MediaAlpha for Agents delivers the insurance industry’s highest-quality online leads, alongside first-class customer service and a flexible, user-friendly platform that enables agents to pay the right price for every lead.
And getting started isn’t hard at all—it takes just a few minutes to set up your account and start buying leads. Here are seven things to know as you get started:
1. Bookmark your account sign-in page and know how to reset your password
In order to start buying leads, you’ll first need to be able to get into your account on the MediaAlpha for Agents platform. We recommend bookmarking the platform sign-in page, which you can find at https://insurance-agent.mediaalpha.com.
Once there, you’ll be prompted to enter your user name and password. If you can’t remember your password, you can click the “Forgot Password” link that we’ve outlined in green in the screenshot below. After following the link and inputting your email, you’ll receive an automated email message with another link you can click to change your password.
2. Learn our two ways to buy leads: automated delivery and browse-and-buy
MediaAlpha for Agents is unique in that it offers agents two ways to purchase online insurance leads: automated delivery and browse-and-buy.
Our automated delivery option puts agents in the driver’s seat by giving them the power to set their own bids for precisely targeted audience segments. Agents can control how many leads they purchase, as well as filter consumers by a wide range of attributes that include location, coverage history, and driving history. This auction-based mode of buying requires an agent to pre-set their desired spend and bidding parameters in advance. Leads that fit these parameters are delivered to the agent’s inbox right when they’re generated.
By contrast, our browse-and-buy option shows agents a real-time feed of new leads they can purchase instantaneously at a market rate. Prior to buying with this à la carte option, agents can view key details about the consumer, such as when the lead was generated, where the consumer lives, and what their driving record and coverage history look like.
3. Make sure you understand how our auction model works
Our automated delivery option uses an auction model to distribute leads. While other lead companies charge flat fees for different categories of consumers, we enable agents to filter leads based on risk profile and location—and to adjust their bids accordingly. After all, not all consumers are worth the same value to your business, so it doesn’t make sense for you to pay the same price for each lead.
It’s important to understand how this model works so that you can use it effectively. The MediaAlpha for Agents platform enables you to adjust your bids by age, driving history, zip code, coverage history, and other factors, allowing you to pay the right price for every lead.
Don’t worry, though—you won’t have to adjust your bids frequently, and your client success manager will be more than happy to make suggestions for how you can tweak your strategy to maximize your performance. Plus, we never sell the same lead to two agents from the same carrier. If you want to learn more about our auction model, you can read our article on the subject or set up a meeting with your client success manager.
4. Get granular with your bidding strategy
Next, it’s time to create your bidding strategy. Rather than using a one-size-fits-all approach, you can take advantage of our platform’s granular bidding settings by adjusting your pricing for different kinds of consumers.
At the top of the Settings page, you can choose which state and zip codes you’d like to buy leads in. When you scroll down, you’ll see a grid that you can use to set your bids for the four major categories of insurance leads (premium, preferred, standard, and non-standard), as well as the option to create and set bids for your own custom consumer types.
Here’s what it looks like:
If you’re not sure what to set as your bid prices, your client success manager can offer advice based on their expertise, your past business performance, and your current business goals. You can find your client success manager’s contact info in the bottom left-hand corner of any page on the platform.
5. Use the browse-and-buy option to gain additional volume and buy leads on demand
Our browse-and-buy option enables you to purchase leads à la carte from a continuously updated feed of in-market consumers, found on the Opportunities page of our platform.
Here’s what it looks like on the page:
If you’re looking to increase your volume beyond what you’re getting through your automated delivery campaigns, browse-and-buy enables you to purchase individual leads that sit outside your automated delivery targeting parameters. This way, you can try out new consumer types and purchase additional leads whenever you have time to work them.
Browse-and-buy leads can be purchased on a cost-per-lead basis, or via our first-of-its-kind cost-per-connection feature. When you buy with cost-per-connection, we dial the lead for you and only charge you for it if you’re able to have a conversation with the consumer.
For more information on browse-and-buy, read our blogpost here.
6. Contact your leads as soon as you get them
Once you receive a new lead, it’s best to contact them right away, while the consumer is still shopping. That’s why we send out an email notification to let you know every time you win a lead.
However, in order to maintain consumer privacy, the email notification will only contain the lead’s first name and last initial. You can see the lead’s full name and contact information by clicking the Leads button on the left side of the platform.
When you click on a consumer’s name, you’ll then be brought to a new page with detailed information about them. Here’s what it looks like:
Once you start winning leads, you won’t have to worry about your campaign being paused because you’ve run out of money in your account. As soon as you drop below $50 left, you’ll get an email notification and we’ll automatically refill your budget to the amount you specified when you first set up your account with your client success manager. But don’t lose sleep stressing about the prospect of runaway spending you didn’t plan on—you can pause your campaign at any time on the Settings page of the platform.
7. Optimize performance with help from your client success manager
Once you’ve started buying leads, you can work with your client success manager to analyze your results and adjust your lead-buying strategy for even better results moving forward. For instance, your client success manager might recommend using our off-hours scheduling feature to purchase quality leads at a discount during nights and weekends. They might also suggest raising your bids for a certain type of consumer that converts frequently for you, or lowering them for leads where your bids are coming in well above your competitors.
Want to learn more? Contact your client success manager, or check out our Articles page for even more tips and best practices.
These seven tips will give you the foundation you need to start buying leads and driving real business results on the MediaAlpha for Agents platform. If you have any questions, you can check in with your client success manager any time.
Or, if you’d like to do a little learning on your own time, you can always browse the library of agents-focused content on our website. There, you’ll find tips for bidding and working your leads, advice on how to adapt to declining call contact rates, and overviews of how you can use the MediaAlpha for Agents platform to track the status of your leads and reach consumers outside normal business hours.