InsWeb, an online personal lines insurance quoting portal for consumers, is launching a new program generating customer leads for agents this summer.
The program, AgentInsider, is aimed at connecting agents with online consumers shopping for insurance.
"For the past 18 months, InsWeb has been distributing high quality leads to agents via a third party," said Will Phelps, vice president of the InsWeb Agency Network, based in Sacramento, Calif., in a statement. "With the introduction of AgentInsider, agents will now be signing up and receiving leads directly from our marketplace."
InsWeb said that AgentInsider is designed to provide "flexibility and control over the types, quantity and geographical locations of competitively priced, high caliber leads." The leads are generated by consumers who have gone to the Web site, www.insweb.com, looking for insurance.
Mr. Phelps told National Underwriter that the leads are generated by those consumers who indicate that they want to be contacted by an independent agent–which, he added, are about 85 percent of the customers.
According to the agent's site, www.agentinsider.com, where agents register, after the agent provides his or her information, the producer makes a $100 deposit on a credit card.
Agents compete for leads beginning with an opening bid that is generally $7. Each successfully acquired lead is then deducted from the deposit. When the deposit is exhausted, the agent is charged $100 again, and the producer can continue. Agents are alerted of the charges by e-mail.
Once registered, the company said, agents can bid for consumer leads geographically by Zip code, line of business (auto and homeowners) and quantity.
Mr. Phelps explained that agents often complained they were locked out of leads because someone got there ahead of them. InsWeb is allowing free market principals to set prices.
The service is currently available in 43 states and, ultimately, he said the program is expected to be in all 50 states. He said that InsWeb in the last year saw a total of 5 million visitors to its site that generated close to 1.5 million applications.
InsWeb said it also plans to expand its lead program to include life, health and other lines of insurance.
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