24/7 Leads: Are Brokers Losing Up to 60% of Potential New Business?
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 Brokers Change Their Tune?
We have seen that brokers who have implemented new technology and working habits have maximised their revenue over the COVID 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.
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 broker in a 24/7 world.