Key Takeaways
- An insurance agency defines a real conversation as five minutes or longer, since that's the minimum time needed to gather details for a quote.
- Contact rate and quote rate can move in opposite directions. This agency's contact rate dropped 10%, but its quote rate rose 10%, because the calls that connected were higher quality.
- Unbranded calls face structural headwinds: sub-5% answer rates on flagged numbers, 31% of people missing legitimate calls mislabeled as spam, and under-5% average cold call success rates industry wide.
- INFORM® Branded Calling, gave prospects context before they picked up, shifting outreach toward sustained 60-second-plus conversations and driving a 38.4% increase in engagement rate within the first year.
- Agencies should track conversation length and quote conversion, not just contact rate, to know if their phone strategy is working.
An Insurance Agency's Hidden Call Quality Gap
A multi-line property & casualty (P&C) insurance agency had a phone problem that most call metrics couldn't explain. Calls were connecting. Pickups looked fine. But too many of those calls ended in seconds, before an agent could even get to the coverage questions that turn a conversation into a quote.
The agency's leadership decided to stop optimizing for answered calls and start optimizing for something harder to fake: a real conversation. That shift, paired with INFORM Branded Calling changed how their outreach performed.
What Makes a Phone Call Actually Valuable for an Insurance Agency?
Most businesses treat contact rate as the finish line. If someone picks up, the call counts as a win. Insurance agencies can't afford to think that way, because a pickup and a quote are not the same thing.
This agency defined a quality conversation clearly: at least five minutes on the phone. Anything shorter rarely gave an agent enough time to gather the details needed to build a quote. So instead of tracking how many people answered, the agency tracked how long people stayed on the line and whether that time turned into a quote opportunity.
"A quote in my world is at least 5 minutes or longer," the agency said. "That could qualify as a quality conversation."
That distinction matters because contact rate and quote rate can move in opposite directions. The agency saw exactly that.
"My contact rate has gone down by 10%, but I don't care,” the agency said. “My quote rate has gone up by 10%.”
Why Do Insurance Agencies Struggle to Turn Calls into Quotes?
Getting someone to pick up the phone is only the first obstacle. Insurance agencies face a set of pain points that compound on each other before a quote ever gets written.
Unknown numbers get ignored by default. Most Americans don't answer calls from numbers they don't recognize, and calls labeled "Spam Likely" see answer rates below 5%, according to Pew Research data cited by Quality Voice & Data.
Even legitimate calls get miscategorized. A 2025 Google survey found that 31% of people missed at least one important call because it was incorrectly labeled as spam. When an agency's number gets flagged, even by mistake, answer rates can fall sharply and stay down until the issue is resolved.
Cold outreach converts at a low rate to begin with. Cognism's State of Cold Calling Report put the average cold call success rate at under 5%, and it typically takes multiple attempts just to connect with a lead. Agencies spending hours dialing are working against those odds before quality even enters the picture.
Slow response costs the business, not just the call. The 2025 Zywave Broker Services Survey found that 82% of employers would consider dropping their broker over slow response times. Every unanswered or misrouted call adds to that risk.
Short calls waste the connections agencies do get. A pickup that lasts 15 seconds burns a contact attempt without producing any of the information an agent needs to quote a policy. Agencies chasing volume over engagement can end up with contact rates that look healthy while quote rates stay flat.
How Does Branded Calling Fix the Quality Problem?
Branded calling addresses the root cause behind most of these pain points: the prospect doesn't know who's calling or why. When a call displays the agency's verified name and reason for calling, the person answering has context before they pick up. That context changes both whether they answer and how they engage once they do.
With INFORM Branded Calling, the agency's agents didn't just get more pickups. They got calls that held up. Their outreach shifted toward 60-second-plus conversations at volume, the kind of engagement that gives an agent room to ask the right questions and move toward a quote.
Branded calling also protects against the mislabeling problem. Because the call identity is verified and consistent, it's less likely to get swept up in spam filtering the way an unbranded number can. That stability matters for an agency making outbound calls at scale, where a single mislabeling event can suppress answer rates for days or weeks.
What Happened When This Agency Made the Switch?
Within the first year of using INFORM® Branded Calling, the agency saw a 38.4% increase in engagement rate. That's not a measure of how many people picked up. It is a measure of how many of those calls turned into the kind of sustained conversation the agency needed.
The agency's own framing sums up why that number mattered more than a pickup count would have. Contact rate dropped 10%. Quote rate rose 10%. Fewer people answering, but a larger share of the people who did answer stayed on long enough to talk through coverage and move toward a quote.
What Should Agencies Track Instead of Answer Rate?
The lesson from this story isn't that answer rate doesn't matter. It's that answer rate alone doesn't tell the full story on whether your phone strategy is working. An agency can improve its contact rate and still lose ground on quotes if those calls don't hold up.
Agencies evaluating branded calling should look past pickup counts and ask a more specific question: are the calls that connect lasting long enough to produce a quote? For this agency, the answer came down to a five-minute threshold and a willingness to accept fewer pickups in exchange for conversations that moved the sales process forward.
Start Getting Results with Branded Calling
Ready to stop losing quotes to short, unproductive calls? See how INFORM Branded Calling helps your agents get past the pickup and into the conversations that actually convert. Get started.
INFORM Branded Calling Frequently Asked Questions
Who can use branded calling? Branded calling can benefit businesses of any size that make outbound calls. This includes retailers, banks, car companies, call centers, and concierge services. If your business contacts customers, we help ensure those calls are answered while strengthening your brand reputation.
How many devices does First Orion cover? There are nearly 400 million phones in the U.S., including iPhones and Androids. INFORM Branded Calling reaches customers on any connected device in the U.S. and Canada. Our branded calling solutions work across every major U.S. carrier, including T-Mobile, Boost Mobile, Verizon and AT&T, and select carriers in the U.K., Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Belgium, and Germany.
Is branded calling easy to activate? Yes! With INFORM there’s no complicated integration or special software needed. Since it’s carrier-based, your branded calls reach iPhone and Android users across all major U.S. networks and over 22 million customers in Canada. Need something more custom? We also offer an API for businesses that want to automate.
What’s the difference between INFORM Branded Calling and traditional caller ID? Traditional caller ID is outdated and inconsistent. It relies on a patchwork of databases, and often customers don’t even see it. INFORM enables you to control how your business shows up with caller ID. You can even customize calls by department, such as sales, service, or delivery.
How do I register my business number? It’s easier than you think. Start by registering your number through the First Orion customer portal. Our free business number registration makes it simple! We guide you through the process to ensure your business is verified and your calls are not mislabeled. Register your number(s).
What networks does First Orion serve? All the big ones: T-Mobile, Boost Mobile, Verizon, AT&T, and more, and select carriers in the U.K., Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Belgium, and Germany through the Global Exchange. With First Orion, you don’t have to worry about how your calls appear across different carriers. We’ve got it covered for both U.S. and Canadian subscribers with Rogers and Bell carriers.
The Solutions Behind Every Trusted Connection
From small businesses to global enterprises, First Orion helps you increase answer rates, verify identity, and build customer trust and transparency.
INFORM® Branded Calling - Show your business name, logo, and reason for call so more customers answer with confidence.
ENRICH™ Branded Messaging – Deliver personalized, secure RCS messaging with verified sender identity and rich media.
AFFIRM® Reputation Monitoring - Monitor how your outbound calls appear and catch labeling discrepancies fast.
SENTRY® Call Blocking - Block bad actors from spoofing your numbers, protecting trust with your customers.
PROTECT+ Risk Detection - Detect suspicious inbound call activity in real time with intelligent risk analysis.
Related Resources
How branded calling drives ROI through answer rates for enterprise contact centers
The Real Cost of Staying Anonymous: Answering the 4 Biggest Branded Calling Business Concerns
What First Orion’s Survey Reveals About the Real Cost of Missed Calls
Attorney Shield Restores Member Trust in Critical Callbacks Using INFORM
