Direct Mail Final Expense Leads -
How To Spot The Best Ones

Direct mail final expense leads remain a great prospecting tool for agents targeting the senior market.

You can pay a mail house to generate them or you can create your own.

There are three key elements...

First, the list of prospect names and addresses.

Second, the content of the marketing piece.

Third, the uniqueness or creativity of the mailer.

The data list of consumers used should be very accurate.

Above all else the addresses should be accurate or your response rate will decline because the mailers will be thrown away by the consumer.

The particular demographics of the data list for direct mail final expense leads typically include...

- ages 60 to 75

- incomes $15,000 to $50,000

- one addressee per household

- include single family units and apartments

- exclude P.O. Boxes

Each of these parameters will affect both the quality and the quantity of the direct mail final expense leads received.

The quantity of responses per 1,000 pieces mailed determines your cost per lead.

The quality increases your chances of getting an appointment and a sale from each of your leads.

Both of these factors determine the profitability of your direct mail marketing campaign.

Expanding the age range will increase the number of prospects available within a geographic area.

This is good for the companies that charge on a per thousand piece mailed basis, but it's bad for the agent.

This is because the response rates from ages below 60 and above 75 won't generate the quantity and quality needed to be profitable.

Sending to incomes below $15,000 per year will also increase the number of prospects within a geographic area.

This is again good for the mail house but bad for the agent.

The reason is that the leads generated from incomes below $15,000 per year will have a high percentage of prospects or leads who respond but who can't afford even the lowest coverage amounts or don't have a checking account or they are on medicaid.

Only one addressee per household prevents spending extra money to send to both the husband and the wife if they fall within the age and income parameters.

A message sent to either one of them will get to both of them.

Just one per household is all that is needed to generate a response from interested prospects.

Eliminating addresses with P.O. boxes increases your response rate because most of those sent to a P.O. box won't generate a response from your FE mailer.

The creativity and content of the mailer determines the quality of direct mail final expense leads generated.

The content of the pieces is very important in determining the quantity and the quality that you receive.

Including any wording that offers something for FREE will greatly increase the quantity but it also greatly reduces the value in terms of generating a sale.

High response rates is something the mailhouses brag about.

The mailhouse goal is to sell leads.

The agent's goal is to write policies.

The agent needs both a sufficient quantity and quality to be successful.

The  marketplace has very high competition.

There are only a certain number of people in any geographic area that fall within the age and income parameters used for mailers.

This means that every agent selling in that geographic marketplace is mailing to the same people you are.

Creativity of Your Final Expense Mailer is Critical

The creativity of your piece is super important.

Seniors recognize the same old boring junk sent out to them every day.

You have to distinguish yours from the hundreds of others they receive.

Most companies try to solve this problem by changing the color of their mailer.

It doesn't take the average senior very long to figure out that different colors in the envelop or different colors of the post card are still the same junk they have been receiving.

In the trash can your piece goes.

Try changing the message the consumer sees on the outside of the envelope or the card they get from their mailbox.

Any technique that increases the number of messages that actually get opened and read by the consumer significantly increases the number of prospects you have to work with.

Don't offer any incentives at all.  That will be counter productive.

Direct mail final expense leads are very profitable when attention is paid to the parameters above.