Life insurance leads in the UK come from seven main sources: shared bought leads, exclusive bought leads, comparison sites and aggregators, your own paid ads, content and SEO, reactivating your existing database, and referrals. They range from a few pounds to close to a hundred pounds each. The number that actually matters is not the price per lead, it is the cost per completed policy after your real conversion rate. On that measure, the leads you already own beat the ones you buy almost every time.
This is a guide to generating and converting life insurance leads, not financial advice. Always follow FCA rules on protection advice and fair treatment of customers, and check your own data and consent obligations before contacting anyone.
Why Do Most Advisers Buy Life Insurance Leads Backwards?
Most protection advisers think about lead generation in the wrong order. They start with the cheapest price per lead they can find, buy in bulk, and then wonder why the phone is full of people who will not answer and quotes that never complete. The cost per lead was low. The cost per policy was brutal.
The right order is the opposite. Start from the sources that convert best and cost the least per completed policy, then spend on the ones where the prospect has never heard of you. Almost every adviser has warm pipeline sitting unused: past enquiries who went quiet, clients due a review, people who started a quote and stopped. Those convert several times higher than a cold bought lead, yet they get ignored in favour of a fresh batch off an aggregator.
This guide walks every source in turn. For each one you get a rough cost, whether it is exclusive or shared, how warm the prospect is, and the honest cost per policy after a realistic conversion rate. Then it ranks them, so you can spend in the order that actually makes you money.
Where Do Life Insurance Leads Come From in the UK?
Seven places: shared bought leads, exclusive bought leads, comparison sites, your own paid ads, content and SEO, your dormant database, and referrals. The first three you rent from a third party. The next two you build. The last two you already own, which is why they cost least per policy.
Here is the comparison across all seven. The last column uses the worked example further down: lead cost only, no staff time, no commission.
| Source | Rough cost per lead | Exclusive or shared | How warm | Lead cost per policy (worked example) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Existing clients / referrals | Near zero | Exclusive | Hot | Lowest |
| Reactivating your database | A few pence per contact | Exclusive | Warm | Well under any bought source |
| Content and SEO | Low after upfront work | Exclusive | Warm to lukewarm | Low once pages rank |
| Shared bought leads | £8 to £30 | Shared | Cold | About £300 at 5% close |
| Your own paid ads | £20 to £80 | Exclusive | Lukewarm | About £400 at 10% close |
| Comparison / aggregators | £15 to £60 | Usually shared | Cool | About £430 at 7% close |
| Exclusive bought leads | £30 to £90 | Exclusive | Lukewarm | About £500 at 12% close |
Notice the pattern. The four sources you pay per lead for bunch together at roughly £300 to £500 a policy. The two you already own sit far below that. That gap is the whole point of this guide.
How Do Shared Life Insurance Leads Perform?
Shared leads cost roughly £8 to £30 each and are sold to several advisers at once. Expect 3 to 8 percent to become a completed policy. Speed decides the result: the prospect fields a run of near-identical calls and stops answering, so a slow follow-up turns a cheap lead into a wasted one.
At £15 a lead and a 5 percent close rate, you spend £300 in lead cost for every policy. Drop the close rate to 2.5 percent because you called late and that becomes £600. Add the hours your team burned chasing people who ghosted. Shared leads can work as a volume filler if your follow-up is fast. They punish slow teams harder than any other source.
Are Exclusive Life Insurance Leads Worth the Premium?
Sometimes. Exclusive leads cost roughly £30 to £90 and only you call them, so close rates run higher, often 8 to 15 percent. But the label does not guarantee value. On the worked numbers below, a £60 exclusive lead still costs more per policy than a £15 shared one. The gain is fewer wasted calls and calmer conversations.
The real question is trust in the source. Exclusive is only worth the premium if it genuinely is exclusive and genuinely fresh. Ask the provider how the lead was generated, how old it is when it reaches you, and how they define exclusive. A stale exclusive lead is just an expensive shared one with a better label.
Are Comparison Sites and Aggregators a Good Source of Life Insurance Leads?
They are a middle option. Aggregators sell enquiries filtered by age, cover type or budget, usually at £15 to £60. The person was actively comparing cover, which is real intent. But most leads are shared and the prospect often wants the cheapest quote, not advice, and rivals are quoting the same person.
Is Running Your Own Paid Ads Worth It for Life Insurance Leads?
Yes, if you will manage them properly. Own campaigns cost roughly £20 to £80 a lead, you own every lead outright and nobody else calls the prospect. Without a decent landing page and fast follow-up the cost per policy drifts up. Running your own Meta or Google campaigns puts you in control. You own the lead outright, you shape the message, and nobody else is calling the prospect. Cost per lead lands at £20 to £80 once you account for the spend that goes nowhere while you learn what works. Because these people responded to your brand, the conversation starts warmer than a bought lead. The catch is that paid ads need real management, a decent landing page, and a follow-up system, or the cost per policy drifts up fast. For advisers willing to invest in the setup, it is a solid medium-cost, fully-owned channel.
How Long Does Content and SEO Take to Produce Life Insurance Leads?
Slowly, then cheaply. Content and SEO cost the most in time upfront and almost nothing per lead once pages rank. Treat it as an asset you build while other sources pay the bills, not a tap you turn on this month.
Content and search are slow to start and cheap to sustain. Write genuinely useful pages about the cover people are searching for, rank them, and each lead costs very little after the upfront work is done. These prospects arrive already researching, so they trust you before the first call and convert well. The limitation is time: SEO is a compounding asset, not a tap you turn on this week. But once it is working, the cost per policy is among the lowest of any source, and the pipeline keeps arriving without ongoing spend.
Can You Reactivate Old Life Insurance Enquiries Instead of Buying Leads?
Yes, and it is usually the first thing worth doing. People who asked for a quote and went quiet already know you exist. A structured message sequence works the list and qualifies replies before a human steps in, at a few pence per contact.
This is the source most advisers overlook, and it is usually the best value of the lot after referrals. Every adviser has a list of people who requested a quote, started an application, or asked about cover and then went quiet. Most stopped for a timing reason, not a firm no. A database reactivation campaign works that list with a structured message sequence and qualifies responses before a human gets involved.
Because these people already raised their hand once, the conversion rate is far higher than a cold bought lead, and the cost is a few pence of messaging per contact plus the campaign setup. The cost per completed policy comes out a fraction of any bought source. If you have never worked your dormant list, that is the first place to spend, not the last. Levity Leads builds these campaigns for UK financial services firms: we work the list, qualify replies with AI and book calls into the adviser's diary. Our full method is in the database reactivation guide, the lead reactivation guide, and if you want to run it yourself, how to reactivate your database yourself.
Do Referrals Beat Every Other Life Insurance Lead Source?
On cost per policy, yes. Referrals cost almost nothing and convert higher than any other source because trust arrives before you do. Most advisers under-ask, so the best channel stays half-worked.
A happy client who gets a nudge to review or to introduce a friend is the cheapest policy you will ever write. Most advisers under-ask here, worried about being pushy, and leave the single best channel half-worked. A simple, systematic referral ask beats a month of bought leads.
What Does a Life Insurance Policy Cost by Lead Source?
On typical assumptions the four paid sources land between about £300 and £500 in lead cost per completed policy, and your close rate moves the answer more than the type of lead does. The sources you own cost far less. Lead cost only, no staff time and no commission:
| Source | Price per lead | Close rate | Leads per policy | Lead cost per policy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shared bought | £15 | 5% | 20 | £300 |
| Own paid ads | £40 | 10% | 10 | £400 |
| Comparison / aggregator | £30 | 7% | about 14 | about £430 |
| Exclusive bought | £60 | 12% | about 8 | about £500 |
| Shared bought, slow follow-up | £15 | 2.5% | 40 | £600 |
Illustrative arithmetic: price per lead divided by close rate. The close rates are mid-range assumptions drawn from Levity's client work, not guarantees. Use your own numbers.
Reactivation: a campaign against 500 dormant enquiries costs a setup fee plus pennies per message. If it produces even 10 to 20 completed policies from people who already knew you, the cost per policy lands well under any figure in the table above.
Ranked cheapest to most expensive: existing clients and referrals, database reactivation, content and SEO, then the four paid sources in a pack. Read that last group as one tier. A shared lead you call in five minutes can beat an exclusive lead you call tomorrow. For the follow-up side of this, see speed to lead and the follow-up problem.
What Are the Rules on Buying Life Insurance Leads in the UK?
The ICO says you can only use a bought list for emails, texts or recorded calls if everyone on it specifically consented to that type of message from you, and that generic consent covering any third party is not enough. For live sales calls you should also screen against the TPS. The ICO guidance was checked on October 9, 2026.
Life insurance and protection also sit inside a regulated market, so follow FCA expectations on fair treatment of customers and clear, non-misleading communication. Put these questions to any lead seller before you pay:
| Ask the seller | What a good answer looks like |
|---|---|
| How did the person opt in? | A named form or call script, shown to you, not a vague "partner network" |
| What exactly did they agree to? | Consent to that type of message from you, not generic consent to any third party |
| How old is the consent? | Recent enough to cover your marketing, with a date on every lead |
| Can you see the evidence? | Per-lead consent records on request, plus your own TPS screening before live calls |
A cheap lead with murky consent is not cheap once the regulatory risk is priced in. Read the source yourself: the ICO's page on using marketing lists.
Where to Go Deeper
Each source deserves its own detail. If you are weighing up providers, our guide on how to buy life insurance leads in the UK covers what to ask and what to avoid. For building your own pipeline rather than buying it, see life insurance lead generation. And for the specific case of protection cover, read protection leads for advisers. All three go a level deeper than the summary here. If you would rather have a team build the pipeline for you, see our lead generation service and our AI services.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much do life insurance leads cost in the UK?
It depends entirely on the source. Shared bought leads sit at roughly £8 to £30 each, exclusive bought leads at roughly £30 to £90, and comparison site or aggregator leads at anything from £15 to £60 depending on the filters. Your own paid ads typically produce a lead for £20 to £80 once you account for wasted spend, while content and SEO cost very little per lead after the upfront work. The cheapest source of all is a warm one you already own: a referral or a reactivated enquiry from your existing database. The headline price per lead matters far less than the cost per completed policy after your real conversion rate.
Are shared or exclusive life insurance leads better?
Neither wins automatically. An exclusive lead is yours alone, so the conversation is calmer and the close rate is higher, often 8 to 15 percent against 3 to 8 percent for shared. But on typical assumptions a £60 exclusive lead closing at 12 percent costs about £500 per policy, while a £15 shared lead closing at 5 percent costs about £300. The shared lead only wins if you call it fast. Pick on your own follow-up speed and your own measured cost per policy, not on the label.
What is a realistic conversion rate on bought life insurance leads?
For shared bought leads, a conversion rate of roughly 3 to 8 percent from lead to completed policy is typical once you allow for wrong numbers, tyre kickers and people who never answer. Exclusive leads tend to convert higher, often in the 8 to 15 percent range, because you are the only adviser calling and the prospect is warmer. Comparison site leads land somewhere in between. These are ranges, not promises, and they move with your speed to lead, your follow-up discipline and the quality of the source. A warm referral or a reactivated enquiry from your own database will usually convert several times higher than any bought lead.
Which life insurance lead source has the lowest cost per policy?
Ranked by cost per completed policy, existing clients and referrals come first because they cost almost nothing and convert at the highest rate. Reactivating your own dormant database comes second: those people already enquired once, so the conversion rate is far higher than any cold source and the cost per policy is a fraction of a bought lead. Your own content and SEO come next once the upfront work is done. Bought, aggregator and paid-ad leads sit together at the expensive end, roughly £300 to £500 per policy in lead cost on typical assumptions, because the prospect does not know you. Your close rate moves that figure more than the lead type does.
Can I reactivate old life insurance enquiries instead of buying new leads?
Yes, and for most protection advisers it is the first thing worth doing. Every adviser has a list of people who requested a quote, started an application or asked about cover and then went quiet, usually for a timing reason rather than a firm no. A database reactivation campaign works that list with a structured sequence of messages and qualifies the responses before a human gets involved. Because these people already raised their hand once, the conversion rate is far higher than a cold bought lead and the cost per policy is far lower. It is the closest thing to free pipeline that most advisers are sitting on.
Is it legal to buy life insurance leads in the UK?
Buying leads is not illegal, but using them is tightly controlled. The ICO says you can only use a bought list for emails, texts or recorded calls if everyone on it specifically consented to that type of message from you, and that generic consent covering any third party is not enough. For live sales calls you should screen against the TPS. Ask the seller how each person opted in, when, and for the evidence. This is a guide to generating leads, not legal, compliance or financial advice, so check your obligations with a qualified compliance resource.
How many bought leads does it take to write one life insurance policy?
At a 5 percent close rate you need about 20 leads per completed policy. At 12 percent it is about 8, and at 2.5 percent it is 40. Multiply by the price per lead to get your lead cost per policy. So 20 shared leads at £15 each is £300, and 8 exclusive leads at £60 each is about £500. Close rates are mid-range assumptions, so replace them with your own tracked numbers after a month of data.
How Many Policies Are Sitting in Your Old Enquiries?
Levity runs AI database reactivation for protection advisers and financial services firms. We work your dormant list, qualify the responses with AI, and deliver booked calls to your calendar. The warmest, cheapest life insurance leads you have are the ones you already own.
Rees Calder is the founder of Levity, an AI-powered lead generation agency. He builds AI reactivation and outbound systems for financial services and protection clients across the UK. The cost and conversion ranges in this article are drawn from Levity's client campaigns and are hedged estimates, not guarantees.