Overview of how aggregator's work with buyers and sellers in the online insurance lead generation space.

1. Presented by Powered by
Ian Smith

2. What we’ll be covering
• What happens after the submit button is pressed
• How:
– leads monetized and distributed
– the complexity of this system has lead to fraud in the
past
• 2012:
– major changes
– partnership is the way forward

3. Who is this?

4. What about this?

5. Flo is huge (in pop culture)
3,375,312
like this

6. Brand Marketing
• $4 Billion+ in spend this year
• More than entire leads industry!
• But…
• Consumers view it all as the same product
• All the ads point to the internet
• Consumers want to compare rates

7. So…
• You’re smart
• You own a couple of domains
• Why don’t you throw up a form?
1. Do some advertising
2. Collect consumer information
3. Sell to the big insurance companies
4. Profit!!!
• Now you are thinking like an aggregator
• But…it isn’t quite that simple

8. QuoteWizard
Inc 500/5000
• 2010: #1 in Insurance
• 2011: #7 in Insurance

9. QuoteWizard
• Distribute 300,000+ leads a month
• Self generate the majority of our leads

10. QuoteWizard
• Seattle, WA
• Privately held
• Sell to 5,000+ Agents
• Established In
– Auto
– Home
– Renter
– Life
• Entering Health Vertical

11. Ian Smith
7+ Years in Online Lead Generation
VP of Technology @ QuoteWizard
Evangelism and Strategic Opportunities
Previously @ WorldClass Strategy (Now EducationDynamics)
Email: ismith@quotewizard.com
Twitter: @mriansmith

12. In the shadow of the ping tree
Life of an Aggregator

13. • Publisher puts up
• Tells consumers they can save big

14. • Consumer puts in their info
• Now the lead lifecycle begins

15. • Things to remember:
– An insurance lead is a request
for multiple quotes
– Many auto insurance leads
have a cap of 8
– Each time a lead is sold the cap
is reduced by 1
– Directives insure leads are only
sold once to each agency

16. Publisher has a lead
Publisher auctions off the lead
1. QuoteWizard Bids
Matched: 1 Agent, 1 Carrier
2. Trinity Quotes Bids
Matched: 1 Agent
3. SunsetSwan Bids
Matched: 1 Agent

17. • QuoteWizard Wins for $7.
• Sells
– 1 Agent
– 1 Carrier
• Auctions remainder of cap
• Trinity Bids $6
– Sells 1 Agent
• SunsetSwan Bids $4
– Sells 1 Agent

18. The circle of happiness

19. End of story

20. Dealing with the lead fire hose

21. Dealing with the fire hose
• Over 10,000 leads a day
• Over 50+ direct sources and publishers
• Hundreds of affiliates
• A universe of 40,000+ lead buyers
• Sometimes things go wrong

22. Bad Apple or Trend?

23. The two types of bad apples
• Non-contactable
– Disconnected number
– No answer
– Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck
• Low/no Intent
– Contactable
– Not Interested
– Did Not Request

24. Ping Forwarding

25. Ping Forwarding
Publisher auctions off the lead
1. QuoteWizard Bids
Matched: 1 Agent, 1 Carrier
2. Trinity Quotes Bids
Matched 1 Agent
3. SunsetSwan Bids
Matched 1 Agent

26. Ping Forwarding
Publisher auctions off the lead
1. QuoteWizard Bids
Matched: 1 Agent, 1 Carrier
2. Trinity Quotes Bids
Matched 1 Agent
3. SunsetSwan Bids
Matched 1 Agent

27. Ping Forwarding
Publisher auctions off the lead
1. QuoteWizard Bids
Matched: 1 Agent, 1 Carrier
2. Trinity Quotes Bids
Matched 1 Agent
3. SunsetSwan Bids
Matched 1 Agent

28. Fraud Forwarding
Takes a lead that
looks like this:

29. Fraud Forwarding
• This time last year:
– We discovered this was going on
– Clients began to view leads as email/phone only
– Return rates began to sky rocket and payouts fell
• Now
– Offenders shut down
– Other aggregators have taken action
– Slow and steady improvement

30. Affiliate Whack a Mole

31. Affiliate Whack a Mole
• Socially savvy
• Technically savvy
• Below the radar
• Pop up, do 100 leads a day
– Might be aged
– Might be phone book
– Might be no intent
• Shut down, change name, move network or aggregator

32. Managing Quality
Return or Complaint Rate
• Leads Returned / Leads Sold
• Complaint hot spots
• Indicative of quality
• Lacking precision
Close Rate
• Leads Closed / Leads Sold
• Agents lack sophistication in tracking and reporting
• Carriers guard data, report over extended time frame

33. Taking it all with a grain of salt
• Aggregators balance on the
knife edge between two
extremes
• Everyone wants higher volume
and higher quality
• Our goal: to dramatically grow
our clients’ sales

34. It takes a village
$10.95 | Low: $2.35 | High: $21

35. It takes a village
$8.95 | $10.95 | Low: $2.35 | High: $21

36. Value of an aggregator
• Manage a huge and chaotic universe of clients
• Create media buying efficiencies by leveraging depth of client
base
• Keep clients happy with a high volume of leads at a
predictable quality
• Provide publishers with dependable pricing

37. 2012
The Sky is the Limit

38. Consolidation
Hometown, InsuranceAgents, Moss, QuoteScout (?)

39. Maturing Industry
• More predictable marketplace with fewer players
• Fewer places for bad affiliates to go
• Stability
– leads to innovation
– leads to opportunity
– leads to growth
• Let’s keep making improvements

40. Shift your view
• We’re not out here to eat your lunch
• Your success means our success
• We’re often forced to operate in the blind
– Lack of insight into publisher sources
– Lack of insight into buyer performance
• Look at us as a partner

41. What I want you to take away
• Everyone wants higher quality leads
• Partnership is the key
• To get there
– Information needs to be more timely
– Publishers need to be more open about sourcing
– Buyers need to be open about what leads work
– Pricing needs to follow effectiveness

42. The End

43. Questions?
Email: ismith@quotewizard.com
Twitter: @mriansmith
Auto – Home – Renter – Life – Health
Leads + Calls + Clicks
[ Booth #119 ]