Insurance advertising is a state by state question

Your regulator is the state

Insurance is governed state by state. Each state department of insurance sets ad standards, often under an unfair trade practices law.

If you are licensed in several states, the site is usually answerable to each of them for visitors there.

The practical approach is to write to the strictest standard among the states you serve, then check the specifics.

Where you are licensed in several states, write to the strictest standard among them and then check the specifics, rather than maintaining several versions.

Describing coverage accurately

The recurring problem is simplification. A summary that drops exclusions can read as a promise that coverage applies when it may not.

Say what a policy usually covers, say that terms and exclusions apply, and point the reader at the actual policy language.

Avoid absolute words. Fully covered and complete protection are the phrases most likely to be quoted back at you after a declined claim.

Avoid absolute words. Fully covered and complete protection are the phrases most likely to be quoted back after a declined claim.

Carrier names and marks

Using an insurer's name or logo is usually set by your appointment agreement. Many carriers also publish their own rules about it.

Listing carriers you represent is normal. Implying an endorsement by them, or that you are them, is not.

Remove a carrier promptly when an appointment ends. This is the same discipline as removing an expired credential.

Remove a carrier promptly when an appointment ends, which is the same discipline as an expired credential in licences and credentials.

Licence display

Many states expect a producer licence number or agency name to appear on ads, and some have specific placement rules.

Where you are licensed in several states, a licence page listing each one is a common and readable solution.

Check your own department's guidance rather than copying another agency, whose states may differ from yours.

Quote forms

A quote form is where the risk concentrates, because it invites exactly the details you should not collect casually.

Ask for enough to make contact and take the detail in a secured process afterwards. Do not collect ID numbers, dates of birth or medical detail through a website form.

Our forms carry a short note asking people not to include sensitive personal detail. That matters more in this trade than most.

• Ask for enough to make contact, and no more
• No date of birth
• No social security or licence numbers
• No medical or health detail
• No existing policy numbers
• Take the detail in a secured process afterwards

Comparisons and rankings

Comparing products or claiming to be cheapest is a claim about other firms as well as yours. You need evidence for both halves.

Best rates and lowest premiums are outcome claims that depend on the individual. They are the phrases that draw complaints.

Describing what you do, such as quoting across a panel of carriers, is more persuasive and entirely defensible.

It also survives a change of appointments. A page built around your process does not need rewriting every time a carrier relationship ends.

Describing your process survives a change of appointments; a claim about being cheapest has to be re-proved every time the market moves.

Where the builder stops

Pages here are written from a talk about your agency. The builder refuses claim shapes nobody can support, including promised outcomes and assurances about cover.

Every page passes a check that runs before anything publishes, validated against Google Search Essentials and modern web standards.

It does not know which states you are licensed in or what your carriers require. Nothing here is legal advice.

Lines with extra rules

Some lines carry their own ad rules beyond the general ones, and health products in particular fall under extra federal and state rules.

If you advertise across several lines, check each one rather than assuming a single standard covers the site.

Where a line has required wording, it usually has to appear with the offer rather than on a separate page.