Individual Health
How the Internet Can Boost Your Individual Sales
by Jeremiah Desmarais

Growing your book of individual medical business might not be part of your game plan, but it should be. With 45 million uninsured and growing, having individual health plans in your portfolio is increasingly valuable for cross-selling clients and encouraging retention. It's never been easier to rate health plans or attract the right kind of prospects.
Consider this fact: 31% of adults who go online have used the Internet to look for health insurance, according to the Pew Internet and American Life Project.
   A lot of agents think that just because their Website has a little link that says, “health insurance,” visitors will know immediately they’re in the right place. It doesn’t work that way. Online shoppers are looking for a specific product or service. They’ll look somewhere else if they land on your homepage through a pay-per-click ad and don’t find exactly what they are looking for.
   Visitors always want to know what’s in it for them before they take action. So, your call to action copy should be heavy on the verbs. It should always demonstrate the benefit of your offer. For example, “Click here for fast, free health quotes” or “Get quotes now and save.”
Focus your content pages on one keyword and one action. Are you are trying to build your page rank in Google by adding content to your Website? If so, you should develop pages devoted to health insurance. Choose the keywords you want to target and then develop a page that focuses solely on this topic. Shoot for writing pages that have at least 275 words. Address your prospect directly. For example, “Getting help from a professional broker will help make your decision easier.”
   The “contact us” page or a quote form is most likely to be the final step in your lead generation process. People don’t want to give out their information unless they’re comfortable with the company. You can lower their sense of risk by asking only the information you really need to work up a basic quote. Also, adding a line that refers to your privacy policy goes a long way in reassuring people. Try adding words next to the information fields, such as, “We respect your privacy,” or “Your information will not be shared.”
   Create unique landing pages for health insurance shoppers. A landing page is the page that visitors see first after becoming curious enough to click on a link to your site. If you plan on running pay-per-click campaigns, you will need to create a unique landing page for your new health prospects. Don’t just dump them on your homepage where they’ll get lost.
Here are a few pointers for effective landing pages: Keep your headline consistent with your offer. People will get confused and click away if your page isn’t immediately relevant to the offer they just saw on the search engine.
   Provide links to educational content on your site. Someone who isn’t ready to fill out your form may still want to read a little more on health insurance. Google also likes to see landing pages that provide educational content rather than just pushing an offer.
Don’t slow people down by making them scroll to find your quote form. Online shoppers lose patience fast, so keep your quote form at the top of the screen. Remember, you’ll always convert more visitors to leads if you follow through with the promise of your online advertising and get them to what they want fast.

Putting Web-Based Tools to Work for You

Even through Web-based point-of-sale tools are relatively new to the health insurance industry, they've completely changed the way individual plans are sold. They form a bridge between Internet marketing that brings in clients and a speedier and more efficient backend sales process. Agents are using the following tools to drive record numbers of individual health sales:

Faster Quoting

A quote engine lets you punch in your client’s basic information to do a spreadsheet of carriers’ rates and plans. Your quotes should be e-mail ready, cutting the time it takes to run a health quote from 30 minutes to 60 seconds.
   When a visitor enters their information online to compare quotes, it should be sent to you automatically so you can begin following up. This allows your visitors to start comparing rates right on your site and makes your call to action even more powerful, “Compare health quotes now and save!”
   Have you hesitated growing your health business because you don’t have the time for more appointments? The quote engine puts everything the customer needs to make a decision online, including applications. Agents who’ve switched to a point-of-sale quote engine report making up most of their sales online and over the phone.

Online Applications

Many carriers offer online applications, which can be included with your online proposal. Customers can apply while they’re still interested and you don’t risk losing their business by mailing a package that takes days to reach them. Carriers’ online applications speed up the underwriting process and your commission checks. Also, users cannot submit incomplete applications, which means no more delayed or rejected applications because of human error.

Lead Management

This tool imports all your leads automatically, eliminating data entry. It’s also a powerful renewal tool. You can set reminders for just before your client’s renewal date. You can take a few seconds to send out a new e-mail proposal before they’re hit with an unexpected rate hike. Your clients can compare their updated quotes and apply for a new plan, all online. This can prevent clients from switching carriers frequently hoping to get better rates.

Drip Marketing

The autoresponder is an indispensable tool for brokers who want to contact leads the instant they arrive, but are too busy to do it themselves. The autoresponder sends out a personalized message to your leads as they come in and keeps e-mailing for months at a time.
   It’s never been easier to increase your individual health sales. Internet marketing lets you attract the right kind of health prospects. Web-based tools let you work them with a minimal time investment compared to traditional methods.
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Jeremiah Desmarais oversees the marketing efforts at Norvax, a company whose Web-based tools help insurance agents increase individual medical sales and cut administrative time. He is a member of the Society of Industry Leaders. You can reach him at jdesmarais@norvax.com or 866-4-NORVAX (866-466-7829).