While direct mail may be consistent on average, it is not always reliable and as we all know, nothing is ever guaranteed. Any good marketer will tell you to never have all your eggs in one basket. With the leads we are doing right now we have seen mailers pull as high as 10% and we have seen them pull .5% so you can never rely on direct mail as your only source of leads. With returns on direct mail varying, that can make your cost per lead vary which makes it a little tougher to budget and project your potential ROI. However, with direct mail, a client is taking a physical card and filling out their information and taking the time to send the card back which usually constitutes a more “qualified” lead.

Another route many agents have been taking for the last few years and increasingly so since COVID has come around, are Facebook leads. Facebook leads have been a great, fairly cost effective and more instant option in addition to direct mail. The average cost of a Facebook lead is about $20 and they are delivered in real time vs waiting a few weeks for a response to come in. There is no picking an area, running counts then dropping a piece and waiting to see how many you get back. You simply pick your area and determine how many leads you would like to order. The leads will start flowing into your dashboard real time and you may receive a call or a text directly from the client along with a request for information. This helps when you don’t want to wait for responses to come back in the mail and a lot of agents prefer this method for selling over the phone as the clients tend to be a little more tech savvy and able to complete electronic applications easier. You may have a few more people saying they never responded to the ad with Facebook as you do with direct mail but you have to weigh your positives and negatives. At the end of the day it all comes down to your ROI. I suggest my agents try a bit of both and work both types of leads to their maximum potential to get a good gauge so they can decide what works best for them.

The sales team at Pinnacle Financial Services tests many different lead programs on an ongoing basis.  Reach out to a team member to get the insight you need to have a successful lead campaign.