Final expense lead prices jumped after one-to-one consent: what to do with a smaller budget

Agents who bought aggregator leads in 2024 are paying a lot more per lead in 2026, and the close rates didn't rise to match. Here's what the floor is doing about it.

Why prices rose. One-to-one consent means a lead consented to one company, not a list of forty. Vendors who adapted sell each lead once, to one buyer, at a higher price. Vendors who didn't are selling consent you can't rely on. Either way the cheap shared lead is mostly gone.

What that changes. Fewer leads per dollar means each lead has to be worked harder and tracked better. The agent who used to buy two hundred leads and dial them twice now buys eighty and works each one five times across a week.

Where agents are moving the budget.

• Direct mail in rural counties, where response rates held up better than digital.
• Self-generated ads with your own consent form, so the consent is to you and nobody else.
• Aged leads, cheaper and still consented if the vendor kept the record, worked as a second-tier list.
• The existing book: annual reviews, referrals and beneficiaries, which cost time instead of money.

The tracking that matters now. Cost per placed policy by source, over a full quarter. At these prices a source that looked fine on cost per lead can be a loss on cost per policy.

Post what you're paying per lead and per placed policy this quarter, by source. This thread is worth reading only if the numbers are real.