Mailers for Homeowners

[onesource22]

Great information fellas. Would you mind emailing me an example of what you would use as a direct mail piece?

Thanks,

 

[curly212]

I've used a homeowners letter targeted at homeowners settlement dates. I have a realtor friend who gives me lists of properties and dates (read month) they settled. My response rate is low 1-2% but the close ratio is high 60%

Most months it's break even but renewals make up for the ROI (hopefully).

 

[b61mack]

very good post

 

[QuoteClicker]

I talked to a guy from Insurance Lead Services, he said they will send out the customized letters to prospects for $690 for a 1000 with a 1-2% return. Anyone had success with these letters or know of any other companies that will do these cheaper? I am an independent agent.

For a 1000 letters $690 is a average cost on a mailer. Just the postage alone is a huge chunk of that amount. When my company does mailers I usually see a 1% return regardless on if I use letters or a really nice custom postcard. If your are just looking to save money you may consider asking how much for a custom postcard mailer. You can spend half the amount and may still have the same results as with the letter.

Tim.

 

[APInsurance]

Wow! Stay away from these scams. You are absolutely wasting your time and money with postcards and a 1-2% return. A Direct Mail Campaign has to be very niche targeted. You actually only have to send tout 10-20 new letters a week that do 2 things. The envelopes need to be interesting enough for the prospect to open and then give them the Free Tip To... leading them to your website and opt-in. Use Direct mail to Build an Email Opt-in list. Most people won't buy from Direct mail. But if you send them emails with great offers and information throughout the year, you will have a long term close ratio.

Kevin
APInsurance

 

[Mark]

If you email me, I will share a couple of postcards that I like to use.

 

[a2sinsurance]

Dan,

I'm an independent agent in Oklahoma City and we implemented a targeted direct mailing campaign specific to homeowner purchase dates. For 6 months now my agency has been mailing out approx 2000 letters a month with a 1.75% response rate. However, our closing rate is about 55% and we are producing $25-30k in written premium. Of course, we cross-sell every call to maximize our return. We are more than paying for the out the door cost.

Trent

 

[djs]

Yep, the 1.75% response rate is awesome and will make this work. I'm not sure how the premiums average in Oklahoma though.

2000 * 1.75% = 35 leads (awesome)
35 * 55% close ratio = 19.25 sales
My average home sale is probably right at $750 in premium, around $150 in commission. You seem to be much higher than this.

19.25 sales * $150 commission = 2887.50 total.

Subtract out $1200 for the mailing (hopefully you are in that range) and it's still a profitable venture.

Way cool.

Dan

 

[Zimbo1980]

Trent, could you send me a sample letter that you use for the homeowners letters?

 

[Schwetty]

I have used this approach to gain lots of business when my company had good home rates. I have stopped doing it once our rates took a huge jump.

Run your numbers each month, as long as you are breaking even on year 1, the renewals will keep paying for themselves for years to come.

With Allstate I was able to use a program called "Robo-Agent" that would mass quote hundreds of homes in a short period of time. Is there any program that will do that in the IA world or do you have to do each quote individually?