EverQuote life insurance leads vs leads you generate yourself

How EverQuote makes money, in its own words

EverQuote is an online insurance marketplace that earns most of its revenue by selling consumer referrals to insurance providers: carriers, agents and indirect distributors. Its annual report describes a direct channel (carriers and agents) and an indirect channel (aggregators and media networks that resell referrals), with commission revenue under 1% of the total.

In other words, the consumer's request is the product, and the company's job is to sell it to the buyers who value it most. That is a legitimate business. It is also why an agent should not expect the household to be waiting only for them.

What that means when you buy

• Volume is the strength. A large marketplace can deliver leads, calls and clicks quickly in many states.
• You compete for the household. Check the exclusivity terms of the product you buy.
• You rent, you do not own. When you stop paying, the flow stops; the audience and creative stay with the marketplace.

Before you buy, ask the same ten questions in how to evaluate life insurance lead vendors.

Owned leads: the other side of the trade

Leads you generate in your own ad accounts take longer to start and need a budget for testing. In exchange, the consent names your agency, nobody else receives the record, and every month of data improves the next. On Meta, insurance ads run under a restricted ad category; see how to advertise IUL on Facebook.

The fair comparison

Run both for the same 60 to 90 days and compare cost per issued policy, contact rate and persistency of the policies written. Many agencies keep a marketplace for volume and build owned leads for margin. The point is to choose with numbers.