Marketing technology platform Contact State has seen partner numbers almost triple in 12 months and business activity increase fourfold on the back of a record year.
A year ago, Contact State – which works with lead sellers and buyers to certify, validate and ultimately control how consumer details are transferred – was handling an average of 10,000 data leads and generating 20,000 certificates each month.
Now, the platform supports more than 40,000 data leads and 40,000 certificate transactions every month, with many clients integrating not only third-party lead generation into the platform, but also their own marketing activity.
Contact State has also seen integrated partner numbers grow from 43 to 123 with a number of key partnerships due to be confirmed in the next three months.
Alain Desmier (pictured), founder of Contact State said the growth is indicative of the shift in consumer expectation combined with a drive from the industry – accelerated by the Consumer Duty – to make financial services lead generation better.
He said: “Our aim is to ensure that lead generation within financial services is fit for purpose, both for the consumer and the lead buyer.
“The first part of this is to help lead buyers ensure that the customer journey is fair – consumers should only be leads because they want to be leads.
“This way, the customer gets information about a product or service they actually care about, and the lead buyer is not wasting time and resource on someone that has no genuine interest in what they have to offer.
“However, the lead generation path of the future goes further than simply matching a consumer with a lead buyer – it is also going to actively offer the consumer the ‘next’ steps for their enquiry.”
To bring lead generation on to this next phase, Contact State’s platform not only certifies leads, but, once a consumer has applied for, let’s say, a life insurance quote, its technology will power a booking app allowing that consumer to choose a time convenient to them for the broker to call them back.
“One of the biggest issues customers have when seeking quotes or information for financial products online is receiving too much contact,” continues Desmier. “Our report Data Control Matters, found that 29% of consumers have had a negative experience when getting a quote for a financial product or service online, and the top issue was receiving too much contact too quickly.
“The hassling of consumers with numerous phone calls is an ineffective waste of time and prone to overly aggressive sales tactics, our platform can put a stop to that.”
Contact State is also enriching the lead generation journey with underwriting questions so that once a consumer has applied through a lead generation path, the broker or product provider will be able to start asking questions to help shape the next steps.
“Our research also found that for many customers, going online to compare quotes and then buy is what they want to do – they don’t want advice, and our platform can help with this type of lead too” said Desmier.
If a lead comes through for basic term life insurance, and the consumer indicates that they don’t want advice, Contact State’s platform will triage the consumer to an appropriate quote and buy path.
Desmier concludes: “Lead generation needs to work better, and we are utilising the most advanced marketing technology, analytical data and industry expertise to gain a full and reliable picture of all our clients’ customers’ journeys.
“This will ensure to ensure our clients’ lead generation activity is efficient, and the experience meets their customers’ expectations, because when lead generation is done right, it is hugely beneficial for the sellers, the buyers, and of course, the end customer.”
