How To Get Qualified Insurance Leads Online

Not all internet leads are created equal—but how do you sort out whether the leads you’re getting are highly qualified insurance leads, or junk that’s going to cost your team time and money? In this article, we’re looking at how to generate insurance leads online (the good, the bad, and the ugly) and what you need to know before you spend a dime.

Qualified Insurance Leads: Worth The Extra Expense

First, let’s clarify what we mean by a “qualified insurance lead.” A qualified insurance lead is one that has been vetted and determined to be someone who is actually interested in purchasing an insurance product.

This is in comparison to aggregated leads, also known as inventory leads. Aggregated leads are often difficult to convert to sales, because, in most instances, prospects have already been called by several agents over a longer period of time. Aggregated leads can seem appealing because they are inexpensive compared to qualified leads, but buyer beware: They’re really primarily useful for agents who have specific business models where they’re able to contact high volumes of low-intent prospects (for example a very large, independent agency running high-volume, fully-staffed call centers).

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How To Get Qualified Insurance Leads Online

So, how can agents reach people online who intend to purchase an insurance product? Here are four ways. 

1. Online Media Platforms

In terms of how to generate leads for insurance sales, social media is your most cost-effective route because it’s cheap (and sometimes even free!). Agents should consider using the following media platforms:

• Yelp: Asking your existing customers to leave positive reviews here can help you boost your online SEO presence as well as lift you to the top of the barrel on the Yelp site. People looking for insurance in their area will see your name and your good reviews, and will tend to trust that you can help them (versus an agent with no reviews). 

• Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube: These social media sites give you a way to connect with your community, provide information, and entertain, all in one. From sharing helpful, insurance-related content to creating videos about different products to gathering testimonials, social media is a must-do for agents. Just be sure you stay active on these sites if you plan to use them.

• Your own (optimized) website: Optimizing your agency website is an easy way to increase qualified insurance leads online. Move your website from being boring and basic to becoming a lead machine by creating testimonial pages, sharing helpful information on a blog, and, of course, using forms to capture lead information on multiple pages. Prospects may not click on the “Contact us” page, but if you provide compelling content in the form of a blog post, for example, they may read through it and be persuaded to send you their information to discuss their needs. 

Whatever you do, don’t neglect the power of online media to generate leads for insurance sales. While it may require a bit of your time and effort, you can reap the benefits of proximity and low-cost investment if you use these platforms.

2. DIY Lead Generation

You can also get qualified insurance leads online through your own website. This involves understanding how to optimize your website and blog for search engines, so your name comes to the top of Google’s search results when someone types in the keywords you’re targeting. (An example: “insurance providers in East Texas.”).

The upside of this type of lead generation: It’s incredibly successful. If you can master it, you can get your ideal customers to come directly to your website and fill out forms to contact you on a consistent basis. 

However, to be frank, generating online qualified leads on your own is extremely difficult for most agents. Here’s why:

• It requires a great degree of knowledge about AdWords or SEO that most agents don’t have. Agents who can do online lead generation on their own must have a comprehensive knowledge of how Google works—they know what keywords to target (if they’re looking at organic traffic) or they have an understanding about buying keywords on AdWords. This isn’t basic stuff! On top of the initial learning curve, agents who do this must stay on top of Google’s ever-changing algorithms and SEO best practices.
• It’s time consuming. Learning what to do, implementing it, and optimizing your website takes a lot of time. What’s that time worth to you as a business owner? Is there something else you can be doing that will actually result in agency growth? This is an important question to ask. 
• It’s expensive. Using a tool like AdWords is expensive, and to get a constant supply of leads, it requires you to consistently pay for the words you want. 

This tactic can be very successful, but it requires a constant input of either time or money (or both) to see consistent results. For most agents, it’s not a sustainable business practice.

3. Hiring a company or agency to do online lead generation for you. 

Utilizing the services of another company to do your lead generation is an option, but for most agencies, it’s not practical. Unless you have a large, thriving agency, the massive budget requirement isn’t realistic. 

4. Partner with a company that specializes in providing qualified insurance leads to insurance agents. 

Companies like EverQuote are tailor-made to provide you qualified insurance leads—it’s what we do better than anyone else! When you choose EverQuote to help fill your pipelines, here’s what you can expect: 

• The insurance leads you need to keep your producers busy for auto, home, and life products in all 50 states.

• Customized leads based on your preferred geographic area.

• Leads that aren’t resold at a future date (unlike some lead vendors). You can work the leads you purchase without worries about new competition from the same source.

• Live transfers for auto, home and life policies.
• The ability to return leads with incorrect information.

Your Next Steps For Getting Qualified Insurance Leads

After you’ve done your research and analyzed what type of leads you need, you may be ready to find out more about partnering with a firm that provides high-quality lead opportunities via the internet, like EverQuote. 

When you partner with us, you’ll experience our onboarding process, where you’ll learn about best practices for sales, how to talk to internet leads, and more. With EverQuote, you have complete control over your leads. And you can even pause your account at any time, with no consequences. Ready to get started? Click here to get a tour of EverQuote’s tools with one of our experts.