TrueCost Group Sees 10x Faster Response Times with Respond.io

TrueCost Group is a US-based health insurance broker that manages high volumes of inbound inquiries from Meta ads. With customers expecting immediate responses and most conversations happening over WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, chat is the front door to the business. As lead volume grew to nearly 20,000 per month, scaling service quality without scaling headcount became a priority.

The problem: Manual processes limited scaling

TrueCost Group’s lead generation process originally followed a standard insurance-broker playbook. Meta ads directed prospects to a landing page where they answered a sequence of questions before entering a phone number. Only then would an agent follow up by text or call, with an average first response time of around 15 minutes.

This funnel is common in the industry, but it comes with a structural trust problem. Many insurance brokers buy leads, so a person who fills out a form can end up receiving calls and texts from multiple brokers, creating an experience that feels spammy and transactional. The result is predictable: people ignore calls, block numbers and lose trust before an appointment is even booked, driving cost per conversion higher.

TrueCost Group relies on fresh leads rather than shared lead lists, but the form-first journey still created friction. Prospects were less likely to engage with an unknown phone number over call or SMS than they were to respond inside a messaging app where they could clearly see who they were talking to. At the same time, as volume grew, manual follow-up made it difficult to scale response quality. There was persistent pressure on agents to answer quickly, gather detailed information, provide accurate quotes and handle objections across both English and Spanish conversations, all while keeping the experience consistent.

The respond.io solution

To reduce friction and stand out in a crowded insurance market, TrueCost Group rebuilt its funnel around click to chat ads and moved its high-volume inbound conversations onto respond.io. Instead of pushing prospects through forms and delayed outreach, the business shifted the primary CTA to messaging, where leads could ask questions and progress through the journey in real time.

The business structured its engagement flow around language and channel behavior in the US. English-language ads route to Facebook Messenger, while Spanish-language ads route to WhatsApp. WhatsApp is less commonly used among English-speaking audiences in the US, but it’s widely adopted among Spanish-speaking audiences who often use it to stay connected with family and communities in countries where WhatsApp is the default. By aligning the channel to the audience, TrueCost Group made it easier for leads to respond on the platform they already trust and check frequently.

Revamp the funnel with click to chat ads

The move to click to chat changed how leads experienced the brand. Instead of answering a long set of questions on a landing page and waiting for a call or SMS, prospects could immediately speak to TrueCost Group in an authenticated, familiar environment. This reduced drop-off and removed the uncertainty that comes with receiving outreach from an unknown number.

Initially, TrueCost Group had a practical concern about click-to-Messenger ads: Messenger doesn’t automatically provide a phone number the way WhatsApp does. In practice, that friction disappeared once the business started engaging leads through chat. After a short conversation, prospects were comfortable sharing their phone number to set an appointment with an agent, because they already understood who they were speaking with and why.

Reduce response times with AI Agents

TrueCost Group set up AI Agent roles to take over the high-frequency tasks that previously consumed agent time. AI Agents handle initial inquiries, ask the right questions to move the conversation forward and keep leads engaged without delays. This change brought first response times down from around 15 minutes to roughly one minute on average, delivering the kind of immediacy required to keep ad-driven leads from dropping off.

Rodrigo Castro, CEO of TrueCost Group, notes that the response time with the AI Agent could be instant, but they’ve found setting it to wait for around a minute makes the customer experience seem more human. Since implementing respond.io, the business has also received positive feedback from customers on their quick service.

Generate quotes and handle objections automatically

Instead of relying on agents to manually interpret answers and craft next steps, TrueCost Group configured AI Agents to generate quotes based on each lead’s responses. AI Agents also address common objections in real time, giving prospects clear answers and maintaining momentum throughout the conversation.

This reduced inconsistencies and removed the variability that comes from handling high volumes under time pressure. After training the AI Agent on the business’s knowledge sources, it accurately answers any inquiry or objection to keep leads moving toward a purchase.

Book appointments with a human agent only when leads are ready

Once a lead is prepared to buy, an AI Agent guides them to book an appointment with a human agent. This ensures that human time is spent where it creates the most value: on closing conversations rather than repeating early-stage steps. This new system has significantly shortened the business’s sales cycle and increased the number of leads that end up in the appointment stage.

“Our cost per appointment booked has dropped to only $20-30, an amount that’s practically unheard of in this competitive industry. Respond.io’s support has been a gamechanger. Without any programming experience, I was able to set up complex workflows and AI Agent prompts. We’re about to start scaling hard and respond.io will enable us to do just that.”

Rodrigo Castro, CEO, TrueCost Group

The results

By rebuilding its acquisition flow around click to chat ads and automating conversations on respond.io, TrueCost Group reduced first response times from around 15 minutes to roughly one minute on average, achieving 10x faster lead engagement. AI Agents now manage 87.5% of conversations—handling inquiries, providing quotes, answering common objections and booking appointments so the business maintains consistent replies at scale. This shift also improved acquisition efficiency, achieving a 30% conversion rate for booked appointments. With a scalable system in place, TrueCost Group is positioned to increase ads and grow lead volume without adding headcount.

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