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The Secrets of Online Health Insurance Shoppers — Uncovered

ProspectZone Reviews Nearly 1/2 Million Leads To Reveal Surprising Trends About Online Insurance Shoppers

Most producers know by now they need to get online. A recent study by a leading national carrier found that nearly 85% of its individual health insurance sales involved the web.

But who are those online shoppers? And how should you market to them?

A 2008 study by ProspectZone of 446,597 individual leads it generated last summer now provides some answers to your online marketing questions. It also provides a glimpse of what you need to know to capture your share of this market.

Here are some of the secrets it uncovered.

The South Rises Again
If you already sell nationally, you may have already noticed that many of your leads seem to have a southern accent. That’s no coincidence.

According to ProspectZone’s analysis, almost half of all Internet-generated leads are coming from southern states. The other 3 regions (East, Midwest and West) each accounted for only 16% to 19% of the leads collected.

Florida and Texas, in fact, generated more online health insurance leads than any other state — with California coming in a distant 3rd.

Why is there such a huge regional disparity? Population trends are part of the answer, as the U.S. Census Bureau estimates that 1 out of every 3 Americans do live in one of the southern states.

But the biggest factor may be the rate of uninsured. The South led all regions for the number and rate of uninsured. At the other end of the spectrum, the Midwest had the lowest rate of uninsured shoppers!

Now what if you’re not licensed in one of these southern states?

First, there are other individual states that are generating a large flow of health insurance prospects.

The top 10 states in the study produced half of all the leads. And 6 of these top 10 states aren’t in the South: California, Pennsylvania, New York, North Carolina, Ohio and Massachusetts.

Secondly — and just as important — the Internet has made it very easy for an agent to get licensed and sell policies in almost every state in the country. So if you want to improve your lead flow, consider getting licensed in one of the top 10 states right away.

Women In The Lead
According to the Pew Center on the Internet and American Life, women make up slightly more than half of all Internet users.

But ProspectZone’s analysis of online health insurance shoppers revealed that almost two-thirds (2/3) of all prospects had a female primary shopper.

This gender difference cut across all regions and even across all age ranges. Women are also more likely to be uninsured than men.

Unfortunately, the two areas that women did achieve parity with men were in obesity levels and rate of uninsurability.

These gender trends come as no surprise for many top producers. Many of them have already seen anecdotal evidence of women taking the lead in shopping for health insurance.

On a practical level, though, you need to start considering this trend when considering the plans you want to highlight. Make sure your selected programs have features that address women’s issues, such as pre-natal services, maternity coverage, expanded gynecology networks and related prescription drugs

Young and Old
The study revealed two opposing age trends.

On the one hand, almost half of all online health insurance shoppers were under 40. This isn’t as surprising, when you consider that this age group is more likely to shop on the web.

This age group is more likely to be single and less likely to be uninsurable. But they’re also more likely to be uninsured. Those three factors make them easier-to-place prospects.

But the study also found that the 50-64 “pre-Medicare-eligible” age range accounted for almost 1 out of every 4 online health insurance shoppers.

FREE Market Intelligence
Every business planning guide on the bookshelves today advise business owners to research their market before planning their strategies.

This report helps to solve that problem.  To receive your free copy, please call your ProspectZone lead consultant at 1-877-561-9663 ext. 1.

Jeremiah Desmarais is vice president of marketing at ProspectZone, a company whose web-based tools and high-quality health insurance leads help agents consistently increase productivity by 2500%. He is the recipient of 9 awards for his marketing and design initiatives online. He is also editor of the ProspectZone Newsletter, which delivers helpful sales articles, tips and marketing strategies to 15,000+ insurance agents monthly. Author of several white papers, Jeremiah is a contributor to the Agent’s Sales Journal, Health Insurance Underwriter and Broker World, as well as a guest speaker at various carrier events and workshops. He is a member of the Society of Industry Leaders.