Consent questions to ask before you buy insurance leads

Buying a lead usually means buying the risk of calling and texting that person along with it. Of the 19 insurance lead companies we cover that publish buyer terms, 13 put TCPA compliance (the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (opens in a new tab)) on the agent and 17 make the agent cover the company’s costs if a consumer brings a claim, while only two promise proof of consent for each lead.

What follows is what to ask a lead seller before you dial. We’re covering what the contracts say and not the law itself, and if you need legal advice on how you call and text, talk to a lawyer who handles TCPA cases.

Why consent matters to the buyer

The TCPA limits automated calls, prerecorded messages and texts to people who haven’t given the right kind of consent. Claims get brought per call or per text, so a few hundred leads run through a dialer can add up to a large claim in a hurry. Most lead contracts put compliance on the agent, which means in a dispute the question is usually what proof you’ve got.

Questions to ask a lead seller

Can I get the consent record for every lead?

Ask whether each lead comes with a consent certificate, such as a TrustedForm certificate or a Jornaya LeadiD, and whether you can open it yourself. A record you can only get by request, or only after a claim is filed, is much less useful than one delivered with the lead. In our study, InsureLeads includes consent records in the lead data and GOAT Leads provides TrustedForm where offered. Next Call Club provides proof only once a TCPA claim is filed.

What consent language did the shopper agree to?

Ask to see the exact form and the consent wording the shopper saw. Check whether your agency, or the carrier you represent, is named, and how many other companies the same consent covers.

Who is responsible for compliance in the contract?

Read the compliance and indemnity sections. Four of the 19 companies share responsibility and warrant how they collect consent: SmartFinancial, Benepath, Centerfield and GOAT Leads. Most of the rest place it on you.

Do I indemnify you, and do you indemnify me?

Seventeen of 19 contracts require the agent to indemnify the lead company. Only two of those are mutual, Centerfield and Next Call Club. If the company collected consent badly, a one-way indemnity can leave you paying for its mistake.

Were these leads collected with consent for automated calls and texts?

Ask this directly for aged leads. At least one aged-lead seller’s terms state that its leads were not gathered under “prior express written consent,” which the TCPA requires for automated calls and texts. That doesn’t make the leads unusable, but it changes how you can contact them.

Is there a deadline for calling or texting the lead?

Some lead companies don’t sell you the lead outright. They keep ownership and give you a license to use it for a set period. Six of the companies we studied do this, for 30 days to three months. This is more than an exclusivity window. Some contracts say plainly that you must stop calling and texting when the period ends. EverQuote’s terms say the agent must stop calling or texting a lead 90 days after it was licensed, and Next Call Club’s say the agent may not contact a lead after 90 days.

Ask the seller how long you can contact each lead and what you need to do when that time is up. If a shopper is still in your follow-up after the period ends, calling or texting them can breach your contract even when the consent itself is fine. A shopper who has become your client is a different relationship, so the deadline matters most for leads you are still working.

Before you start calling

• Store every consent certificate with the lead in your CRM so you’re not hunting for it later.
• Scrub numbers against the National Do Not Call Registry (opens in a new tab) and your own internal list. The FCC rules for telemarketing calls (opens in a new tab) set out when you have to scrub and how long to honor a request.
• Register your business and texting numbers for 10DLC through your texting provider before you text leads. Registration runs through The Campaign Registry (opens in a new tab), and carriers expect you to follow the CTIA Messaging Principles and Best Practices (opens in a new tab) on consent and opt-outs.
• Keep your dialer settings and scripts written down somewhere you can find them.
• Read the compliance and indemnity sections of each lead company’s terms. Our study of 23 lead company terms sums them up.

Frequently asked questions

Is the lead company or the agent liable for TCPA violations?

It depends on the facts and the law, but the contract decides who pays whom, and most of the lead company contracts we reviewed put compliance on the agent and make the agent indemnify the company too, so in practice it usually lands on you.

What is a TrustedForm certificate?

When a shopper fills out a quote form, TrustedForm records the page they were on, the consent language they saw and the time they hit submit, and the certificate is that record. Jornaya LeadiD works along the same lines. If a consumer ever says they never agreed to be called, it’s what you’d pull up to show otherwise.

Are aged leads riskier to call?

They can be, since the consent may be months old and may have been given for different buyers. Ask the seller what consent the leads carry and whether they were collected for automated calls and texts, and ask before you load them into a dialer.