Final expense insurance is an affordable form of life insurance. Final expense policy is easier to get and comes with a small death benefit. You may also know it as “funeral insurance” or “burial insurance” because it provides for the expenses related to the funeral (for e.g., memorial service or cremation). For this reason, it is also known as a “simplified issue of whole life insurance.”
A Final Expense Insurance can have a value between US$2000 to around US$50,000. The beneficiaries can use the amount for anything from repaying a debt to taking a vacation. Insurance agents generally market these products to older people who want to leave behind something for their families. However, such insurance is redundant to those who have active life insurance policies or have their funeral costs paid.
Who benefits from final expense insurance?
Let us assume that you are a retired individual. You no longer have life insurance through your employer. At this point, you also do not have money saved for the future. This financial condition has you worried that you will leave your family in trouble when you pass away. So, you may consider getting life insurance.
The insurance agent will ask a few questions regarding your general health. They may also take information regarding your medications and health history and if you had a surgery/operation in the least two to five years. These are some essential questions for the underwriting process, post which they will start the application process.
However, you will notice that the premiums you must pay for the death benefits aren’t too much. Most life insurance policies do not have enough flexibility and cannot fit the budget of such individuals. It is because the role of life insurance policies is not only to provide a death benefit but also to absorb the risk of critical health conditions. Most seniors have poor health conditions because of their age. Therefore, they want a policy that will accommodate their requirements despite their declining health conditions.
A distinguishing feature of Final Expense Insurance is that the death benefit is much smaller. This reduced benefit also brings down the cost of premiums by a lot. Moreover, the policy is permanent. That is, the heirs receive the death benefit for sure. However, note that the sum will not be big enough to pay off mortgages. But one can use them to pay bills, such as expenses related directly to the death. With the death benefit, arranging for a funeral will be financially comfortable.
Now that you know the basics of final expense insurance and the client persona, let us look at how to find leads qualified for this type of insurance.
Generating Final Expense Insurance Leads
The lead generation process for Final Expense Insurance differs from that of Life Insurance. Here are five ways in which insurance agents can generate Final Expense Insurance leads. The following section discusses the advantages of each strategy and what you may want to avoid when you are using that strategy.
1. Send direct mailers
Direct mail leads are the best way to reach out to prospects who are predominantly senior citizens.
Direct mail is quite simple: agents make use of business reply card mailers to get leads. These mailers are postcards that are sent out from the post office to the prospects. The prospects will review the contents at their own time. If they like the offer, they will return the card by filling out the information. They will share some of their preliminary personal details that will help agents understand if the prospect is a high-quality lead or not. Direct mailers can provide high-quality leads consistently.
The reason why direct mailers are so effective is that they are highly engaging. Filling out a mailer card involves one acting physically. The prospect will have to discuss the matter with their spouses or family, fill out the card, and walk to the mailbox to post the card.
When a prospect does this, it means that they are highly interested. Because, otherwise, the recipient could have just trashed the mailer.
Do recipients actually read the mailers?
In general, most recipients discard the mailer. Also, the insurance agency never encourages anyone to return it – it is purely their decision. So, what a prospect does with the card is entirely their decision.
Therefore, when a salesperson receives back a direct mailer, all filled out, they should be excited. The response quality of these mailers is much higher when compared to other channels.
With direct mailers, you can target and segment your prospects better, offer them discounts too. This personalization will improve your response rate.
When it comes to direct mailers, you should avoid spending too much. Ideally, assign a fixed price per lead. However, that may not be possible for every single state. But ensure that you control your budget as much as possible so that you can drop the program if the response rate is not good enough.
In the coming years, emails and text messages will replace direct mailers. However, at the moment, the target group is baby boomers and Generation X, who are not digital natives. Hence, the direct mailer strategy still works for them.
2. Advertise on Facebook
Over the last few years, leads from Facebook have become quite popular. According to Hootsuite, most adults in the US use Facebook daily. Over 10% of the people are on Facebook are in the 45-54 age range. This age is where most people start thinking about retirement and getting life insurance or an equivalent. In the US, seniors consist of the fastest-growing demographic on Facebook and stand around 10% at this point. 46% of Americans who are above the age of 65 use Facebook.
These statistics make Facebook Ads a very enticing option for insurance agencies marketing their products to seniors. What is even better is that you do not even need a Facebook account in the first place. You can contact a vendor to do the advertising on your behalf. Within a few business days of starting your Facebook advertising campaign, you will start receiving leads.
With Facebook, it is easier to reach out to a lot more people. The turnaround time is much better. With a vendor who works with Facebook ads, it is much easier to get leads. You will start getting a response in a few days, whereas direct mailer takes a month.
Is Facebook insurance leads quality good?
However, the major downside to Facebook leads is the lead quality. Facebook leads are less likely to pick up the phone, and their engagement level is also lower. Therefore, the shelf-life of these leads is much shorter.
Compared to direct mail, Facebook ads require much less engagement. Also, they don’t need too much attention from the prospect. It is, however, reasonable because the expenses for Facebook advertising are much lower. With Facebook, you can get leads for $10-$30 per lead if you do things right.
To improve the quality of leads you get from Facebook, try different strategies from successful agents. If you’ve hired a marketing agency for insurance lead generation and are not satisfied with the conversion results, you may try a different strategy. You can even create ads yourself.
Also, check out this unbiased opinion on direct mailer vs. Facebook final expense leads –
3. Organize Seminars
A seminar is a simple lead generation strategy.
You organize a seminar and discuss with the attendees the utility of final expense insurance. The interested attendees will get in touch with you. This form of marketing is almost cost-free. All you need to spend on is food and beverage. Moreover, the lead quality is also great even though the marketing cost is not as high as direct mailers or Facebook leads.
While doing a seminar, ensure that you are making a short presentation that will not bore people.
Around ten to fifteen presentations a month is good enough if you are working full time.
4. Try Telemarketing
When finding leads for a specific product, like final expense policies, you must understand the customer very well. For instance, what do they like, where do they hang out, what do they do in their free time, etc.
Based on this info, run ads on targeted platforms. If you see, in general, senior citizens watch television a lot. Therefore, telemarketing makes complete sense.
Try to generate leads from online ads or telemarketing calls. In these cases, a prospect reaches out to the agency after seeing an ad or receiving a call. Live transfer leads provide very high-quality leads, but they also have a high price tag attached to them.
5. Improve the content on your website
Finally, you can also get leads directly from your website. These leads cost you nothing. These individuals are usually prospects who have searched online for final expense insurance, and they came across your website. These are also known as organic leads.
The downside of organic leads source is that it takes some time and effort to build up. You need to build up your online presence, create a brand identity. But if you can make it work, you will start getting high-quality leads without any expenses.
Most websites take nearly a year to be capable of generating leads. But you can plan strategically because the returns you’ll get after a year or so will be great.
Tips to grow your organic leads:
- Create informative blog posts addressing general customer queries like – what is final expense insurance and why should you get one, what benefits your family gets with final expense insurance, the process to apply for final expense insurance, final expense vs. life insurance policies, and so on.
- Generate quotes instantly by asking a few details.
- Include customer testimonials on your website.
- Create a local GoogleMyBusiness account – it will give you exposure when people search for a policy with a “near me” query.
- Start a weekly/monthly newsletter.
How to make the most of your final expense leads generation efforts?
Now that you know the strategies to generate final expense leads, it’s time to think of ways to follow up with them and keep them engaged.
Most agencies and insurance agents use CRM for managing client relationships. They use CRM to manage client records, send quotes, track interactions, auto-dial from CRM for more productive work, send emails, and more.
You can also invest in a CRM to manage your day-to-day operations effectively.
If you’re looking for such a solution, check out LeadSquared Insurance Agency CRM.
FAQs
There are several ways to find final expense leads. You can use a direct mailer strategy, Facebook ads, telemarketing, seminars, and your website to find quality leads. You can also use CRM software to track interactions and follow up with them from time to time.
Final expense insurance is a type of life insurance designed to cover medical bills and funeral expenses after death. A final expense policy is also known as burial or funeral insurance and is popular with seniors.
Final expense is one of the simplest life insurance products to sell. However, it is not easy to discuss. By practicing call scripts and taking an empathetic approach, you can improve your sales.
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