In our latest Caller Meetup episode, I linked up with Clayton White to discuss the role of lead gen in digital marketing with a special focus on U65 and the health insurance space.
White is the founder of Ringfuze- a pay per call agency management software- and one of the most talented U65 pay per call experts out there.
He talks from the experience he gained while operating a health insurance call center and agency. He even operated a fully licensed health insurance firm before he decided to wrap up everything and focus on marketing and training beginner affiliates on how to hack it in the digital marketing world.
Here are the key takeaways from the interview, which you can also watch below.
How Did You Get Started in Pay Per Call/ Lead Generation?
Before I dived into the real stuff, I was curious to know how White started in the lead generation space.
With a smile on his face, he tells me that he was first employed in the corporate world and only engaged in digital marketing as a side hustle. He narrates how he was involved in a lot of online stuff including dropshipping on eBay back in 2012.
From there, he opened up his first health insurance call center and hired 32 agents to run the agency. Clayton’s agency was generating its own calls, and the team spent a lot of money on data, competing fairly well with the big boys in the industry.
With his digital marketing knowledge and experience, White had to figure out how to generate some calls. He started following some of the famous trainers in the pay per call space, including Gene Morris.
After gathering what he felt was sufficient knowledge on generating calls, he closed the agency in 2018 and started to focus solely on marketing-primarily the U65 health insurance- because that is what he used to sell in his agency.
His primary aim was to be a one-man agency focused on generating some high-quality calls, sell them off, and enjoy the work-from-home lifestyle.
When and How Did You Start the Health Insurance Call Center Business?
I’m curious to know when and how White started the health insurance call center business. He points out that he opened the call center in 2015 and started as an onshore transfer agency. They would buy data and transfer approximately 400 calls per day.
He was quite successful with it, and even decided to turn the call center into an insurance firm underwriting the policies. However, generating calls via outbound calling didn’t seem to work well, and they were forced to turn to inbound marketing as a solution.
Things did not work out as planned thanks to the vigorous regulations associated with running an insurance firm, and White decided to switch back to what he loved doing most- marketing.
Using Data to Extract Trends that Can Help You Purchase Ads Better
White tells me that running U65 campaigns is not easy, and your success will most likely depend on how you set up things right from the start. You need to segment everything and have specialized landing pages for all of your ad groups. You also need to target states and cities differently and ensure you have messages that appeal to people.
Find a way of gathering data at every step of the way- right from when you get someone interested in your offer to when you close the deal and how long the customer stays on your books. In fact, your primary focus should be on the retention rate.
Keep in mind that succeeding in the health insurance vertical requires a scientific approach- much like eCommerce.
Best Avenues to Market in for Success
I was curious to know if White could share some of his best marketing avenues where one can find the “best” consumers. With another smile on his face, he is quick to point out that no one marketing avenue can be considered the best.
Achieving success in this vertical is about understanding your target audience in depth. What is their geographic location? What are the income margins in those areas? What are the common medical conditions in those regions? What kind of policies will be more appealing to people who live in those areas?
Fortunately, you could gather a lot of data about your target audience from Google. Consider running Google Ads, Bing Ads, and Facebook Ads to help with the process. Gather the data from people who click on your ads and use it to segment your target audience.
What Has Been Your Main Focus Lately?
Since I have been following Clayton closely and know that he is no longer the call center manager from yesteryears, I’m forced to ask him what he has been focusing on lately.
He tells me that he tried to purchase overseas traffic but ended up losing a lot of money. This was his turning point, and he no longer wanted to do U65 marketing. So, he turned to local marketing and worked with a few companies before becoming a trainer.
With everything set, he developed the Ringfuze software and started educating people on how to properly market for smaller businesses. He also put together a U65 course that teaches beginner affiliates how to run U65 campaigns and how to do it right.
He is quick to point out that a lot of people get into the vertical without a clear understanding of what lies ahead of them. The U65 course teaches new marketers how to approach the vertical and set themselves up for success.
For instance, he emphasizes the need to start with local marketing instead of running national campaigns.
How Does Ringfuze Help with Pay Per Call Agency Management?
Clayton tells me that he still loves Ringba, but he felt like the software lacked the agency management features. So, he had to develop a system that could help him with that side of things.
That is why he built out Ringfuze around Ringba. It means that Ringfuze integrates with Ringba seamlessly and helps with customer management, campaign management and many other things.
New Trends in Pay Per Call Worth Testing / Investing In
SMS testing, automation, and outbound marketing are some of the good options for individuals who are just getting started. Think about leads hitting a system with a pre-recorded message first before they are transferred to a call center agent.
The automation does have its place because it is less expensive than hiring a fulltime agent, and you can still achieve better conversion rates. The approach is cost-effective when compared to hiring virtual call agents based in the Philippines or India because they still can’t pick up on things like social hues and accents to convince leads.
SMS automation is another good trend, especially when you integrate it with artificial intelligence (AI). In this case, AI is simply a series of autoresponders.
Clayton also points out the issue of robocalling and users being trapped in endless loops online and says that their end is around the corner because some people will start getting sued for that.
He also advises players in the health insurance vertical to pay close attention to millennials because most of them don’t want to talk to people. Instead, they want to complete their tasks online via a customer portal. Marketers must find a way of dealing with this trend to avoid missing out on this important market segment.
Partying Shot!
As usual, I asked Clayton to share one actionable item with our audience that he thinks could improve their businesses or make them better people. Here is what he had to say:
“If you are just getting started in the health insurance vertical, don’t go U65 if possible. Nonetheless, the most important thing you need to do is focus on the vertical you are going after and learn everything about it.
Pick your vertical, pick your location, set up your social media accounts, develop super easy landing pages, make it click-to-call heavy or add a lead form, set up a Google and Facebook account and start driving some traffic. Once you have the first few leads, send them to some of your target buyers and use that as your power to negotiate and close partnership deals.
If you need to do something, do it. The most important thing is lining up your assets and sending traffic to them; nothing less.”
You can reach Clayton White by checking out paypercallacademy.com or connect with him on Skype at clayton.85.
