Insurance Lead Ads That Convert: Offers, Creative & Forms Breakdown [Part 2 of 4]

In this video, we are talking about campaigns that convert and the strategy behind high-performing campaigns, specifically in the insurance space. Or if you're a financial advisor, you are an estate planning attorney or other licensed professional in a regulated space, then this information is for you. Last year, I oversaw $2.5 million in ad spend. I had the ability to see inside of hundreds of different independent insurance agents' ad accounts. So I have a pulse on what is working, what isn't working, and what will be the highest performing strategy whenever it comes to your ad campaigns in 2026. So in this video, we are going to be diving into what offers you should have in your ads, what your ad creative should actually look like, and we're going to be comparing lead forms versus landing pages. So if you're ready, let's dive in. In case you are new here, welcome, welcome. My name is Shauna and I specialize in teaching insurance agents and other licensed professionals how to generate their own exclusive leads. And I show you how to break free from lead vendors and how to break free from shady marketing agencies that live and die by deception of tricking you into a system that you don't fully understand what you're getting into. So if that is your cup of tea, then you have found the right channel. So go ahead and hit that subscribe button. Now you have landed on video number 2 of a 4-part series. Now, small disclosure, if I sound a little bit off, It's because I am still currently sick and under the weather, but I did not want to delay recording this series because after managing over $2.5 million in ad spend last year and after performing ad audits for agencies and FMOs, and even more importantly, seeing inside of hundreds of different independent agents' ad accounts and seeing what's actually happening in brand new ad accounts, agents that have never ran ads before, agents that are spending $10 or only $15 or $20 a day, I have a pulse on what is happening. And in this 4-part series, part 1, we talked all about Meta special ad category compliance. So if you need to stop this and go watch that, please do so. This one, we're talking about campaign strategy that converts. In the next part, we are going to be talking about how you turn those clicks into conversions. Once someone clicks on your ad, how do we like get them and increase the quality? And then we're going to end with the top 10 things that I believe you need to know after my experience of running primarily ads in the Meta special ad category last year. Now, I'm not new to Meta. I've been around in this space since 2016, really started specializing in insurance and other licensed professionals in 2022. And then in 2025, when insurance became a Meta special ad category, that was an opportunity for me to really become one of the main specialists whenever it comes to having successful ads, especially at an independent agent, a personal brand level, to have success in the Meta special ad category. So in this video, we are going to be diving all into campaign strategies that convert. Let's talk about what your ad offer should or even could be. Now, your ad offer is essentially your call to action, what you are actually saying that you're going to provide inside of your ad. And there are essentially 3 different primary offers that convert really well in this space. So the first one is the most common one. It's the one that everyone is doing, right? And that is a consult ad. The second type is one that is going to a webinar, or we might call it a free event, a workshop, and so on. And then the last but definitely not least is a lead magnet. So let's kind of briefly talk about these 3 different offers and where they fit in whenever you're making the decision to run ads. When most agents decide that they want to run ads, the only type of ad that they really think about running is a consult ad, maybe a webinar ad, which we're going to talk about here in a second. But most think I'm going to run a consult ad. So it is, hey, I have this thing that I offer. Do you want to meet with me for free? Click here and schedule a meeting with me. And there's definitely a time and place for consult ads. For example, final expense ads, the most effective ads are high-quality messaging that are direct to consult. Now, I talk about this in another video where we talk about it's the brain where the math needs to make sense. It's the mindset shift of knowing that this is something that's even available and that's affordable. And it's the heart emotional shift that is how you can protect family and you can have peace of mind. When you have all that together, you generate high-quality leads that are going to be ready to actually speak to you. During AEP, we want to run direct-to-consult ads. But what a lot of people don't realize is there are other types of offers that we can be running that actually will grow your prospect list, increase the quality for a lot lower of a price. Now, very briefly, let's talk about the 3 levels of audience awareness. There's technically 5, but I like to keep things simple, right? So when we look at audience awareness, there are different people that are completely unaware that you exist. They don't know you exist. And 2, they don't even know that your product exists and that they have a need for your services. Annuities are a good example. There's a lot of people that could be ready for that in the next several years, but they don't even understand what it is. IUL is something that's very misunderstood. Medicare even. There are someone just sent me an email that was like, Shauna, did you know these things exist? And it was a Medicare coach. This was someone that is not a licensed insurance agent, and they have to disclose that they cannot enroll them in a plan, but they charge $1,500 to $2,500 to review their options with them and then match them potentially with a Medicare agent. Those are clearly people that are completely unaware and have other misconceptions around Medicare. Then there are people that are aware, so they know, like, I need to probably speak to someone. I'm interested in this. They know that the product exists. I just need to look into it. I need to find the right estate planning attorney or I need to find the right agent and so on. Top of the pyramid, if we're drawing this out, are people that are like, I'm ready to go. I need to speak to someone. Like, where do I sign up? I want to talk to someone. Out of the entire audience that you can target, only about 2 to 5% are super, super ready to speak to someone. And that is what everyone— if you go look at the current ads that are running in your space, most of the lead vendors and other large agencies are just going for the direct-to-consult. And that's why sometimes having a different offer at specific times of year or for specific offerings makes sense, which we're going to dive into. The second most common thing that I see agents say is they want to run a webinar ad or something that is to Medicare 101, or that's going to be discussing different life insurance plans, or that's going to be an estate planning. And we can call this a seminar, a webinar, an online training, an online workshop. We could call it— I like to call it an event if you want to I know the language I typically use is an event that we're going to be talking about. But here's the thing. No one wakes up and is like, you know, it would be fun today to go watch a seminar about estate planning. You know, it would be really interesting. I would love to spend my Saturday like learning about Medicare. They don't want that. They want the benefit that you bring. And that's why if you want to watch my video on how to actually create a webinar that converts, I have that video. It's very in-depth with a guide. So we'll make sure that we link to that. But it's very important that your messaging is going to be focusing on the pain point that they're experiencing and then the benefit that you're going to bring. Webinars are something that as we move into this world of, we're in a little bit of a trust recession, people get protective over things like their time, right? People don't want to go sit somewhere and listen to someone that they don't even know if they trust talk for an hour and a half or 2 hours about something. So webinar, when you're targeting the wrong audience, you don't have a warm audience, or whenever your messaging is too generic, webinar cost per lead is much higher than a consult or this third one that we're going to be talking about. And this third one is something that every agent should have incorporated into their repertoire. You should have this as an offer, and this is a lead magnet. Now, I do have a video that breaks down lead magnets specifically in the insurance space, but a lead magnet is essentially a valuable piece of content that gives someone some insight into something they're interested in. So like a guide, a checklist. Think simple, easy to consume, something that instantly scratches an itch that they have. So something that breaks things down in a very clear manner and sets you up as an advisor. Having a lead magnet still is converting in your space, and it is very underutilized, right? Most of the agents that I work with have never even considered using a lead magnet. Some of them that do use a lead magnet, they're a little too— like, they're like an ebook and they're super long. We went super simple. So I I can confidently tell you honestly, in the T65 space, the lead magnet is what is absolutely converting the highest quality leads for the lowest possible cost. Then once you get them on your email list, you're able to market to them. So the first thing that you need to decide in your ad strategy is what is going to be your primary offer, because based on that is how we're going to actually structure the rest of your campaign and how we are going to really hone in on your messaging. Once you determine what your offer is going to be, the next decision that you need to make is what's going to go into your ad creatives. Now listen to me whenever I say this, your ad creatives are the most important element of your ad campaign. Now yes, you're going to have multiple different ad creatives. If you need help understanding campaign structure, I have an entire video on that. But it's very important that we have multiple different ad creatives So that way the algorithm has multiple different things to test, to learn from, and to get the right ads in front of the right audience. But your ad and the way that the messaging is and what you actually have inside of it is what is going to greatly influence whether or not someone clicks on your ad, they click over to the link, which is the most important thing that an ad can do for us and attracts the right quality of client that you are looking for. So let's break down the different elements whenever I talk about an ad creative. Now I have, for examples, we just happen to have all T65 examples and they all happen to be running to a lead magnet. So here we have this ad creative and let's break down the different elements. So first of all, I want you to think about when you glance at this, how do you absorb the ad? How do you look at the ad and absorb it? Because there's a very specific order that most people look at an ad and absorb it. And understanding that is going to help you create the best, highest converting ad creatives that you can. So I'm going to show you most people's eyes instantly go to the image. So this right here is element number 1, and it is the image, or it could be if we have a video. Okay? So it's right here in the very center. Then the next thing that you probably are going to notice is down here, number 2, and it's this guy right here, and that is the headline. Then we scoot our eyes up typically to element number 3, which is the ad copy. If we wanted to get really specific and break down our ad copy, then we would talk about this very first line right here. And we would say that this is called the hook because the hook is what captures attention. So the hook is essentially part of ad copy. And then we've got the body of it. And then of course, we've got right here, which is our call to action, which is download for this one. Now, most people look at the image, then their eyes scan down to look at the headline, then their eyes scan up to look at the copy. To make the decision of if they want to hit that see more button and continue reading more. So in understanding that, your ad creative all needs to have synergy together. One of the biggest mistakes that I see new advertisers make, whether they're an insurance agent or not, is they put so much stuff on their, their image. So they want to put Medicare insurance, turning 65 this year, I help people, here's my logo, here's my slogan, here's my phone number, here's the states I serve, and so on. I'm being a little dramatic, but a lot of agents at least want to be able to put like what line of business it is, what their phone number is, and then maybe some other little information like maybe a saying that they like or something like that, or their logo. The image's one job is to capture attention. Stop scrolling. Let me take a look at what's happening here. So this, I instantly see turning 65. I don't even need to have it say anything about Medicare in here. Then underneath it, I see what we're talking about. We're talking about this free guide. It's Medicare. And then I can go up and actually read the ad copy and see what it looks Now let's take a look at another ad creative that's very similar, but to see the differences, this one right here, this is on Facebook's newsfeed, and this right here is on Instagram newsfeed. So you can see how they are kind of organized a little bit differently. And then on Instagram, this button right here is going to get darker, it's gonna kind of flash a little bit to try to draw attention. Now in addition to your ads being served here, they also are going to be served in placements such as the Reels placement. Now that is a full vertical video. So let's look at this ad in these additional placements. Now when I'm working with agents, I teach them that we need to upload an ad creative that is a square that looks right in newsfeeds. And then we need to upload a larger— I call it a sister image where it has a similar feeling, but it is the vertical content. And then we keep everything up in this portion of it so that way whenever it's being served inside of the real placement, the button can pop up. So you can see here, this is 3 different ways. So in this sister image, you can see that we added this extra little guide that says Medicare insurance free checklist because they're not going to be able to see as much of the ad copy. And then you can also see how Instagram is going to add this little button here or over here. It's going to pop up a little bit, or sometimes they even will add optimizations like some text on top to try to increase conversion. So creating an ad that not only looks right in the different placements— super important— but also creating an ad that has the right messaging with the elements that all work cohesively together. So when someone— if they are looking here, they understand kind of what it's about. If they are looking in a newsfeed, they are able to see it, take a peek at the headline, and instantly make a decision of if they want to read more. So you've decided on your offer. We've talked about the different elements that go into an ad creative. Let's talk about the right decision of where you should send that traffic. Or in other words, should we send them to a Meta lead form that they already have on the platform, or should we send them to a landing page? Now, there is a large misconception that running traffic to a landing page automatically means that it's going to be a higher quality lead. That's absolutely not true. True. Now let me tell you this, I really like, I like both for different situations, but let me tell you, Meta Lead Forms has come a long way since they first released them. I wanna say they first released Meta Lead Forms in like 2018, and then like in 2020 is when they really started getting a little bit better. 2025, there are so many features that are absolutely amazing, especially if you are a licensed professional like an insurance agent. So when you use a Meta Lead Form, you are able to have a little bit of a welcome message, and then we are able to utilize SMS verification. Ah, amazing. We check that box. Meta takes care of that verification for you. We are able to use what's called conditional logic. I love conditional logic whenever it comes to Medicare ads specifically. And this is where if someone answers a question one way, they don't become a lead. If someone answers a question correctly, they do become a lead. And this not only filters out certain quality of the leads, but it also teaches the algorithm very quickly. Okay, Mary converted, go get more Marys. Bob convert. We don't want anyone that's like Bob, right? And there are compliant ways that we can use it. Meta Lead Forms also gives you the ability to ask a custom question that will help also with quality. And a brand new feature that was just released not that long ago is we can actually check the box that says open in Messenger. And that means after the lead has converted, it will automatically open up a chat inside of their Messenger. Now, this is not a chat that you ever have to use. Choose. It is going to open up. It's just going to have the information they gave to you as a confirmation. But it works for so many different ways. One, it reminds them of what they did, like you just completed a form. Okay, so remember this, it's opened up inside of your Messenger. And 2, it gives you a lifeline directly to them if they don't answer. In this day and age of Apple screening our unknown calls— I know Androids do it too, I see your comments, Android does it too, I got it— but with the call screening feature, this gives you a lifeline where you can hey, I just tried to reach out to you via text, or I tried to call you. Um, here's my contact card, save my information. Uh, and it gives you an ability to reach out to them. And adding that little extra element, I have not seen it increase one cost per lead because it happens after the conversion essentially. So I love lead forms. They also are already optimized for mobile and they are so much easier if you are brand new to advertising to run. Now that being said, I don't have anything against landing page ads. In fact, if you are running a live workshop or some sort of an event or webinar, it probably is best to have a landing page because we want to get some additional information out there to them. But here's the thing, having a landing page that has at least a 20% conversion rate with cold traffic is a whole nother animal. Inside of my membership, The Inner Circle, I have multiple agents that are running 2 landing pages. So we talk all the time about what you should do and what you shouldn't do. And in fact, in part 3 of this series about insurance ads, I'm going to dive dive into the biggest dos and don'ts whenever it comes to a landing page that will increase conversions. If you want to hear more about that, just let me know in the comments. But having a landing page that loads well, that doesn't have a menu at the top, that has a button above the fold, that has the right call to action, that has synergy with the ad, that has enough call to actions every time the person scrolls, that has them focused on doing the one behavior— click the button and sign up for the webinar or the consult or the thing— is a whole nother skill to learn. So for most agents, I say take advantage of how amazing and robust the Meta lead forms are. Now, that being said, some of these features that I'm telling you about, you don't have access to if you're using a third-party ads manager like GoHighLevel. This is why I tell agents, don't waste your time getting on a bike with training wheels. It's not going to help you in the long run. Jump into the deep end here, okay? It's going to protect your ad spend. It's going to help build your account up, and it's going to give you so much more control. So don't waste your time with the training wheels. Okay, we don't want tips, we don't want tricks, we want actual foundational strategy that is going to last the longevity of your business. So in my experience, if you are new to advertising, using the Meta lead forms are awesome. Even if you're experienced, many times they are the better choice. But using a landing page can absolutely work if you either already have a landing page that you know converts well with cold traffic. So new people that are going to it, we know that, or if you are capable of getting access to a template to a landing page or to get some information from someone of how to actually build one that is going to convert that cold traffic. And a little side note on landing pages, if you want to learn more about landing pages, let me know in the comments. In addition to having a landing page that converts, it also requires a little bit more of a tech setup. It requires you installing a dataset, or it used to be called the Meta Pixel. It's a tiny piece of code that we add on the landing page that allows Meta to know when someone hits that page. And then we add an additional piece of code, or we add an additional API connection for an event on the thank you page. So when someone lands on that landing page, they say, yes, I want to sign up. They give you their information. The next page they land on is the thank you page. That thank you page needs to have an extra little piece of code that tells Meta, that's what I want. I don't want someone that just lands on this landing page. I want someone that lands on the page but gets over to the thank you page because that's how I get a lead. So if you're interested in diving into that a little bit more, then just let me know in the comments. Now, if you are ready to learn how to turn those clicks on that lead form into high-quality prospects, or how to turn those clicks from those landing pages into high-quality prospects, and then how to nurture those prospects once they're on your email list, that is in part 3 of this series. So I hope that I'll see you in the next video. Now look, if this feels a little overwhelming and a little confusing, I want to let you know that means that you are learning something new. I know that you are more than capable of learning this skillset. You just have to make the commitment that you are going to watch the right videos, you're going to read the right things, and you're going to gather the right information or even take the right course in order to master this skillset. But I want to tell you, as someone who I kind of fell into marketing in 2016, it wasn't my initial plan of owning an online business. And in fact, to be fully honest with you, I hated it. I was like, this is so over my head. But I think the fact that it was so over my head, I mastered it, I got really good at it, is part of why I enjoy— and I hope that I'm really good at explaining these things. So if you have the desire to learn this, I want to tell you, you absolutely can. Do not let lead vendors gaslight you into thinking, one, this is too hard, you can't We're doing so many special things that you can't do. Or worse, don't let them gaslight you into thinking, well, that person was interested in insurance until they spoke to you. Oh, that seeing agents be spoken to in that way when they are more than willing to learn how to increase their closing skills, but instead they instead of getting tips, they get gaslit that it's makes me angry. Okay, so if you found this helpful, hit that subscribe button, and I hope that I will see. See you in the next video. Bye.