Q: I received a sample quote letter from AIM, can you tell me a little more about that?
A: AIM provides a simple turn-key marketing solution for independent agents that is designed to generate inbound leads and phone calls for property and casualty insurance.
Q: How does AIM's direct mail service work for agents?
A: Very simply, AIM acquires assessor data for agents and loads the information into an agent web portal which AIM provides secure agent access to. AIM can filter the data to only mail to certain homeowners, for example we can filter by the year the home was built, home value, and/or square footage. AIM works with agents to customize an insurance quote and envelope design. Once the agent is satisfied with it, we print and mail it for the agent.
Q: How does AIM track inbound calls?
A: AIM adds a unique Letter ID on each direct mail piece. From that, AIM tracks inbound calls from the mailings on the agent portal. So when an agent receives a call from the campaign the agent can view the homeowner data of the person they are talking to, their caller ID information, and the quote information you sent them.
Q: Is the call tracking optional?
A: Yes, this is optional, if you want call tracking AIM acquires a local phone number for the agent and simply directs it to the agent's preferred line.
Q: What are QR Codes and how are they used?
A: A QR code is a Quick Response code which can be scanned by smart phones that simply directs someone to your web site or a customized landing page you might want to use along with the direct mail is campaign. Anyone who scans the code is also tracked in the AIM agent portal so you will know which mail recipients are scanning the code to learn more about your agency.
Q: How/When do the mailings go out?
A: Mailings can be scheduled. AIM prints and mails millions of documents monthly. Generally agents like for AIM to send the mailings 30-60 days ahead of the home owners' "X-Date" because it takes about 2-3 weeks for a mail piece to arrive using standard postage. For example, in the month of May we are mailing to homes with a July X-Date. In June we would be mailing to homes with an August X-Date, and so on.
Q: Can AIM provide information around zip codes I might be interested in targeting?
A: Yes, AIM can provide information on the number of home owners in a given geography along with numbers with data filters applied. Below is an example of that:
Here are the data counts by zip. The last column includes a data filter where we are only counting homes in value of $200k+.
| Zip Code | Total Counts - No Filters | Filter with Home Values = $200K+ |
|---|---|---|
| Total | 21,448 | 14,638 |
| 06483 | 2,647 | 1,425 |
| 06403 | 990 | 556 |
| 06478 | 2,146 | 2,000 |
| 06525 | 1,634 | 1,568 |
| 06468 | 2,949 | 2,855 |
| 06770 | 4,908 | 968 |
| 06484 | 6,174 | 5,266 |
So in this case, if an agent wanted to mail to all homes in these zips with home values of $200k+ over the course of a year AIM would be mailing about 1,220 mail pieces per month on behalf of the agent.
Q: How do I or AIM calculate the rate on the quote?
A: On the agent portal there is a rate chart you complete with AIM's assistance. It is used to calculate the quote amounts from the table based on the assessor information.
Q: How much does it cost?
A: The price is varies based on the quote design and the volume of quotes to be mailed. It ranges from $0.49 - $0.65 per piece mailed which is all inclusive. It includes data acquisition and filtering, postage, custom printed envelope, custom printed quote, folding, stuffing the envelopes and mailing along with free access to the agent portal for call and QR code tracking.
Q: Is there a contract or minimum commitment?
A: Yes there is a service agreement you would execute to start the service. It allows cancellation at any time with just 30 days written notice.
Q: What type of response do agents see with your service?
A: It varies from 1-3%. A lot of factors contribute to the level of success. For example, how saturated is your market with competing campaigns, how competitive are your rates, how the envelope design looks, your logo, existing brand awareness, and so on. Most agents receive a positive ROI with just a 1% response rate. Agents that are successful view it as an ongoing expense every month for which they receive inbound calls continually coming in. Agents also see value in the cumulative effect the mailings have in terms of brand recognition as many agent choose to send a mailing to every homeowner in a geographic area over the course of a year.