1. The Condition of Todays SharedInsurance Leadshttp://insuranceleadsguide.com/insurance-leads/state-shared-insurance-leads-quality-driven-correction/

2. When it comes to shared leads themost important factor for a buyer islead quality.Pretty obvious statement, right?http://insuranceleadsguide.com/insurance-leads/state-shared-insurance-leads-quality-driven-correction/ 3. As obvious as it might seem theindustry is in the process of acorrection simply because leadquality did take a back seat toother factors in recent years.Before we look at thecorrection, lets take a look at howit all happened. http://insuranceleadsguide.com/insurance- leads/state-shared-insurance-leads-quality- driven-correction/ 4. A Fever PitchThe 2000s were a decade of extreme growthfor internet based lead companies. High speedaccess was readily available, and people werestarting to shop for and buy insuranceonline. An industry was born. Traditional andnewly formed lead companies began racing toget their piece of the pie.http://insuranceleadsguide.com/insurance-leads/state-shared-insurance-leads-quality-driven-correction/ 5. A ping/post system was created to allowlead companies to sell leads to eachother when they did not have a buyer.This ping tree model is a solid methodto ensure consumers requesting a quoteactually get a response.Everything works well as long as thereare some controls in place.http://insuranceleadsguide.com/insurance-leads/state-shared-insurance-leads-quality-driven-correction/ 6. As the decade wore on, the race formarket position among lead providersintensified.The focus was quickly shifting to leadvolume and scaling operations.Access to the ping tree was loose.Each lead company could allowaffiliates and partners the ability pingleads into the system which lead to anhttp://insuranceleadsguide.com/insurance-eventual lack of control.leads/state-shared-insurance-leads-quality-driven-correction/ 7. A bogus lead sent into the systemand directed through multiplepartners became very difficult totrack and people started to takeadvantage.http://insuranceleadsguide.com/insurance-leads/state-shared-insurance-leads-quality-driven-correction/ 8. Adding to the problem was a lack of oversightover affiliates industry wide. In order to getvolume and scale, many programs allowedanyone to start selling leads with no approvalprocess at all. While most sellers havesophisticated lead scrubbing filters that canprevent leads from Mickey Mouse and JohnDoe from being delivered, nefarious affiliatestook things to another level. Bulk leads startedcoming in with real user info that passedscrubbing filters. Leads from real people whonever requested an insurance quote. This http://insuranceleadsguide.com/insurance- leads/state-shared-insurance-leads-quality-problem was one that filters could not weed driven-correction/ 9. The Fall OutBy 2009, the industry was starting to feel theimpact of a focus on quantity overquality. Agents were lashing out publicly. Bogusleads and low contact rates had drasticallychanged the value proposition of internetleads. Even though most sellers provide creditsfor fake leads, they still cost agents time and http://insuranceleadsguide.com/insurance-lost productivity. leads/state-shared-insurance-leads-quality-driven-correction/ 10. Bad leads going into the system drove leadprices down for sellers.In response to the lower payout, many qualitylead sources began to seek alternativechannels to monetize their leads.It was a downward spiral.By mid 2010, the industry had a tarnishedreputation, and it became very clear thingsneeded to change quickly. http://insuranceleadsguide.com/insurance- leads/state-shared-insurance-leads-quality- driven-correction/ 11. Regaining ControlThe shared insurance lead industry wasreeling, and action had to be taken. Leadvendors had to regain control and take moreaccountability for both leads they generated andpurchased.http://insuranceleadsguide.com/insurance-leads/state-shared-insurance-leads-quality-driven-correction/ 12. By the summer of 2010, changes startedhappening.Companies realized they had to focus onservicing their own customer bases.In order to retain agents, lead quality had toimprove. http://insuranceleadsguide.com/insurance- leads/state-shared-insurance-leads-quality- driven-correction/ 13. The first visible shift was a focus on cleaningup the affiliate base.Access to the ping tree became much moredifficult.Affiliate programs were adding more approvalrequirements and payouts were placing moreemphasis on quality.Companies started pulling offers from lowquality CPA networks which typically have a http://insuranceleadsguide.com/insurance-higher percentage of incentivized, low quality leads/state-shared-insurance-leads-quality- driven-correction/ 14. Soon the focus shifted to marketconsolidation.The ability to own multiple brands withseparate agent bases became appealing as itwould allow for an internal ping across brandsand provide more control over lead quality.http://insuranceleadsguide.com/insurance-leads/state-shared-insurance-leads-quality-driven-correction/ 15. BankRate, who had purchased InsureMe in2007, spear headed the market consolidationstarting in July 2010 with an acquisition ofNetQuote. AllWebLeads followed suit inFebruary of 2011 with its purchase ofInsuranceLeads.Com. This evolutioncontinued as BankRate brought InsWeb(Agent Insider) into the company in late 2011and also acquired rights toInsuranceAgents.Com in March of 2012. Sixindustry leading brands in 2010 consolidatedinto http://insuranceleadsguide.com/insurance-less than twotwo companies inyears. These companies still have separate leads/state-shared-insurance-leads-quality- driven-correction/ 16. The agents desire to have a higher contactrate on purchased leads was also a point ofemphasis.Live transfer add-ons which allow agents tohave prospects sent to them via phonetransfer have become a featured option.Additionally, several companies startedoffering limited and exclusive pricingalternatives to limit competition and offer abetter opportunity to make a sale.http://insuranceleadsguide.com/insurance- leads/state-shared-insurance-leads-quality- driven-correction/ 17. Expectations Moving ForwardThe recent market corrections appear to begaining traction. With a significant shift in focusamong lead providers, there are a few changesagents can expect heading into 2013 andbeyond.http://insuranceleadsguide.com/insurance-leads/state-shared-insurance-leads-quality-driven-correction/ 18. First and foremost is an improvement in leadquality.This is a win for both sides as it will makeagents happy with the product they are buyingand will allow lead companies to retaincustomers for a longer period of time. http://insuranceleadsguide.com/insurance- leads/state-shared-insurance-leads-quality- driven-correction/ 19. One change we have not really seen to date isan increase in shared lead pricing.Lead acquisition costs are higher than ever.The emphasis on quality equates to a lowerprofit margin for most lead sellers.I personally expect shared lead pricing to startshifting higher within the next year. http://insuranceleadsguide.com/insurance- leads/state-shared-insurance-leads-quality- driven-correction/ 20. Based on feedback we havereceived, most agents are willing to paymore for a higher quality lead.We firmly agree. http://insuranceleadsguide.com/insurance- leads/state-shared-insurance-leads-quality- driven-correction/ 21. It appears the industry is moving in the rightdirection.We hope to see more competition in themarketplace driven purely by lead quality.Taking a lesson from recent history, itcertainly appears that a focus on quality is thebest path to a win-win relationship for bothlead sellers and buyers. http://insuranceleadsguide.com/insurance- leads/state-shared-insurance-leads-quality-Lets hope the trend continues. driven-correction/