Buying insurance leads looks simple from the outside: wire a deposit, get a feed, dial faster than your competitors. In practice, lead buying is the single decision most likely to define an agency's next twelve months. Get it right and producers run at 2x output with predictable CPP. Get it wrong and you spend a quarter explaining to your CFO why marketing spend went up while issued policies didn't.
This guide is the framework we use inside the OneLife Lead Center when an agency comes to us mid-burn — vendor change, sudden CPP spike, or a producer team that lost faith in the lead feed. It covers vendor diligence, the eight contract clauses that actually matter, pricing benchmarks for 2026, and the 30-day operational setup that turns a new lead source into a compounding asset.
Before you buy anything: know your unit economics#
You cannot evaluate a lead vendor without knowing two numbers: your target cost per issued policy, and your producer capacity per day. If you don't have both, every vendor sounds reasonable and no number is too high.
The eight contract clauses that actually matter#
- Exclusivity. Define exclusive precisely — "sold to one agency," not "limited-share." Get the maximum share count in writing for any non-exclusive product.
- Return / credit window. Minimum 10% credit window for transfers or web leads that fail your filters. Instant credits for disconnects under 30 seconds.
- TCPA consent capture. The vendor must produce signed consent strings and call recordings within 24 hours of any request. This clause alone has saved agencies seven-figure liabilities.
- Source disclosure. The vendor names channels by category (paid search, social, telemarketing outbound, partner sites). "Proprietary" is not a category.
- SLA on talk time. Minimum 90–120 seconds of conversation before a transfer is billable.
- Volume floor and ceiling. Defined daily floor and ceiling. Over-delivery without your consent is a charge you didn't authorize.
- Pause clause. You can pause delivery within 24 hours notice without penalty. Agencies stuck on "30-day notice to pause" pay for two weeks of leads they can't absorb every single time.
- Data ownership. You own the lead data, including the right to suppress duplicates against your CRM and to migrate the data to a new system.
Vendor diligence: the 12-question screen#
Before any pilot, push every prospective vendor through the same 12-question screen. Vendors that hesitate on any of these are screening themselves out.
- What is the maximum share count on a "shared" lead?
- What is your TCPA consent capture flow? Can you produce a sample consent string?
- What channels source your leads, by percentage of monthly volume?
- What is your average talk time before a live transfer is billable?
- What is your return / credit policy in writing?
- Can you provide three references in my vertical and state?
- What is your average lead age at time of delivery, in seconds?
- How do you handle DNC scrubbing? Federal, state, internal?
- What CRM and dialer integrations do you support natively?
- Can I see a live dashboard of source attribution, not just a CSV?
- What's your typical 90-day CPP for agencies in my vertical?
- What's your pause / cancellation policy in writing?
Pricing benchmarks for 2026#
| Vertical | Exclusive Web | Shared Web | Live Transfer | Aged |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Final Expense | $28–$48 | $10–$18 | $35–$65 | $1–$3 |
| Medicare Advantage | $32–$60 | $14–$24 | $45–$95 | $2–$5 |
| Medicare Supplement | $36–$70 | $16–$26 | $55–$110 | $2–$5 |
| Life Insurance (term) | $22–$42 | $8–$16 | $40–$80 | $1–$3 |
| Mortgage Protection | $28–$48 | $10–$18 | $35–$70 | $1–$3 |
| Auto (high-risk) | $14–$26 | $5–$10 | $25–$55 | $0.50–$2 |
| ACA (OEP) | $10–$20 | $5–$10 | $25–$45 | $1–$3 |
The 30-day operational setup for a new vendor#
Week 1: Filter and integrate
Lock filters to your strongest 2 states, 1 vertical, and the carriers your producers know cold. Integrate the feed directly into your CRM or dialer. Set up source tagging so every lead carries its origin into reporting.
Week 2: Pilot with two producers
Route the new feed exclusively to your two strongest producers. They establish a baseline you can compare against, and they reveal whether the issue is the feed or the floor.
Week 3: Compare to historical baseline
Compare contact, quote, and close rates against your historical baseline for the same vertical and state. If quote rate is within 10% of baseline, the feed is healthy. If it's 20% off, the filter is wrong before you decide the vendor is wrong.
Week 4: Decide on scale or kill
Run the CPP. If it beats your blended baseline by 20% or more, scale the allocation by 10 percentage points the following month. If it doesn't, kill the feed. The willingness to kill quickly is what separates agencies that scale from agencies that bleed.
Common mistakes when buying insurance leads#
- Buying volume before locking filters. Cheap volume into wrong filters is the fastest way to break a producer floor.
- Wiring deposits before contracts. Get the exclusivity, return, and TCPA clauses in writing first.
- Routing new feeds to your weakest producer because "they need the practice." New feeds need your best diagnostician on them.
- Holding vendors to performance numbers without auditing your own CRM hygiene. Half of "bad lead" complaints are missing dispositions.
- Letting one vendor exceed 60% of monthly spend. Single-supplier concentration is the most expensive risk an agency can run.
Actionable takeaways#
- Lock target CPP and producer capacity before any vendor conversation.
- Push every prospect through the 12-question screen.
- Get the eight contract clauses in writing before wiring a dollar.
- Run a tight 30-day pilot with your strongest producers and your strongest states.
- Cap any single vendor at 60% of monthly spend.
Frequently asked questions
Most growing agencies invest 15–25% of gross commission in lead spend. Lower than that signals under-investment; higher than that usually signals weak CPP discipline.
Only as cheap surge fill for a slow week or as practice volume for training. Conversion is in the low single digits and producer morale suffers when aged leads dominate the queue.
30 days is the right window — long enough for statistically meaningful contact and close rates, short enough to kill cleanly if CPP doesn't beat baseline.
Never longer than 30 days notice to pause or cancel. Anything longer trades your optionality for a discount that almost never offsets being stuck on a bad feed.
At least three at scale. Two main exclusive suppliers, one transfer supplier, and a shared fill option. No single vendor should exceed 60% of monthly spend.