Like any relationship, the connection between your agents and your leads will be improved by a little TLC. In marketing, we call this lead nurturing. Simply put, it’s taking time to demonstrate your commitment to a lead’s satisfaction before they convert.
According to research by Forrester, marketers who nurture leads see an average 20% increase in sales opportunities, and companies that excel at lead nurturing generate 50% more sales at a 33% lower cost.
On the flip side, a MarketingSherpa study found that only 36% of marketers actively nurture their sales leads. That means there’s plenty of room for an independent insurance agency to grow and expand its market just by being thoughtful. Here’s how.
In order to nurture your leads, you need to understand them. For example, while we all need life insurance, we’re not all predisposed to purchase it. Millennials, like youth of every era, feel invulnerable. Even middle aged Americans are focused on concerns that feel more immediate.
In order to generate and nurture leads, an insurance agent needs to know exactly what each targeted audience is worried about now, and then use that information to find a window of opportunity to connect with that audience.
When you really understand your prospects’ needs, challenges, and goals, you can segment them into target markets that share attributes. Prospects within these narrowed markets can then be nurtured through relevant, timely content and social media marketing as well as more traditional forms.
Modern insurance agencies have more resources than ever to aid in lead nurturing, so get to know them and then use them regularly. Email marketing platforms like Constant Contact, referral programs like Refer.com, and of course your dynamic web presence can all be employed to generate and nurture leads.
Since you do have access to so many resources, varying your lead nurturing tactics can keep your connections with clients and prospects feeling fresh. Sending email after email to an unresponsive lead can do more harm than good. If the email approach doesn’t seem to be working, try connecting with leads via social media, blog posts, or direct mail to find the best approach for the lead you’re after.
According to a report by the Harvard Business Review, you’re 21 times more likely to increase your odds of qualifying a lead if you contact them within five minutes of the lead taking action on your website. However, 24% of companies took more than 24 hours to respond and 23% never bothered to respond at all!
If insurance agencies are following the same trend, acting quickly when a lead takes action on your website can set you apart from the competition. You can automate the process by having actions such as using your website’s rate calculator or newsletter subscription form trigger transactional emails, but don’t rely solely on automation. Use those automated emails to generate a list of leads you can put in a personal call to.
Speaking of personal, neurological research shows that people really love the sound of their own name. Surprising, right? Fortunately for you, most modern lead nurturing tools allow agents to easily integrate leads’ names directly into emails, texts, and other marketing devices. What’s the impact? According to an Experian study, personalized emails generate up to six times higher revenue per email than non-personalized campaigns do.
How are you nurturing your insurance agency’s leads?