In a guest blog for youTalk-insurance, Ben Moore, General Manager at QuoteSearcher analysed vital data which highlighted that valuable new business opportunities could be being missed by UK based insurance brokers.
It’s one thing to implement a lead generation strategy, but what’s the point if you switch off at 5:00pm?
The fact is, a huge section of your potential customer base don’t look for insurance during the day, they’re busy working.
However, that moment when they’ve finished work, sitting at home with a cup of tea, wondering whether they could be saving money is the time they’ll start looking.
Lead generation is a science that involves 24/7 care and attention, but we all know that won’t be possible, particularly now with the pandemic slowing down production and reducing capacity in a lot of sectors.
With out of hours enquiries increasing, are you leaving money on the table?
Out of hours, out of luck?
Before the Coronavirus hit the UK, there was a more equal split in terms of lead volume traffic over the course of a month. We could see that it was 50\50 - working hours and after hours. However, since the pandemic started, this split has changed to 60\40, with the former being out of hours enquiries regarding our main insurance products. This is a 5% increase over last month. Let’s break it down.
If your working hours are 9:00am to 5:00pm Monday to Friday, you are really only working a third of the day. If you spread this across a whole year, given that there is a rising trend of out of hours enquiries, that can mean losing out on a lot of money. Similarly, waiting for leads to come in over the weekend as opposed to setting those leads up over the weekend is quite a different animal indeed.
Why the increase in OOH?
There are a number of reasons why out of hours enquiries are increasing. Six out of ten UK businesses had just three months’ worth of cash flow at the start of the pandemic. This, compounded with the sharp and significant fall in domestic and overseas sales as lockdown measures were implemented, led to a governmental intervention that has never been seen before in the United Kingdom. In fact, up to a million businesses could hit the wall by the end of 2020.
This meant that businesses have had to work harder and smarter during regular working hours. The change in the market, as well as the government’s restrictions have left businesses owners with little to no choice but to adapt in order to overcome the issues. With business interruption being at the forefront of people’s minds and the uncertainty that everyone is facing, insurance can get pushed to the backburner in favour of simply getting money in the bank to put food on the table.
From our perspective, insurance brokers have been extremely brave and have adapted well to the changing market, with some even accelerating growth which is no mean feat. Historically, however, the lead generation perspective shows that after-hours insurance leads were seen as the runt of the litter simply because they do not coincide with the working hours of most brokers. This is a dangerous bias, causing brokers to leave a lot of potential business on the table, or to hand it straight to a competitor that does value after hours leads.
So, how can insurance brokers change their tune?
We have seen that brokers who have implemented new technology and working habits have maximised their revenue over the Covid-19 period. Automation, for example, could handle the prequalifying stage and send on out the personalised messaging needed to nurture the lead and set up that all-important call.
With lead volume drop-off being a real concern for most brokers, tapping into after-hours leads in the right way could deliver a handsome yield and help set you apart from your competitors.
It’s worth mentioning that being a 24/7 broker doesn’t mean you will have to work 24/7. It means that you will be in a position to process and guide potential clients at a time that suits them, which in turn maximises your effectiveness. If you look at lead generation simply in terms of cost, you will inevitably be doing yourself a disservice, whether you are doing your own lead gen campaigns or working alongside a company like ourselves here at QuoteSearcher.
Alongside cost, there are other areas that need to be factored into your thinking:
- Timing - Are you able to help when the client needs it? If they make an inquiry at 1:00am, can you track and convert quickly so they know they are being thought of?
- Personalisation - Are you able to personalise your approach? Do you have immediate messaging in play and can you personalise the offer?
- Reputation - Are you seen as adaptable? Do your processes help convey trust and transparency - both vital elements during these times. Are you reliable enough to help the clients, regardless of risk, and when they need the risk insured?
A QuoteSearcher case study
Through our platform, a broker from the Midlands landed a 20+ vehicle fleet at 11:00pm. He had told us that the MD had been so busy looking for new suppliers for his steel fabrication business that he could only find the time in the late evening to look at his fleet insurance.
The broker had the right set up to deal with the afterhours lead and guided the potential client through automation to set up a call at 10:00am the next day, which led them to turning the quote into a sale.
Alternatively, we were approached by a brokerage who had historically run all their lead generation inhouse; they had built a Quote Engine and are specialists in wheels-based commercial insurance.
During the pandemic, their go-to playbook for running PPC campaigns to feed the Quote Engine had hit a snag. The volume of potential visitors, compounded by the rise in cost on PPC, had made it harder and less cost effective to compete and convert potential traffic.
An example for courier insurance
As restaurants and other establishments could no longer open their doors to the general public or had to have a delivery service for those who didn’t feel safe to venture out, they had to adapt and adapt fast.
The knock-on effect of the increase in delivery drivers, meant that while the taxi business had stalled, people who were in a position to be delivery drivers jumped on the opportunity.
This then raised the bidding cost on pay per click and diluted that the overall effectiveness as there were too many similarities and variables.
How we managed to help the insurance brokerage
We were able to help them through our ability to filter traffic. Our system, which is unique to QuoteSearcher, can segment and match potential clients to brokers requirements. This cuts out a lot of wastage and makes the leads more scheme specific.
The actual ‘spend’ the broker used up in a campaign was lower than their overall spend on in-house lead generation. In turn, they found that they converted more and the money saved allowed them to further enhance their services and look at insurance products that they could encompass in their offerings.
We all know that things have changed in almost all industries, and the need for quality insurance is present everywhere. The main question is: can you afford to leave out of hours leads on the backburner, when your competitors may have put real actionable processes in place? Leaving money on the table is bad for business, especially in the current climate. We suggest being a 24/7 insurance broker in a 24/7 world.
If you would like to get in touch with Ben to find out how Quotesearcher are helping insurance brokers to generate new business leads CLICK HERE, leave a message and youTalk-insurance will pass your enquiry on
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