As a result, it is no longer a matter of supplementing lead acquisition programs with internet leads. Today most organizations are leveraging internet leads as a primary part of their customer acquisition programs.

So how can you prioritize high-intent consumers, mitigate TCPA compliance risk and optimize your brand's lead acquisition programs?

Mitigate TCPA compliance risk

Compliance with the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) has become more of a priority for insurance brands and their partners over the past few years. TCPA lawsuits filed by consumers are on the rise — growing by a factor of 1,273 percent since 2010 — and a number of large insurance brands have been part of multimillion-dollar TCPA settlements.

For example, in May 2017, a Florida-based insurer settled a class action TCPA lawsuit for $4.25 million. And that does not include the court costs and legal fees or the cost to counter bad the bad PR and lost brand reputation from the case.

Knowing definitively that a consumer has given consent to be contacted is a must. Ted Todd Insurance is a multi-office agency in Florida which generates leads on its own website and buys online leads from third party lead generators. They assure TCPA compliance by using a SaaS-based solution to track and verify consumer consent.

CEO Charley Todd says, “the technology tracks and assures the existence of the consumer's consent, delivering a positive first experience for every new customer, and provides persuasive evidence in the event of a consumer complaint or lawsuit.”

Analyze the right data

With the overabundance of data that insurance brands have, from internal and external sources, it is not always easy to make sense of it all. Even with a sophisticated data science and analytics program, the key is getting access to the right data at the right time, to help optimize your marketing programs.

In the case of customer acquisition, that begins with having access to data that you can use to help score, prioritize and route higher-performing leads. By knowing the origin and history of your leads, you'll be able to mitigate TCPA compliance risk and prioritize selection of and engagement with higher-intent consumers.

The majority of the top ten insurance companies in the United States are doing just that — connecting the dots and using sophisticated technology and data — to gain real-time intelligence into the origin, history and intent of the leads they are acquiring. Such solutions enable insurance companies and agents to follow consumers in real time on their buying journeys until the end when consumers purchase a policy, helping insurers observe and access behavioral data which they can use to analyze the intent of the consumer.

When marketers gain the ability to identify and take action on consumer behavioral data, buying low-intent leads is no longer part of the “cost of doing business” in lead management and analysis. Brands that leverage these insights gain efficiencies and can better focus their precious time and budgets on productive leads.

Optimize lead acquisition and marketing

In implementing technology solutions, here are five tips to supercharge your lead generation.

1. Know the age of your leads. If you're measuring speed-to-lead from the moment you received a lead post, you are missing a key data point. It's not about when you received the lead, but rather when the consumer actually submitted the inquiry.

2. Be proactive in avoiding fraudulent leads and those that are not TCPA compliant. Consumers who didn't fill out the form or who filled it out six months ago have no intent to buy from you. Also, these leads put you at risk for TCPA complaints. Only purchase leads that are TCPA compliant. You don't want to damage your brand and reputation, or take on the costs if you are sued by a consumer. You need a vendor who can help you identify, in real-time, that your leads are compliant and provide persuasive proof that a consumer gave consent to be contacted.

3. Don't get duped. Many marketers assume that a duplicate is the result of recycled data. They think that the same consumer means it is the same inquiry. In fact, it could very likely be the same consumer with a brand new inquiry, which is actually indicative of a high-intent consumer. Know the difference.

4. Understand if leads are shared vs. exclusive. Know if your leads are being shared with some of your competitors. If they are, you need to determine how many other competitors that lead is being shared with and whether you are the first or last to receive it.

5. Right price your leads. If you find a vendor who will help you identify low intent leads, you can reallocate that spend and pay more for higher intent leads. This is a key strategy to quickly and notably improve lead conversion.

Jaimie Pickles is general Manager of insurance at Jornaya. He can be reached by sending email to [email protected].