Quote-to-Bind Ratio: Formula, Benchmarks and the 4 Leak Points Between Quote and Bind

Quote-to-bind ratio = (policies bound ÷ quotes issued) × 100

It shows how much of your quoting work turns into premium. Below: how to count it, the 3 rates around it, what public data says about a good ratio (less than most pages claim), and the 4 places a quote leaks before it binds.

In This Guide

This guide and the articles under it.

1. 01
   Insurance Quote Follow-UpTiming and the follow-ups that bring a quote back.
   Coming
2. 02
   Insurance Objection HandlingThe objections that stop a bind and the answers that move it.
   Coming
3. 03
   Insurance Lead Conversion RateHow to measure lead to policy, step by step.
   Coming

What Is Quote to Bind in Insurance?

Quote to bind is the stretch of a sale between a priced quote reaching the buyer and the policy going in force, usually once the application is signed and the first payment goes through. The idea goes by several names, each with its own denominator:

The carrier number always comes out lower than the agency number for the same book, because declines sit in its denominator. Lead conversion rate divides binds by every lead, quoted or not, so it reads lower still. Many pages ranking for "insurance lead conversion rate" mix the 2 in one table.

How to Calculate the Quote-to-Bind Ratio

The formula is simple. Counting it so it means something takes 5 decisions.

1. 01
   Pick the CohortEvery quote issued in one window, say 1 to 30 September, for one line of business.
2. 02
   Count Each Quote OnceA buyer with 3 versions of the same auto quote counts as 1 quote. Choose policy or household as the unit and keep it (a bundled buyer is 1 household, 2 policies).
3. 03
   Set a Bind WindowCount only binds from those quotes, within a fixed period such as 30 or 60 days. Openkoda uses 60 days and calls it an illustrative reporting choice.
4. 04
   Divide and MultiplyDivide policies bound by quotes issued and multiply by 100.
5. 05
   Split the ResultRun the same math by lead source, producer and line.

Dividing this month's binds by this month's quotes mixes August quotes with September binds, and the ratio swings with volume. A premium-weighted version, bound premium ÷ quoted premium, shows whether you lose the large accounts or the small ones. Nobody publishes a benchmark for it.

Worked Example

Invented counts for illustration: an example agency, personal auto, September quotes, binds counted through 30 October.

Of the 144 quoted buyers this agency never reached, 12 bound on their own and 132 did nothing. That group is the first place to look.

Quote-to-Bind Calculator

Use counts from one cohort of quotes: the same window, the same line of business, each quote counted once.

Quote-to-Bind Ratio

(C + S) ÷ Q × 100Policies bound, after a conversation or with none, divided by quotes issued, times 100

Quote Rate

Q ÷ L × 100Quotes issued divided by leads, times 100

Follow-Up Rate

F ÷ Q × 100Quoted buyers reached in a 2-way conversation divided by quotes issued, times 100

Bind Rate After Follow-Up

C ÷ F × 100Policies bound after a conversation divided by quoted buyers reached, times 100

Self-serve binds count toward the quote-to-bind ratio and stay out of the bind rate after follow-up, so a conversation gets no credit for a sale it had nothing to do with.

The 3 Rates Around the Ratio

Splitting the ratio tells you which step owns the problem.

1. Quote rate = quotes issued ÷ leads (or quote starts). It sits before the quote, so a low one points at the application or rating speed.
2. Follow-up rate = quoted buyers reached in a 2-way conversation ÷ quotes issued. Low means a contact problem: speed, attempts, channel.
3. Bind rate after follow-up = binds from reached buyers ÷ quoted buyers reached. Low means a conversation problem: price, the objection or payment.

Keep self-serve binds on their own line. J.D. Power's 2026 U.S. Insurance Shopping Study (released 2026-06-04) puts digital purchases at 48% of new auto policies, up from 36% five years earlier. Mixed in, they give the follow-up rate credit for sales it had nothing to do with.

What Is a Good Quote-to-Bind Ratio?

There is no public, sourced quote-to-bind benchmark for US agencies. The ranges on page 1 of Google and in AI answers trace back to vendor pages with no sample, method or source. Reagan Consulting and the Big I Best Practices Study sell their full data and publish no close ratio in open material, and the Big I's Agency Universe Study does not measure conversion.

What exists is market-level data. Each row measures a different thing, so read the unit before comparing.

Read together: about half of auto policies get shopped in a year, and most shoppers check only 1 or 2 insurers. J.D. Power and TransUnion look like they disagree on quote counts because one surveys shoppers and the other counts insurer inquiries. The 29% switching figure is the closest thing to a market close rate in print, and it counts people who moved, with no link to quotes. Kinsale is the only carrier we found that publishes its own funnel: one E&S carrier, one data point, never a market benchmark.

How to Benchmark Against Yourself

• Your best producer on the same lead source. The gap to your median producer on identical leads is a target you know is reachable.
• Your own trend, same cohort definition, month over month.
• Splits by line and lead source. Referrals, inbound web quotes and purchased leads behave like 3 different businesses.
• The count ratio and the premium-weighted ratio, side by side.

The 4 Leak Points Between Quote and Bind

Every unbound quote stopped at 1 of these 4 places.

1. Quote Delivered

The quote has to arrive, get seen and look competitive. With shoppers averaging 3.5 quotes (J.D. Power 2026) and 77% quoting with only 1 or 2 insurers (TransUnion), being among the first insurers they hear from matters. Price is the documented first filter: in J.D. Power's 2010 study, 76% of quoted shoppers who did not buy cited price. The household gap leaks here too: 45% of active auto shoppers had a home policy and only 20% got a home quote (J.D. Power 2026).

What to do:

• Measure minutes from quote request to quote delivered.
• Quote the second line when the household has one.
• When price is the gap, re-shop coverage and deductibles before reaching for a discount.

2. First Contact

The example agency lost 132 of 320 quotes here. In an HBR audit of 2,241 US companies (The Short Life of Online Sales Leads, March 2011), 37% answered online leads within an hour and 23% never answered. Firms that answered within an hour were nearly 7 times as likely to qualify the lead as firms that waited an extra hour, and more than 60 times as likely as firms that waited a day or longer. The older MIT and InsideSales.com study (2007) found contact odds 100 times higher at 5 minutes than at 30.

Both are cross-industry and measure contact and qualification, and the MIT study says it did not look at close ratios. No public study ties first-contact timing to bind rate in insurance, so your own data has to show how much speed moves binds.

What to do:

• Track minutes from quote delivered to the first 2-way conversation, attempts per quote, and reach rate by channel.
• Plan several attempts across several days, mixing call and text, inside the consent you hold.

3. The Objection

Price is the objection with the most evidence behind it. JD Power Signals Q2 2026 describes retention risk shifting toward affordability, with younger customers more likely to cut or drop coverage.

Life insurance has better data. Among adults with a coverage gap, the top barriers were cost (45%), other financial priorities (35%), not knowing how much or what type to buy (23%) and not getting to it (23%). Source: 2026 Insurance Barometer Study, LIMRA and Life Happens. The last 2 are hesitation more than refusal. For P&C, nobody has published a sourced share for "I need to think about it" or "I have to talk to my spouse", so count them in your own CRM.

What to do:

• Log the objection as a field on every unbound quote, so you count reasons instead of guessing them.
• Price: change coverage, deductible or bundle, and show the new number.
• "Need to think": ask which part is unclear, and answer that part.
• "Talk to my spouse": send a short side-by-side they can forward, and ask when they will both look.

4. Payment and Bind

There is no primary public data on drop-off at the payment or e-sign step for US insurance. A Decision Analyst case study (archived copy) describes an insurer whose applicants quit after approval and before paying the first bill, which shows it happens without saying how often.

What to do:

• Measure 2 rates in your own funnel: quote to payment page, and payment page to bound.
• Test the payment and e-sign flow on a phone, with the payment methods your buyers use.
• Follow up the same day on an unfinished payment, and confirm the start date the buyer wants.

How to Follow Up on an Insurance Quote

No source attaches a bind rate to a specific cadence, so treat these as working rules and test them on your own numbers:

• Make the first touch while the quote is fresh, within the hour if you can.
• Spread several attempts over several days, and switch channel when one goes unanswered.
• Put 1 fact about their quote and 1 question in each message.
• Pick up from the last thing the buyer said.
• Stop the moment they ask you to.

Consent and Opt-Outs for Texts and Calls (US)

This is general information, not legal advice. TCPA rules changed several times in 2025 and 2026 and courts disagree by circuit. Check with counsel before changing consent language or opt-out handling.

• The quote request is the moment to capture consent. Under 47 CFR 64.1200(f)(9), prior express written consent is a signed agreement (e-signature counts) that names the company that will call or text and the phone number, and says consent is not a condition of purchase.
• The 2023 "one-to-one" consent rule never took effect: vacated on 2025-01-24 and removed from the rules effective 2025-08-29.
• Buyers can opt out by any reasonable means. The 7 standard words (stop, quit, end, revoke, opt out, cancel, unsubscribe) always count, and opt-outs must be honored within 10 business days (64.1200(a)(10)). One text confirming the opt-out is allowed.
• A STOP reply to a follow-up that markets the policy ends all marketing calls and texts from that company.
• Federal calling hours for telephone solicitation are 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. in the buyer's local time (64.1200(c)(1)). Some states are tighter: Florida's cutoff is 8 p.m. (Fla. Stat. 501.616(6)(a)), and 501.604 keeps that limit for licensed insurance agents.
• The FCC adopted FCC 26-67, a new order on consent revocation, on 2026-09-30. It takes effect 30 days after Federal Register publication, which had not happened as of 2026-10-11. Once in effect, a company may name a single opt-out method if every message discloses it. Check the effective date before relying on it.

Some circuits read the TCPA more narrowly than the FCC, but the FCC rule is still on the books, so national programs still capture written consent.

An Example Follow-Up That Recovers a Quote

Illustrative only: the people, agency and coverage are invented. Taylor gave written consent to texts on the quote form.

Day 0, 2:10 p.m. (quote emailed at 1:40 p.m.)

Agency: Hi Taylor, it's Maya at [Agency]. Your auto quote for both cars is in your inbox. Did it come through OK? Reply STOP to opt out.

Leak point 1: delivery confirmed inside the hour, opt-out line in the first text.

Taylor: got it. bit higher than i hoped

Agency: Thanks for saying so. Your quote uses a $500 deductible with full coverage on the 2014 car. Want me to price it with a $1,000 deductible?

Leak point 3: price gets a coverage change and a question, and the discount stays in reserve.

Taylor: sure. need to check with my husband too

Agency: Makes sense. I'll send both options side by side so you can forward them. Are you looking at it tonight or tomorrow?

The spouse objection gets something to forward and a time.

Day 1, 9:15 a.m.

Agency: Morning Taylor. Did you and your husband get a chance to compare the 2 options?

Taylor: yes the 1000 one. can it start friday

Agency: Yes. Here's the link to sign and pay, with Friday set as the start date.

Policy bound. Start date Friday.

Leak point 4: the follow-up picks up from the last message, and the payment link carries the start date she asked for. Both days fall inside federal calling hours.

FAQ

What is a good quote-to-bind ratio?

No public, sourced quote-to-bind benchmark exists for US agencies. Compare against your own best producer on the same lead source, and your own month-over-month trend.

Is a 20% close rate good?

It depends on the denominator. Close rates on quotes, leads and submissions are 3 different numbers, and none has a sourced agency average, so compare it with your own history on the same lead type.

What is the difference between quote-to-bind ratio and lead conversion rate?

Lead conversion rate divides binds by every lead, including leads that never received a quote, so it always reads lower than quote-to-bind for the same book.

How soon should you follow up after sending an insurance quote?

Within the hour if you can. A cross-industry HBR audit of 2,241 US companies found leads answered within an hour were far more likely to be qualified, though no public study ties timing to bind rate in insurance.

What is a submission-to-bind ratio?

Submission-to-bind is the carrier and MGA version: policies bound divided by all submissions, declines included, so it runs lower than quote-to-bind.

Sources

1. J.D. Power, 2026 U.S. Insurance Shopping Study, released 2026-06-04. https://www.jdpower.com/business/press-releases/2026-us-insurance-shopping-study
2. J.D. Power, 2024 U.S. Insurance Shopping Study, released 2024-04-30. https://www.jdpower.com/business/press-releases/2024-us-insurance-shopping-study
3. JD Power Signals, Q2 2026 report, with TransUnion, published August 2026. https://hub.jdpower.com/hubfs/FSAAS/Insurance/26-JDP_LIST%20Report%20Q2%202026_FINAL.pdf
4. J.D. Power 2010 Insurance Shopping Study, reprinted by Insurance-Canada.ca, 2010-05-25. https://insurance-canada.ca/2010/05/25/j-d-power-and-associates-reports-importance-of-price-to-us-insurance-shoppers-increases-while-satisfaction-with-price-decreases/
5. LexisNexis Risk Solutions, U.S. Insurance Demand Meter, Q2 2026, released 2026-08-17. https://risk.lexisnexis.com/about-us/press-room/press-release/20260817-q3-demand-meter
6. TransUnion, Insurance Personal Lines Trends and Perspectives, Q4 2025, released 2026-02-10. https://www.stocktitan.net/news/TRU/insurance-shopping-bucked-traditional-year-end-slump-remaining-a71x5q0j9q8x.html
7. Kinsale Capital Group, Form 10-K for fiscal year 2025, filed 2026-02-20. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1669162/000166916226000015/knsl-20251231.htm
8. Oldroyd, McElheran and Elkington, "The Short Life of Online Sales Leads", Harvard Business Review, March 2011. https://hbr.org/2011/03/the-short-life-of-online-sales-leads
9. Oldroyd and Elkington, Lead Response Management Study (InsideSales.com and MIT), 2007-10-16. https://www.mortech.com/hs-fs/hub/25649/file-13535879-pdf/docs/mit_study.pdf
10. LIMRA and Life Happens, 2026 Insurance Barometer Study, fielded January 2026. https://www.limra.com/siteassets/newsroom/liam/2026/2026-barometer-member-pr-toolkit.pdf
11. Decision Analyst, Insurance Abandoners exploratory qualitative case study (undated), archived copy of 2024-05-29 (the live page no longer loads). https://web.archive.org/web/20240529233218/https://www.decisionanalyst.com/casestudies/insuranceabandonersexploratoryqualitative/
12. Vertafore AIM help, Hit Ratio (undated). https://help.vertafore.com/aim/content/hit_ratio_acctg.htm
13. QuoteSweep glossary, bind ratio, updated 2026-04-27. https://www.quotesweep.com/glossary/bind-ratio-insurance
14. Openkoda, Quote-to-bind ratio, updated 2026. https://openkoda.com/quote-to-bind-ratio/
15. Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America, Agency Universe Study, archived copy of 2025-07-12 (the live page did not load on 2026-10-11). https://web.archive.org/web/20250712131843/https://na.iiaba.net/research/AgencyUniverseStudy/agency-universe.aspx
16. eCFR, 47 CFR 64.1200, version dated 2026-10-01. https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-47/chapter-I/subchapter-B/part-64/subpart-L/section-64.1200
17. U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, Insurance Marketing Coalition Ltd. v. FCC, No. 24-10277, 2025-01-24. https://media.ca11.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/files/202410277.pdf
18. Federal Register, 90 FR 42137 (FCC DA 25-621), published and effective 2025-08-29. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2025-08-29/html/2025-16641.htm
19. FCC 26-67, Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, CG Docket 02-278, adopted 2026-09-30, released 2026-10-01. https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/FCC-26-67A1.pdf
20. Florida Statutes, s. 501.616 Unlawful acts and practices, 2026 Florida Statutes. http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0500-0599/0501/Sections/0501.616.html
21. Florida Statutes, s. 501.604 Exemptions, 2026 Florida Statutes. http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0500-0599/0501/Sections/0501.604.html