Exclusive vs shared life insurance leads: what's the difference?
Exclusive vs shared life insurance leads differ in how many firms buy each enquiry: an exclusive lead goes to your firm alone, a shared lead to several firms racing to call first. Shared leads cost less to buy, so compare the two on lead cost per policy, not price per lead.
Exclusive: one firm only
No other buyer of the enquiry is calling, which usually suits advice-led firms that return calls between appointments.
Shared: several firms race
Cheaper per lead, but it usually pays only for teams that are regularly first to call and can evidence consent.
Compare cost per policy
Illustrative example: a £45 exclusive lead must convert three times as often as a £15 shared lead to cost the same per policy.
Semi-exclusive is still a race
Capped and time-limited deals sit in between. Get the cap on buyers and any time limit in writing.
What is the difference between exclusive and shared leads?
Exclusive leads are enquiries a seller supplies to one firm only. Shared leads are the same kind of enquiry sold to several firms, usually at the same moment.
| Point of difference | Exclusive lead | Shared lead |
|---|---|---|
| Your first call | No other buyer of that enquiry is dialling | A race, in which the first firm through tends to have the best chance |
| What the customer experiences | One firm calling about their enquiry | Several calls, often from numbers they don’t recognise |
| Leads needed per policy | Fewer, if the conversion advantage holds | More, if they convert less often, so more dialling and adviser time |
| Usually suits | Advice-led firms that call between appointments | Teams with a dialler that are regularly first |
| Main risk | Paying an exclusive price for a lead that is quietly shared | Paying for a conversation another firm has already had |
Neither label controls what the customer does next: someone whose enquiry went to one firm may still approach others. Our guide to exclusive life insurance leads sets out what “one firm only” should mean in a seller’s terms.
US guides to shared leads talk about “agents” and “final expense” cover. The economics are the same here, but in the UK the firms that buy leads to advise on and arrange cover are FCA authorised firms and their appointed representatives, and contact falls under PECR and UK GDPR.
Where they sit among the four lead types
| Type | Who receives it | Freshness | Indicative advertised price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Exclusive | One firm only | Real time | £30 to £80 |
| Shared | Several firms at once | Real time or near real time | £10 to £25 |
| Hotkey transfer | One firm, live on the phone | Immediate | £60 to £120 |
| Aged | Many firms over time | Weeks to months old | £1 to £10 |
Indicative ranges based on our view of typically advertised UK prices in 2026. Not a survey and not Protection Connect prices; Protection Connect shows prices before you buy.
A shared lead is cheaper for the same reason it is harder to convert: the seller recovers its cost from several buyers, and every one of them is calling your customer.
A hotkey hands you a live call that a call centre started, covered in our guide to hotkey leads and live transfers. Aged leads are enquiries sold on after weeks or months, and a shared lead that keeps being resold eventually becomes one; see our guide to buying aged life insurance leads.
How are shared life insurance leads sold?
A seller that shares leads decides how many firms receive each enquiry, and in what order. The model you buy decides how much of a race you are in.
| Model | How it works | What it means for you |
|---|---|---|
| Sent to every matching buyer | Each firm with a matching order gets the details at once. The number of buyers can change from lead to lead. | A pure speed contest. |
| Capped share | No more than a stated number of firms. Often sold as semi-exclusive. | Fewer rivals, but still a race. The cap is only worth what the terms say. |
| Staggered release | One firm gets the enquiry first, then others after a set delay. | You are first for a while, then you hold a shared lead. |
| Customer-chosen comparison | The form says several advisers will be in touch, and the customer asks for exactly that. | The most open version: you compete on advice and service as well as speed. |
Why one enquiry turns into several calls
Every buyer knows others have paid for the same lead, so the incentive is to call at once and keep calling. A Harvard Business Review study from 2011 of US firms found those that responded to web leads within an hour were about seven times as likely to qualify them as firms that waited longer. It isn’t about protection or shared leads, but it is consistent with why shared leads reward fast diallers; see why speed to lead matters.
Calling second doesn’t make a shared lead worthless: the customer may have been busy, or may want a second view. But you are buying a chance at a conversation, not a conversation. Add an outcome such as “already speaking to another adviser” to your CRM and report it by source; within a few weeks you will know what shared leads are worth to you.
The Consumer Duty starts before the fact-find
The Consumer Duty applies to retail customers whether or not they are your clients (PRIN 2A.1.13G). So if a customer fields four sales calls in one afternoon, each firm that rang shaped that experience.
In our view, consumer understanding suffers when the customer can’t tell the callers apart, and consumer support suffers when opting out means telling each one separately. Take more care where someone shows signs of vulnerability, such as a recent bereavement, as the FCA’s FG21/1 guidance on vulnerable customers asks. How your lead sources fit your Duty obligations is a judgement for your firm, so agree it with your compliance adviser or network.
Your brand is in that queue too. If you sell on advice and reputation, being the fourth caller works against you before you have said anything useful. Being the only caller won’t make every customer pleased to hear from you, but their first impression of your firm isn’t shaped by three others.
One form, several buyers: the consent question
Shared leads put more weight on consent, because one form has to cover every firm that buys the lead. The ICO’s guidance on live marketing calls says that when a supplier describes numbers as consented, you must check the consent is valid and specifically covers your own calls.
The more firms one form feeds, the harder that is to show. In January 2026 the ICO fined ZMLUK £105,000 for emails sent on consent a website had gathered for 361 “partner” companies, which it found invalid. A form naming a handful of firms is far from that, but the question is the same: did this customer agree to hear from you?
The wider rules on TPS screening, email consent and privacy information apply to every lead, shared or exclusive, and our summary of the UK rules for buying and calling leads covers them. Agree your approach to each shared source with your compliance adviser before the first call.
Before you buy shared leads, check that:
- The form told the customer more than one firm would contact them, and roughly how many.
- The consent wording covers calls from your firm, and names your firm and the channel for any email or text.
- The terms state the most firms that can buy each lead, and whether it is ever sold again.
- You know how the seller passes on objections and erasure requests.
- Your opening on every call says who you are and how you got the customer’s details.
What are semi-exclusive and time-limited exclusive leads?
Between exclusive and shared sits a band of halfway deals, priced in the middle.
Halfway deals sit between two of these stops
Semi-exclusive and time-limited leads aren’t a separate stop: they are priced, and behave, somewhere between shared and exclusive.
Indicative ranges based on our view of typically advertised UK prices in 2026. Not a survey and not Protection Connect prices; Protection Connect shows prices before you buy.
Semi-exclusive
A capped number of firms
- Cheaper than exclusive, with fewer rivals than an open share
- Still a race: with a cap of two, one other firm is dialling your customer
- Ask how many firms get each lead, whether the cap ever changes and whether the lead is sold again later
Time-limited exclusive
One firm, for a set window
- You are first, often for a few hours
- Advice can outlast the window: a fact-find, recommendation and application may take several days
- When it closes, other firms may call a customer you are already advising
Value a semi-exclusive lead on its cap, not its name, and price a time-limited exclusive as a shared lead with a head start. For other ways sellers bend the label, such as exclusive only in your area, see how sellers stretch the word exclusive.
Questions that expose a fake exclusive
The expensive mistake is paying an exclusive price for a lead that behaves like a shared one. Ask these questions before you buy, and get the answers in writing.
| Ask the seller | A straight answer | A warning sign |
|---|---|---|
| How many firms receive each enquiry, for any product, at any time? | One. It is never shared, resold or recycled. | A number for today only, or an answer about your area or product |
| Is there a time limit on exclusivity? | No time limit, and the terms say so | A window in hours, “first refusal”, or nothing in writing |
| What did the customer see before sending the enquiry? | The page and the exact consent wording, describing one firm making contact | Wording about passing details to other companies, or a promise of several quotes |
| Does anyone else contact the customer about this enquiry? | Nobody else advises or sells to them | An in-house call centre, or “partner advisers” who follow up |
Check the seller’s FCA status too: one that asks customers about their cover needs may need to be authorised or an appointed representative, so raise any doubt with your compliance adviser. Our guide explains how to check that a lead is really exclusive.
Exclusive vs shared leads: which costs less per policy?
Sellers advertise the price per lead, but lead cost per policy decides whether buying pays: divide what a lead costs by the share of leads that become policies. Our guide to working out lead cost per policy covers the method; here it is applied to exclusive vs shared.
The break-even rule
Divide the exclusive price by the shared price. The answer is how many times better your exclusive leads must convert to cost the same per policy. Illustrative example: at £45 and £15 the answer is three, so if 3% of your shared leads become policies, exclusive leads need 9% to draw level.
| Shared leads that become policies | Shared cost per policy | Exclusive conversion needed to match |
|---|---|---|
| 2% (1 in 50) | £750 | 6% |
| 3% (about 1 in 33) | £500 | 9% |
| 4% (1 in 25) | £375 | 12% |
| 5% (1 in 20) | £300 | 15% |
Illustrative example: shared leads at £15 and exclusive leads at £45. These rates are examples chosen to show the method, not market averages or Protection Connect results.
Calculator
Exclusive vs shared: lead cost per policy
Enter what each lead costs you and the share of those leads that become policies. The shorter bar is the cheaper way to place a policy, on lead cost alone.
- Lowest lead cost per policy
- –
Illustrative calculator: the default prices sit inside our indicative market ranges and the conversion rates are examples, not Protection Connect results or a forecast. Use your own numbers.
Illustrative example: with the starting figures, a £15 shared lead converting at 3% costs £500 per policy and a £45 exclusive lead at 10% costs £450. Raise the shared rate to 3.5% and it falls to about £429, below the exclusive £450. These rates are examples, not market averages or Protection Connect results, and not evidence that exclusive leads convert three times as well: we have no market data on that, so use your own results.
How often do you need to be first?
Your shared conversion rate depends on how often you reach the customer first. Illustrative example: each shared lead goes to four firms, the first caller converts 1 in 10 and later callers 1 in 100, so a firm of average speed is first on about a quarter of them.
| You are first on | Shared leads that become policies | Shared cost per policy at £15 | Exclusive at £45 and 10% |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 in 4 leads | 3.25% | About £460 | £450 |
| 1 in 3 leads | 4% | £375 | £450 |
| 1 in 2 leads | 5.5% | About £270 | £450 |
Illustrative example: the number of buyers and both conversion rates are assumptions chosen to show the method, not market averages or Protection Connect results.
On these assumptions, average speed makes shared leads slightly dearer per policy than exclusive ones, and being first on more than about a quarter of them tips the balance. If later callers convert 2 in 100 instead, shared leads come out cheaper even at average speed.
Add adviser time, then check your commission
The calculator counts only what you pay the seller. Illustrative example: at 15 minutes per lead and £24 an hour, adviser time adds about £200 to each shared policy (33 leads) and £60 to each exclusive one (10 leads), taking the totals to roughly £700 and £510.
The FCA’s January 2026 interim report found initial commission is usually 170% to 250% of first-year premium. Illustrative example: Swiss Re put the average new level term premium at £375 a year in 2024, so a case at that premium earns roughly £640 to £940 of initial commission at those rates. The shared total of about £700 more than uses up the lower figure; the exclusive total of about £510 leaves something over across the range, though not much at the lower end.
If you are an appointed representative, use the commission you keep after your principal’s share; our maximum price calculator turns it into the most you can afford per lead. Judge both lead types on policies still in force a few months after issue, because a lapse inside the clawback period, generally two or four years, takes commission back. Our guide to the hidden costs of buying leads covers the rest of the bill.
Exclusive life and over-50s enquiries. Never shared or resold.
See each lead’s summary and price before you buy. No fixed-term contract or minimum monthly spend.
Should your firm buy shared or exclusive leads?
Three questions about how you work settle most cases.
- If new leads wait while advisers are in appointments, you will rarely be first on a shared lead. Exclusive leads let you call promptly without racing anyone.
Shared leads need more calls per policy. A team with a dialler and spare capacity can absorb that; a solo adviser usually can’t.- Small cases struggle to carry an exclusive price, while larger ones can. Work out your cost per policy for each product.
| If you are | Usually better | Why |
|---|---|---|
| A solo adviser or small advice firm | Exclusive, in numbers you can call promptly | Shared leads put you up against firms built to dial. |
| A mortgage adviser who also advises on protection | Your own clients first, then exclusive | A protection case often waits on the mortgage offer, so a time-limited window can close mid-advice. |
| A telephone brokerage with a dialler | Shared can pay, tested against exclusive | Only if you are consistently first and can evidence consent for every source. |
| An over-50s specialist | Exclusive; be cautious with shared | Several calls can confuse or pressure some customers. See our guide to over-50s life insurance leads. |
| A new adviser or appointed representative | Sources your firm or principal approves, then a small exclusive test | A weak shared result can’t tell you whether the problem was your call or another firm’s speed. See buying leads as a new adviser. |
If you run a dialler on shared leads, screen against the TPS and agree its settings with your compliance adviser: under the Data (Use and Access) Act, unanswered attempts can now count as calls under PECR.
For every lead type by business model, see which leads are best for your type of firm. Whichever you choose, the first call matters as much as the lead type; our guide to converting life insurance leads covers it.
How exclusivity works on Protection Connect
Protection Connect is a UK marketplace for exclusive life insurance leads. We don’t sell shared, semi-exclusive or time-limited leads; if your model relies on them, another kind of seller will suit you better.
Every enquiry is delivered to one broker only. We never share, resell or recycle it, so no other broker receives it from us. Life, income protection and over-50s enquiries come from people looking for cover on our own websites, LifeAdviser and 50Life, who asked to be contacted.
On LifeAdviser and 50Life, the notice under “Get my quotes” says the customer’s details may go to one FCA authorised adviser firm, or one of its appointed representatives, that buys enquiries through Protection Connect and may contact them about their enquiry. It doesn’t name your firm. Say who you are and which website their enquiry came from, and contact them only about it. Agree with your compliance adviser how PECR applies to your follow-up, in particular TPS screening before live calls and any marketing email.
Exclusivity applies to each enquiry, not each customer. If the same customer sends another enquiry of the same lead type within 30 days of your purchase, it goes to your firm free, unless you can’t receive enquiries at the time, when it is listed for sale. A different lead type, or an enquiry more than 30 days later, is listed as a new lead any firm can buy. You can claim a credit for the same customer supplied to your firm in the previous 30 days.
Read how Protection Connect supplies life insurance leads or see how it works.
Questions brokers ask about exclusive vs shared leads
An exclusive lead is supplied to one firm only. A shared lead is the same kind of enquiry sold to several firms, usually at once, so buyers race to reach the customer first. Shared leads cost less, while being the only caller usually means better contact and conversion rates, so compare them on lead cost per policy.
They can be, for a firm that calls within minutes and can show the consent covers its calls. Shared leads usually pay off only when you reach the customer first often enough. Test them against exclusive leads on lead cost per policy and on policies still in force after a few months, not on applications submitted.
It depends on the seller, and not every seller says. Some cap each enquiry at a stated number of firms, some send it to every matching buyer, and some release it to one firm before the others. Ask for the maximum in writing, and track how often customers say someone else has already called.
Semi-exclusive usually means the seller supplies each enquiry to a small, capped number of firms instead of one. It is priced between shared and exclusive, but it is still a race: with a cap of two, one other firm is dialling the same customer. The label has no fixed meaning, so get the cap in writing.
It is a lead supplied to one firm for a set period, after which the seller passes it to other firms or adds it to aged lists. You get a head start, not exclusivity, and protection advice can outlast the window. Get its length in writing, and pay closer to a shared price than an exclusive one.
Buying leads isn’t itself a regulated activity, but the rules on how details were collected and how you contact people apply to every lead. Calling a TPS-registered number needs the person to have told your firm they don’t object, and email or text marketing needs consent naming your firm and the channel. Check each source with your compliance adviser.
Because the seller is paid for the same enquiry several times, so each buyer pays a smaller share. The catch is that every buyer is calling the same customer, so fewer shared leads usually become policies. Compare the two on lead cost per policy: the cheaper lead is not always the cheaper policy.
Sources and further reading
- FCA: Distribution of pure protection products to retail customers, market study interim report (MS24/1.4), January 2026
- FCA Handbook: PRIN 2A.1, Consumer Duty application and purpose
- FCA: Guidance for firms on the fair treatment of vulnerable customers (FG21/1)
- ICO: How do we comply with the rules on live marketing calls?
- ICO: Fines of £225,000 for nuisance marketing messages (January 2026)
- Swiss Re: Term & Health Watch 2025 (2024 new business data)
- Harvard Business Review: The short life of online sales leads (Oldroyd, McElheran and Elkington, March 2011)
