For licensed agents
Life insurance leads, priced by vertical.
A final expense lead and an IUL lead are not the same product and should never cost the same. Here is what each vertical actually runs, what closes, and where buying stops making sense. We run Facebook ads for agents, so we have an obvious bias — it's flagged where it matters.
By vertical
Four markets, four different numbers.
Bought is what a vendor charges. Own ads is what agents typically see generating the same lead in their own Meta account once past the learning period.
Final expense
$18 - $45 bought · $8 - $25 own adsThe highest-volume lead market in life insurance and the most resold. Speed to lead decides almost everything on shared data.
Mortgage protection
$25 - $60 bought · $12 - $35 own adsRuns on public new-homeowner records, so the same names circulate fast. A direct mail letter tied to their actual mortgage still outperforms most digital here.
IUL / high cash value
$60 - $150 bought · $25 - $70 own adsExpensive per lead and worth it on premium. Meta targeting cannot use income directly anymore, so this vertical lives or dies on creative and lookalikes off closed deals.
Term life
$20 - $50 bought · $10 - $30 own adsThe most price-shopped product on the list. Hard to make work on purchased leads unless you are writing volume or cross-selling.
Buying final expense specifically? We broke every lead type down separately in what final expense leads actually cost.
The part that matters
Every purchased lead costs the same forever.
That is the whole case against buying. A $40 lead is $40 on day one and $40 on day 800. You never build anything. Stop paying and you are back where you started, holding a list of numbers that have been called to death.
An ad account with your name on it moves the other direction. The pixel watches who actually fills out your form, then gets better at finding more of them. Month one is worse than buying. Month three is usually better. Month twelve is not close, and you own the audience data either way.
If you are buying
Five things to ask first.
- How many times is this lead sold? Get the number in writing, not "exclusive" as a word.
- Can you show me the TCPA consent record for a specific lead, right now?
- What is the return policy on disconnected numbers and wrong-party contacts?
- How old is the data at the moment it hits my CRM, not at the moment it was generated?
- If I stop buying next month, what do I still have? (The answer is nothing. That is the point.)
Questions
Asked constantly.
How much do life insurance leads cost?
Between roughly $18 and $150 per lead depending on the vertical and exclusivity. Final expense is the cheapest at $18 to $45, mortgage protection runs $25 to $60, term $20 to $50, and IUL is the most expensive at $60 to $150. Aged leads in any vertical drop to a few dollars because they have been worked repeatedly.
What are the best life insurance leads for agents?
It depends on what you sell and how fast you dial. Exclusive direct mail still produces the best close rate per lead in final expense. Real-time internet leads work if you can call inside a minute. For total cost of acquisition over a year, agents who run their own Facebook ads generally beat purchased leads by month three, because the pixel improves while a purchased lead price never does.
Are free life insurance leads for agents real?
They usually come from an IMO in exchange for contract points. That means you pay for those leads on every policy you write for as long as you stay contracted, which is frequently more expensive than buying leads outright. Run the math on the comp difference across a year of production before taking the deal.
How many times are shared life insurance leads sold?
Internet and real-time leads are commonly sold two to six times. Aged leads have been resold well beyond that. Vendors disclose this in the terms but rarely in the pitch, so ask for the exclusivity count in writing before you buy volume.
Is it better to buy leads or run your own ads?
Buying is faster to start and requires no setup, so month one favors it. Running your own ads is slower and more expensive up front while Meta learns your buyer, but the ad account, pixel and audience data stay yours and get cheaper over time. If you plan to still be selling life insurance in two years, owning wins on math. If you need leads Monday, buy them.
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