale.  Some companies will disclose their average ratio on their website but if they do not go ahead and ask them.  The average agents per lead sold and maximum agents per lead are the important pieces of information.  Typically, you want an average of 4-5 agents (or less)  per lead sold with no more than 8 agents max per lead.

Filter Options
Lead filtering is where an agent can take some control in the quality of lead they purchase with aggressive audience targeting.  Most of the top lead companies will offer pre-set filters and/or custom filter options.  Most of the custom filters will increase the price per lead but many agents find the extra expense to be money well spent.  The best way to determine if custom filtered leads are a good fit for your needs is to simply test, test, test.

Lead Delivery
When and how a lead is delivered to an agent plays an important role in the insurance sales process.  When working internet insurance leads the rate of success is much higher when you are the first agent to contact a prospect.  Because of this the timing and medium of lead delivery play into the value of a lead.  The playing field has evened out a bit recently among the top lead companies in this respect.  If you are paying for shared leads they should be delivered in real time unless you are specifically buying aged leads.  You should also look for the available options to receive a shared lead.  Some of the most popular methods are email delivery, text message or direct to your CRM / Quoting platform.

Volume Discounts
Volume purchase discounts can be a huge benefit when working with an insurance lead company.  We do not use volume discounts as a means of eliminating a new lead company but they are definitely a factor that can keep you around if they are producing profitable leads.  These discounts aren’t always advertised so if you do get to a point that you are buying a lot of leads from one company go ahead and ask if they offer discounts for volume buyers.

Marketing & Training Content
Some lead companies offer marketing content and training programs to their customers.  This material can be especially useful for a new agent that is learning the ropes.  We see it as a sign of good customer service and extra effort to take care of the customer which is always a positive.

Lead Price 
The last factor we are covering is the first that most agents will look at, Price.  With everything else considered price can be helpful in determining if a lead company is worth testing.  We recommend putting little weight on the price point upfront though as we have already mentioned price is completely relative.  We recommend testing a lead service first to determine what kind of closing ratio you can achieve then plugging in the price to see if they are going to meet your profit expectations.

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