5 Ways to Nurture Life Insurance Leads That Aren’t Ready to Buy

“I’ve got plenty of leads to sell life insurance policies…”

That’s what life insurance producers want to be able to say.

But what do you do with the leads that aren’t ready to buy?

According to various sources, about half of all leads aren’t ready to buy. 

So what should you do with them?

Ditch them? Give them away?

Don’t even think about it.

These can be valuable prospects that you can nurture all the way to a sale.

Consider the Stats

Business.com dives deep into the numbers. 

“According to Gleanster Research, 50% of the leads you generate are qualified, but not ready to buy right now. 25% of the leads you generate are totally unqualified; they won't ever buy. In fact at any given time, only 25% of your leads are ready to buy, and that's being optimistic.”

That 50% qualified leads?

“Research studies state 80% of these people are going to buy from someone in the next 24 months. This is where lead nurturing comes into play. The Annuitas Group found that nurtured leads make 47% larger purchases than those who buy immediately.  So you develop a relationship, following up with customers until they're ready to buy.

But you already knew that, right?

So why isn't that happening? A recent report from MarketingSherpa found that 79% of leads never turn into sales. Lack of lead nurturing was listed as the most common cause of poor performance.”

This is profound and impactful information. If it doesn’t prompt you to start nurturing your leads, we don’t know what will

1. Provide Value to Everyone

Keep in mind that these prospects are not one-size-fits-all. 

Some might be just beginning to search for life insurance, while others are at the stage where they’re shopping for a producer. 

Therefore, you’ll need to create different website content, blogs and email campaigns to present to these leads.

This is called targeted content, because it will “nurture” leads with information that they need at the right moment.

Think about it: 

If you sent a blog titled, “What is Life Insurance?” to a lead that was ready to work with a producer, you’d miss an opportunity. If you sent that lead an email guiding them through the five steps to hiring the right insurance producer, you’d hit the mark. 

That’s how targeted content works.

2. Use Multiple Channels

Don’t just rely on networking, cold calls or your website alone. 

Today, life insurance producers need to rely on multiple methods working together, like email marketing, video marketing, retargeting, social media, etc. to get more life insurance leads.

3. Reach Out Frequently

This is not a one-and-done game. 

You have to be in it for the long haul, which means you’ll need to “touch” leads frequently.

Developing a sales and marketing system that takes them from the initial stages of the buying journey all the way to a sale ensures that you will convert more leads into sales.

4. Personalize It

Email marketing is still an effective lead-nurturing tactic, but if you continue sending out generic email blasts – delivering the identical message to every lead – stop right now.

Your email messages should be personalized to get better results. 

According to studies, personalized emails improve click-through rates by 14% and conversions by 10%. That’s an incentive to tweak your email messaging!

5. Follow Up

In general, the quicker you follow up with a lead, the better results you’ll get. 

You may think you do a great job of responding to leads, but consider that the ideal timeframe in which to reach out to a lead is 5 minutes.

If someone fills out your “Get a Quote” form online, you have a 21 times better chance of qualifying that lead if you connect within five minutes, rather than 30 minutes – or a day or two.

Nurture Life Insurance Leads the Right Way

Electrify your lead-nurturing process, and don’t waste a single prospect.

Make sure you’re providing value to everyone, reaching out on multiple channels and keep reaching out – frequently.

You also have to make sure your email marketing efforts are personalized and that you’re following up with prospects without delay.

Because every lead is the one that you want!

Originally published 5/17; Updated 4/21