What leads are the best leads? Knowing what leads are worth an investment of time helps you prioritize your lead nurturing strategy. When it comes to lead nurturing, the statistics show that warm leads are much better than cold leads.
Cold Calls and Warm Leads
Cold calling is an unsolicited connection with prospective clients. While cold calling may lead to some conversions, usually these calls are unwanted and occur at an inconvenient time for those who answer them. According to Lead Boxer, “cold calls get you off on the wrong foot with the customer.” They do work to some degree, but warm leads are better.
Warm leads are those people who have made a small connection with your agency. They know what you have on offer, and they are curious about your services. They have not moved into client status yet, but because they have a pre-existing interest in your business, they are more likely to convert.
Before a cold call, know whether or not it’s worth your investment of time.The Conversion Rates of Warm and Cold Leads
When you’re choosing an insurance marketing strategy, should you pursue cold calling or only seek out warm leads? LeadBoxer notes that “search-driven leads have a 14.6% close rate compared to just 1.7% for cold leads.” These warm leads are almost tenfold more successful at conversion.
Improving Conversion Rates
There are a few ways to warm up your leads and improve your conversion rates, even when you have warm leads:
- Seek a referral from current clients. This can turn cold leads into curious ones.
- Respond extremely quickly, ideally within five minutes. According to Hubspot, “salespeople that reach out within five minutes are 100 times more likely to qualify the prospect.”
- Engage with your leads on social media to warm them up.
- Target your marketing. Create curated content to connect with leads who have a need for that specific content.
- Understand the background of your leads. Do they actually have a need for your insurance? If so, they are more likely to convert.
- Is that need a more immediate need, or are they curious and shopping right now?
- Troubleshoot your statistics. For instance, you can look at the traffic online. When do people ask you a question or send in a request, and when do they bounce off of your site? What support can you give at that time to help those leads convert?
Tracking Your Own Statistics
When you’re engaging in insurance marketing, you need more than general statistics: you need your own agency’s statistics to help guide your practice. Track the ways in which your leads interact with your insurance agency, the ways that you nurture those leads, and how your leads convert. Also, track information about your clients: do they stay with you? Do they refer others? By collecting information about your own agency’s statistics, you can improve and target your insurance marketing.
At the American Agents Alliance, we can help you cultivate your leads. Work with us to grow your insurance agency with exclusive lead nurturing and automated inbound calls. Learn more today.
