Aged Leads Are Becoming ILLEGAL, While Lead Costs Are Also Going Up

Due to the high influx of solicitation phone calls, like robocalls and manually dialed sales calls consumers are receiving, the FCC has decided to implement new rules that’ll go into effect on January 25, 2025. These new rules impact not ONLY those who sell life insurance, but those who supply leads as well, making it more difficult for agents to avoid getting charged and prosecuted.

Two Major Sources of Revenue Are Now a Thing of the PAST

When a consumer fills out a form with a lead generation company, they’re now required to provide consent to receive calls or texts on a “one-to-one” basis. Only the FIRST agent who contacts that prospect receives proper consent, and that consent is non-transferrable—making any other agent who contacts that prospect after the first agent a lawbreaker.

Live transfer calls and aged leads will now be considered NON-COMPLIANT per these new rules! This means that lead-gen companies will suffer tremendously in revenue losses and agents will lose 2 ways of generating income.

How This Affects Life Insurance Agents Moving Forward

You may be thinking “But how will I be able to navigate this new normal?” below are major points to be aware of when generating new business:

Must obtain prior express consent from the lead

• This is defined by the FCC in 3 ways:
  • Verbal Consent: This is when a person can verbally declare permission to be contacted by the life insurance agent about insurance products or services. This is the simplest way to obtain consent.
  • Written Consent: Can be obtained in 2 ways:
    • The first way is that the prospect MUST click on the checkbox on the lead form from the lead-gen company indicating that they are ok with being contacted by an insurance agent. As mentioned before, this permission is ONLY granted to the first agent who purchases that lead. However, there’s a way in which the prospect can provide consent to multiple agents. This can only be possible if, on the lead form, there are individual checkboxes for each agent permitting those that the prospect checks off to contact them.
    • The second way is that the agent has written consent obtained by being appointed with a carrier that a prospect has either done business with them or is currently a client. In their fully executed and signed policy contracts with a carrier, the privacy policy states that anyone who is contracted with the carrier has the RIGHT to contact and share their personal information. But there is also an option for the client to opt out of the consent which has to be submitted in writing.
• Same Brand Entity: Even though traditional live transfers are now considered noncompliant, there is still a workaround for this situation. As long as the life insurance agent and live call center are operating under the same brand name entity, then compliance isn’t breached. To put it in other words, the call center that has been contracted by the life insurance agent is being paid to represent the agency—technically making it where they’re working under the same entity.
  • Don’t purchase or call any aged leads
    • Aged leads have already been contacted prior by another agent, therefore the consent that the prospect has given in the lead form has been assigned to another agent and can’t be transferred to anyone else.
  • Auto-dialers are a big no-no
    • The new ruling prohibits using robocalling and robotexting, including the loopholes that use “rented” outgoing phone numbers”, making it illegal to engage in these practices.
  • Auto-texting is also prohibited
    • Scheduled text messages have been used as a form of drip campaign but are now no longer allowed unless the prospects have provided express consent.
  • No more traditional live transfers
    • As mentioned earlier in this section, the only way to bypass this is by having the call center work under the same brand entity as the agent and also informing the prospect immediately about the agent’s name for the marketing campaign. This way your operations can be deemed compliant.

Altogether, the life insurance industry is bracing for a significant shake-up due to this new FCC ruling. We can anticipate a surge in claims against agents, brokers, IMOs, brokerages, and carriers. Even a single agent’s actions can result in a cease and desist order for an entire organization. In order to thrive in this new normal, it is imperative for the industry to develop new strategies to counteract the expected decline of life insurance sales.