Auto Insurance Lead Generation: Everything You Need to Know
Auto insurance leads are the lifeblood of the insurance agency. Without them, you simply don't gain enough exposure to bring in new customers. In today's digitally-minded world, it can be tough to generate reliable leads.
You can generate auto insurance leads for yourself through advertisements online, social media, or television. Alternatively, you can circumvent the tough legwork by directly purchasing leads from a third-party vendor who generates auto insurance leads for you.
You'll learn below why it's a good idea to purchase reliable leads from a third-party vendor. This not only helps in terms of advertising costs, but it also can provide you with the software necessary to keep track of all your potential leads and current customers.
How Do You Generate Car Insurance leads?
There are many ways to generate car insurance leads. Garnering attention in the auto insurance industry typically means creating a simple message that stands out from the rest. Continue below to learn more about how auto insurance leads are generated.
Social Media/Online Ads
You can generate auto insurance leads with a catchy advertisement on search browsers or social media. It is critical to be direct with your message by including the word "insurance" in your advertisement. For example, you may say, "Here is how much drivers in (insert city name here) pay for auto insurance."
Catering to residents of a specific city can work wonders since insurance premiums and policies do vary by city and state. The advertisement should lead them to a landing page where they have an opportunity to fill out an online form to get in touch with a local auto insurance representative. This is a quick way to generate leads.
Online Marketing SEO
Many potential prospects may be searching for answers online. When they are shopping around for an insurance provider, drivers will have a lot of questions about how the process works. Prospects may ask questions like "Can I get a discount for low mileage?" or "How does a speeding ticket affect my insurance premiums?"
These questions and more can be answered in blog postings that are easy for potential clients to skim through. A well-written posting may even get your site listed as a Google Snippet, especially if there are not many others answering these questions.
There is an art to developing a series of eye-catching blog postings. This is where you may consider hiring SEO professionals who can immediately develop a series of blog postings that increase traffic flow to your site. These postings can also provide links to online forms for prospects who are interested in learning even more.
SMS Marketing
According to CNBC, SMS marketing is more popular now than ever before. Once you have generated a spreadsheet of contact information for prospects, you can send out a quick text blast to those who requested further information. You can be assertive while also being jovial, opening by thanking them for their interest.
This is where hiring communication experts can make a difference. Crafting a message that is both concise and inviting can be a challenge. Even small mistakes can cause prospects to lose interest quickly.
Purchasing Auto Insurance Leads
You can also purchase auto insurance leads directly from a provider who has already gone through the efforts of generating a list of prospects.
The reason why you would choose this option over traditional marketing schemes is this: you can expect a high return. You are more likely to hit paydirt if you can start with a list of individuals who have already expressed interest in purchasing auto insurance.
How Much Do Auto Insurance Leads Cost?
A good way to compare the costs of auto insurance leads would be to compare these prices to the costs of advertising. This is precisely what is done in the section below.
Cost To Purchase Leads
You can expect professional leads to cost somewhere in the territory of $20-$50, depending on which services you decide to subscribe to. Since the third-party vendor is doing most of the legwork in terms of generating leads, all you have to do is worry about turning the prospects into customers.
This is well worth it when you consider the cost of advertising campaigns, which may end up with few prospects if you don't know how to reach your target audience.
Cost Of Marketing
The cost of marketing can vary widely, but it is unlikely that cheap marketing campaigns will be very successful. Everybody sees thousands of advertisements per day, so what sets you apart? In a market as saturated as the insurance industry is, you'll see why it's essential to focus on the crowd most likely to call you for a quote.
How Much Does Online Advertising Cost?
It has been estimated that digital advertising currently makes up 54.4% of total advertising expenses. The cost of purchasing online advertisements and other marketing has risen to meet demands, with a 12% increase in costs observed from 2015-2017 alone.
How Much Do TV Ads Cost?
Advertisements on televisions have generally been deemed not to be worth it at this point. Research suggests that even if a firm doubled its TV ads, they could only expect to see a 1% increase in sales.
60-second Ad on local TV networks: $15-$35 per thousand (CPM)
60-second Ad on leading streaming services: $20-$60 per CPM
Keep in mind that the above costs also depend on how much you pay an advertising firm to create a commercial that will attract attention. This is by no means a cheap process, particularly when you consider the fact that insurance agencies are encouraged to spend 1.85% or less of their sales on advertising.
How Much Do Billboards Cost?
The cost of advertising via billboards can vary widely, but even in rural areas, you can expect to pay at least $750 a month. Double this number in small to midsize cities and increase it 10-fold or even more if you're talking about digital billboards in major cities.
Do Insurance Leads Work?
Every person sees about 5,000 advertisements per day, so it's easy to see why it is so hard for insurance agents to generate leads using traditional advertising techniques. The general population is generally numb to advertisements that make generic promises.
Research has also shown that advertising alone does not necessarily impact which providers consumers decide to get quotes from. Having solid leads (paid for or otherwise) puts you at a significant advantage in landing more clients.
Leads Only Work If You Can Keep Track of Them
You may inquire developers about smart search tools that categorize contacts into leads, prospects, and customers. You should also be able to mass import leads into the system via a spreadsheet showing names, contact info, and when they were last contacted. This way, you can instantly pull up a contact list of all your potential prospects and current customers.
You certainly don't have time to spend hours upon hours importing data or troubleshooting technology issues. If your current arsenal of office software has you doing this, then it's well past time for an upgrade.
Final Thoughts
Auto insurance leads present you with an excellent opportunity to focus your costs on prospects who are most likely to ring your phone for a quote. It can be challenging to generate auto insurance leads on your own, especially in such a saturated market.
These days, you'll be most successful with catchy online advertisements and search engine optimization (SEO) advertising. Television advertisements do not generate very much attention these days, and they can be pricey. Whatever you do, your best bet is to invest in the advice of a professional consultant, who will do the tough legwork that comes with generating leads. This will allow you to focus your efforts on turning prospects into customers.
