Google Paid Search For Insurance Agents – What to Know Before You Get Started
Paid search is a great option for many agents who want an additional source of leads that reaches beyond their SEO footprint. Because insurance is and remains the single most competitive search term online sometimes paid search provides the only means of generating leads for insurance agencies online.
Who is paid search for?
- Agencies who are great at answering the phone or responding to a quote form within 15 minutes of receiving it.
- Agencies who can afford a bigger marketing budget.
- Agencies who understand the ROI with paid search.
- Agencies wanting to move their marketing footprint out further than their city.
How much is paid search?
In 2022 we generated nearly 3,000 verified conversions (website form leads or phone calls lasting longer than 60 seconds) and 4,084 phone calls. The cost of all of this was $105,436. This means that the average conversion cost was $35.23. The cost of leads depends on the target market with some leads costing less. For instance, the cost of a “home insurance” lead tends to be +$50 while a lead for a motorcycle policy tends to be less. So, expect to pay between $35 – $75 per lead. Because Google optimizes your ads, over time it generally comes down.
Our average customers spend around $800 per month on paid search. Our management fee is $150 per month and there is a one-time setup cost of $500 to create the campaign, design a landing page, create a custom quote form and install conversion tracking.
What are the best leads for paid search?
The best leads are the ones with the largest premiums. For instance, a $15,000 annual premium commercial truck insurance lead that costs you $60 is far better of a lead than a $100 annual premium motorcycle policy that cost you $20. One truck policy at 10% will lead to a $1500 commission vs. a motorcycle policy at 12% that gets you $12.
There will be wins and losses.
There is no way to control the quality of paid search. Meaning you can’t target a preferred homeowner or good credit auto applicant versus a non-standard lead. When it comes to online leads, you get what you get. Now there are creative ways around that. For instance, if you’re targeting “vacation property insurance” or “Insurance for AirBnB” you’re likely going to get more preferred leads that have a greater cross-sell possibility. Occasionally, you’ll get lucky. We ran ads for a commercial truck client who wrote a four-truck fleet for an annual premium of $75,000. This “click” cost him $45 and generated him $7,500 in annual commission.
How many leads can I expect to receive?
If you start with a very conservative budget of $500, generally you’ll get between 5 and 12 leads per month. Typically, things are a bit slower the first month as your ads optimize, but once the algorithm is developed things become more consistent.
Why isn’t my website enough?
As previously mentioned, insurance is the single most competitive term online. In fact, “Insurance” is the more competitive than attorneys, real estate and investment brokers combined (the 2nd, 3rd and 4th most competitive terms). When it comes to standing out, you’re in a very crowded space.
Most agents by now have a website and many have been working on their SEO, online reviews, and blogs for years.
If you don’t regularly blog, get new reviews on Facebook and Google and post to your Google Business Profile you’re not doing enough to compete online. It is unlikely you’ll get much in terms of organic leads to your site for people looking for insurance online.
We offer programs that do all of these things for you, so if you want help, please let us know.
Can I get auto and home leads?
You can get leads for auto and home from paid search. These are the two most competitive terms and therefore are the most expensive leads you can target for paid search. Typically, we don’t recommend running ads for these keywords, but do recommend more general campaigns that can lead to an auto or home quote.
Is paid search right for your agency?
Paid search requires you to track your return on investment closely. The beauty of paid search is you know exactly who came from paid search and you can reference whether or not you wrote a particular lead.
Paid search is not about an immediate return on investment, but a policy life expectancy (PLE) calculation. For instance, if you wrote a home policy from a paid search lead, you’re not looking at the commission received for the year, but (if a Safeco home policy) a 4.7 year lead. Safeco policies tend to stick around for 4.7 years, so you’re actually looking at your commission x 4.7 which would give you your true ROI.
If you don’t understand or agree with this math, paid search is not for you. Paid search is an investment in your future, not generally something that gives you an immediate financial growth.
Are results guaranteed?
Unfortunately, you won’t know whether or not paid search will work for your agency until you try it. You will get leads, your phone will ring, but whether or not you end up writing the business from these phone calls or leads is up to you.
We tell everyone who is running paid search to get back in touch with the customers within 15 minutes of the leads hitting your inbox.
If it is a phone call you get, make it a priority and put what you’re doing on hold to gather information from the customer and get them a quote.
Lastly, paid search results vary greatly depending on the market you’re in. A flood insurance lead in Oregon can run upwards of $75 per lead while in Texas, that same lead is $25. You won’t know pricing until you try It and Google shares that information with you. Pricing will also fluctuate depending on who else is bidding on those keywords so be patient if things change.
In closing, Google paid search can be a fantastic additional revenue stream for your business. If you’re a savvy cross-seller you can generate a large book of business from paid search alone. While paid search can be expensive up-front it can certainly be an extra opportunity for you to get leads from the ultra-competitive internet.