If you are on the fence about internet marketingor you are wondering how it applies to commercial insurance here are some numbers that may help you.
I’m sure by now you have sat through a presentation or two and have been lambasted with internet search statistics, most of which apply to consumer behavior. You know the ones 76% of the population uses Google, 42% of them click on the first result, you have to capture the lead, follow up diligently and make lots of money. The trouble is, it’s just not that easy. I hear, and sometimes see, the doubt in an insurance brokers eye, about the actual numbers as they apply to commercial insurance. Here are some search numbers specifically related to business-to-business.
Favorite Search Engines
|
|
85% |
|
Yahoo |
7.5% |
|
MSN |
2% |
|
all Others |
8.5% |
For purchases of $5,000.00-$10,000.00 3.7% make a same day decision, 15.6% make a buying decision within 2 weeks, and 57.8% within 90 days.
In the early stages of search 65.3% are using a search engine versus 21% a vendor site. In the negotiation and buying stages those numbers change to around 42% search engine and 28% vendor site.
These statistics come from Marketing Sherpaand Knowledgestorm
The point here is that search engine marketing is extremely important and when done right it can be very lucrative. It doesn’t matter if you are selling home and auto, commercial, or both. In many instances commercial insurance is much easier because it requires longer, often less competitive key search phrases.
According to Marketing Sherpa, only 23% of salespeople follow up on internet leads and only 48% of data collected through internet marketing currently goes into a CRM. According the agents I speak to there is no ROI on internet marketing. With statistics like these they’re probably right.
Why don’t they follow up and capture data? Because the leads are junk, or they are not qualified. Here are some facts.
Business buyers provide valid information with the exception of phone numbers. If you call and get a bad number you probably throw the lead away. I get it. Bad idea. Put the lead in a CRM and drip relevant information via email. The lead is probably good even if the phone number is bad.
Business buyers often use personal email addresses. When you see a personal email address the first thought is too small or unqualified. Not necessarily true. But it help explain the low follow up numbers. By the way, I agree that it’s not cost effective to chase each one of these leads down individually, but if you had a CRM drip set up nothing would fall through the cracks and you would have a cost effective means of following up on every lead.
Business buyers want timely and courteous follow up. If you think the leads are junk because of personal email addresses and bad phones and if you don’t have a CRM system, then you aren’t going to give your buyers what they want in terms of timely follow up.
If you want some more ideas on how to make internet marketing work in your insurance agency join our Insurance Marketing Community on Google +