Shared Vs. Exclusive Auto Insurance Leads For Agents: What’s the difference?

Wondering what the difference is between shared leads and exclusive auto insurance leads for agents? Keep reading to find out how they’re similar, where they differ, and what that means for your agency.

Shared Vs. Exclusive Insurance Leads: What’s the difference?

Shared Insurance Leads

A shared insurance lead is any type of insurance lead that goes to more than one agent. However, not all shared leads are the same—the major difference being that shared leads can come from a lead aggregator or a lead generator.

Lead aggregators have a lower price point because their leads are not delivered in real time and because they have a higher share rate; the leads are shared among multiple, sometimes dozens, of other agents. By the time you speak with them, leads from aggregators may have already signed up with another agent, or decided not to change the insurance products they already have, which means you could end up wasting money and time.

Lead "generators,” on the other hand, like EverQuote, source leads organically themselves or via partners, by driving traffic to their websites through advertising and search engine marketing. This is done through targeted ads that display up when a consumer searches for insurance related queries), and it often delivers leads in real-time (as the consumers submit their online forms). Whether you are interested in shared or exclusive home, life, or auto insurance leads, when you hire a lead vendor that generates their own leads (like EverQuote), you can choose a flexible schedule, which allows you to purchase leads and receive them in virtual real-time (as they submit their information) during the most optimal hours for your team to reach out the moment they receive the leads.

Shared insurance leads are the less expensive option vs. exclusive insurance leads. You can typically expect to pay $4-5 dollars less per lead than when purchasing an exclusive lead.

Find out the best way to contact leads—shared or exclusive—in our free white paper: Binding Inbound Leads: Using Contact Strategy To Bind More Business

Exclusive Insurance Leads

Exclusive auto insurance leads are leads that go to only one agent at a time. Exclusive leads are often available with limited volume and vendors charge a premium for them. 

Some characteristics of exclusive insurance leads are as follows:

• Exclusive leads statistically have higher contact rates, which can lead to higher close rates. That said, it is still important for agents to reach out to exclusive leads ASAP, as they are still shopping online and may continue to search online for insurance through other online websites.
• Exclusive leads are more expensive than shared leads. This is the biggest consideration for agents debating between shared and exclusive leads—with exclusive leads, you have to spend more money to purchase leads, and if you don’t have the right staff and processes in place to work those leads, you may be setting yourself up for poor results. To maximize those opportunities, a cadence for responding must be in place. Similarly, if you don’t have the correct commission structure for your producers, purchasing leads may not be as successful because people won’t be motivated to work the leads in the right way. Without incentives, those agents may blame their lack of success on the quality of the leads themselves.
• Exclusive leads put less pressure on the sales team to immediately call out to the consumer. Because you are the only agency reaching out to the consumer, you don’t have to race to be the first to reach out to them (though you should certainly still try to quickly contact them.)
• Exclusive leads offer greater opportunity to realize short-term goals. If agents are very close to hitting their goals as the month winds down, receiving more exclusive leads can help push them over the edge.

What Makes EverQuote Generated Leads Stand Out

With qualified leads from a high-quality, high-intent vendor like EverQuote, you may see a slightly higher cost upfront, but the leads you purchase should be adding up to more, and better, opportunities to sell. Essentially, you’re trading a higher upfront cost for less time spent chasing down and qualifying cold leads, plus a lower back-end cost and increased ROI.

If you request a shared lead from EverQuote, you may sometimes receive it exclusively. EverQuote shared leads are distributed with a maximum of three insurance agencies—on average, EverQuote sends one consumer lead to 1.9 agents—so if there are no other agents requesting a lead at the time a consumer requests a quote, that lead could be received by an agent who is requesting only shared leads.

EverQuote leads are always sent to agents at the same time the consumer requests the quote. If you have a staff that is set up to call the lead immediately when received, there is a very high chance you will contact the consumer before the potential one or two competing agents. This immediate phone call can still provide a similar or even greater contact rate when compared to an exclusive lead that is called hours after the agent receives it.

For example, if you don’t need insurance agent leads for a certain day/month/quarter because you’re focusing on cross-selling, you can start and stop them as needed. Lead generators like EverQuote also connect you with prospects that best align with your underwriting guidelines and qualifications. With a good partner like EverQuote, you can also get extras, like training and information about industry best practices, find out what other agents are doing to succeed, and more.

Shared Vs. Exclusive: Which is the best lead type for your agency?

No matter which option you choose (and you can even choose both!), you must be comfortable with the investment you’re making. Pay attention to the ROI each lead source provides. When you purchase low-cost leads you spend less, but you may end up doing more work with little return. We’d love to show you the difference, and how EverQuote’s complete control and customization can help you reach your agency goals. Click here to get a tour of the software with one of our experts.