Consumers shop online for nearly everything. Insurance companies need to utilize their online components to not only capitalize on online leads, but also modernize the process of buying insurance. In this article, James Riebel explains strategies to help your company utilize the online tools available to you to enhance your digital presence.

Modern consumers shop online for everything from groceries to new homes. It only makes sense that they’re looking to the web for insurance polices as well. After all, why would they pick up the phone and call an agent when they have unprecedented access to information online?

Readily available, summarized information is helping consumers compare policy options to make smarter purchasing decisions, and the trend is only gaining momentum. Depending on the insurance vertical, up to 83 percent of consumers would use the Internet to conduct research before making a purchase if it were an option.

As an insurance agent or company owner, it’s time to consider how your business is responding to this shift. To continue to grow your book of business, you need a strategy to harness the power of the Internet. Your options are plentiful: buying leads, creating websites, running Facebook ads, updating Facebook pages, etc. All of these modern channels allow you to track and automate sales practices.

I’ve heard on more than one occasion that all of this seems overwhelming and expensive. Without a plan, that can certainly be true. However, the best practices mentioned in this article will not only prevent you from getting overwhelmed, but also help your business flourish.

Define your target audience. The first step is figuring out what types of customers you need. Ask yourself these initial questions:

• Are you targeting more home items this year?
• Do you need to grow life production?
• Is auto what you open the sales process with?
• Or is all of the above a priority?

Buying Insurance Leads?

Buying Insurance Leads? 5 Details to Consider

When comparing insurance lead providers, many agents fall into the trap of focusing solely on the most common details. These include things such as lead cost, line, filters and method of delivery.

While these details are important, there are a few less emphasized but also excellent factors to determine which providers are a good fit for your specific needs.

Here are five often times overlooked details of insurance lead providers:

1. IS A CONTRACT REQUIRED?

While most major insurance lead providers don’t require a contract, check on this detail before making a final decision. The last thing you want is to get tied up in a long term contract.

2. AVERAGE BUYERS PER LEAD

It is amazing that so many agents overlook this important detail, perhaps because most lead companies do not make much mention of it. When buying from the top providers of shared leads you need to know, on average, how many other agents are receiving the same lead. This will give you an idea of what type of competition you are up against.

3. EXCLUSIVE LEAD OPTIONS

Maybe you don’t want to purchase shared leads. Instead, you want to be the only agent that receives the consumer’s contact information. In this case, you are interested in what are known as “exclusive leads.” You will pay more, but your chance of a sale is greater since you are the only person making contact with the prospect.

Tip: Exclusive lead sources can be very good but they are often very hit or miss and are typically not consistent.  I like to look for shared lead providers that will allow you to limit the competition through tiered pricing.  Bestinsurancequotes4u.com does a good job of this with their life leads.

4. LEAD RETURN POLICY

While every insurance lead company does its best to filter out bogus leads, none of them are 100 percent successful in doing so.

If you run into a bad lead, you should have the ability to return it to the company within a specified period of time. Most give you a 10 day window, from the date of purchase, to return a bogus lead.

5. PROMOTIONS

Is there anything better than getting something for free? In the world of buying insurance leads, the answer is no. Most companies always have a promotional offer, although some are better suited to agents than others. From free leads to a $100 (or more) credit, you should know what you are being offered and then take full advantage.

What Now?

At this point, you probably feel one of two ways:

• More comfortable with your ability to compare providers and choose the right one
• More confused than ever before, thanks to all of the details that you have to focus on

As long as you take the time to compare insurance lead companies, paying close attention to these details, as well as those that are more basic, you should feel comfortable buying leads for the first time in the near future.