.com. Change the Game- White Paper 01: Internet Leads are Broken for Insurance Companies, Agents and Consumers

Transcription

1 .com Change the Game- White Paper 01: Internet Leads are Broken for Insurance Companies, Agents and Consumers Insurance Carriers should pay for Sales, Not Leads

2 Insurance Carriers should pay for Sales, Not Leads ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: After following the Internet Lead Sales process for 11 years as an owner of a multi-state independent insurance agency purchasing the leads and as CEO of one of the fastest growing internet lead generation companies as well as a consumer who shops and researches for everything online, I have been fortunate to be on all 3 sides of the on-line insurance shopping process funnel. Consumer Lead Generation Website Insurance Agent/Company 1

3 This report will focus on the 3 players involved in the on-line insurance shopping experience (see below) and will analyze the problems with the flawed system and offer a solution on how to fix them: 1) The Consumer 2) The Insurance Company 3) The Comparison Shopping Engine (CSE) The Consumer The internet has changed the way people shop for and purchase insurance. Long gone are the days of looking in your local phone book and let your fingers do the walking to find and locate insurance companies to call around for price quotes. The No. 1 problem consumers have when talking with insurance salespeople is the pressure they feel. Internet shoppers want to shop and compare on their own first without having to speak with anyone until they have received all their quotes and are ready to buy. Most Lead generation companies will sell the same lead to as many as 8 agents, resulting in the consumer getting blasted with phone calls day and night from agents wanting to discuss their insurance needs. What results from this process is the consumer decides not to answer their phone and wished they never filled out a form on line and becomes frustrated because they still may not have received any quotes resulting in a very poor user experience. Another issue is when the consumer does decide to purchase a policy, they are still blasted with phone solicitations/ s from agents even though they have made their decision and have moved on to other pressing issues in their lives. The Insurance Agents/Companies For Insurance Agents it s become harder than ever to close sales from Internet Leads as it s harder and harder to tell who is really in the market for changing insurance companies in the next days. Agents spend most of their time calling on leads that have not provided accurate contact information or simply choose to not answer their phone or respond to s because they never wanted to speak with an agent in the first place. Furthermore, agents spend most of their time trying to follow up with consumers who have already purchased insurance elsewhere. This results in a poor marketing experience for the agents as they have lost a tremendous amount of resources, namely their time and money chasing down leads they had no chance of closing in the first place. Unfortunately, from a marketing perspective the internet is not going away and its popularity as the first choice to go to for the consumer when they are ready to shop their insurance is only getting bigger. Therefore, the agents need to be where the consumers are in order to grow their business. The bottom line is the internet consumer is dictating that the next generation insurance agents will need to work harder at reaching out to consumers than their previous forefathers. Good bye are the days of stop by my office for a Free Road Atlas and get a free quote. 2

4 The Comparison Shopping Engine (CSE) The need for an agent/carrier focused Lead generation company is overdue. If the agents stop purchasing the leads from the CSE, then the CSE has no customers to monetize their traffic from their website. Therefore, the CSE must be focused on building a platform that will help improve the closing ratio of the leads the agents receive and not solely focused on who can generate the most volume of leads to sell to the agents. In addition, on-line ad spending costs have skyrocketed over the past several years thereby lowering the CSE s profit margins. In Summary: 75 % of Americans begin their insurance shopping via the internet. However, the Lead Generation Companies Agents buy leads from do not offer the consumer what they really want: Upfront pricing. The consumer after completing the on-line form is disappointed when they click the final button, when they don t see any prices. Consumers Buying behavior and expectations have changed. What they really want is to be in control of the process when they shop and compare rates by remaining anonymous; 1) Show me the Rates First 2) I will contact that company when I am ready to buy Consumers, who now expect to get whatever they want online, are often frustrated to learn they do not receive instant price quotes on-line and have to wait to be contacted by their matched insurance companies. Consumers are dissatisfied with their online insurance shopping experience when they realize their research has not saved them time spent talking to an agent and receiving accurate rates. The reason for that is you cannot make an informed decision on choosing the right policy without first understanding price; it s fundamentally impossible as a consumer. For Insurance Agents it s become harder than ever to close sales from Internet Leads as it s harder and harder to tell who is really in the market for changing insurance companies in the next days. Agents spend a lot of time calling consumer s hours if not days after they have submitted their online form and the consumers are no longer OPEN to have a conversation about their insurance pain, resulting in a poor ROI on these leads for the agents. 3

5 The RateElert Solution: At RateElert we are committed to making the online insurance shopping experience better for consumers and insurance companies. In fact, we believe that the only way to make it better for consumers is to make it better for insurance companies. Cost per Sale Based Marketing Model- Everyone Wins Cost per sale-based marketing is an emerging business model that is based on the philosophy that insurance agents/companies should only pay when a consumer wants to buy or be contacted by that company about starting a policy. With a cost per sale model, the insurance agent/company only pays a lead generator if a sale or application to start a policy occurs. This model allows the agents and companies only to receive leads from ready hot buyers interested in starting a policy thru their company. In order to accomplish this, the lead generator is encouraged to give the consumer as much information upfront as possible, including real-time rates. of least resistance when selling a policy that makes their jobs easier. The Cost per Sale or performance based model works for both the consumer and the insurance agent/companies. As such, it s the model most likely to move things forward in a positive direction, by making the on-line insurance shopping process more enjoyable for consumers and more effective, efficient, and productive for insurance agents and companies- a win win for all involved. This allows the agent/company to know that if a consumer requests to be contacted, he or she is seriously interested in starting a policy from the quote they received on-line. This will also help the independent agency carriers increase their market share and close rates from these leads because the consumer is requesting to purchase the policy from a specific carrier they have received a rate from and most agents will not have the time or resources to attempt to remarket the lead to the other carriers they represent. An agent will always choose the path 4

6 The Perfect Insurance Shopping EcoSystem So we start with transparency, granting RateElert access via an API platform giving consumers the power to choose between providers with Real- Time accurate quotes. This allows insurance companies to give consumers what they really want - a guaranteed upfront price quote and a platform for how that price compares to what other providers are actually charging in the market. And because RateElert is a transaction solution, not a shopping site, we give what insurance companies want most a high volume of pre-sold insurance consumers. Insurance Companies win. Consumers win. And a better way to shop on-line for insurance is born. Insurance Company X $ Insurance Company X $ Insurance Company X $ Insurance Company X $1, Welcome to RateElert. To gain access to the RateElert Platform is very cost effective. Partner insurance companies pay RateElert a flat fee on a CPM (Cost per Impression) Basis for displaying their rates to their targeted consumers they want to attract. Furthermore, when the consumer chooses to start the policy or opts-in to be contacted further, the agent and or company is charged on a CPS (Cost per Sale/Application) basis: RateElert Corporation (USA) Garfield, Suite 400 Clinton Twp., MI (Phone) , Ext. 310 (Fax) For more information, contact: Brian Hannigan Phone brian.hannigan@rateelert.com RateElert, LLC CONFIDENTIAL Do Not Distribute Without Permission All rights Reserved