Gaining and retaining customers is a big deal in
insurance. When you have a diverse, loyal book of business, you are set to grow
and try new things in this evolving digital insurance landscape. In fact, according
to the Harvard
Business Review, retaining just 5% more customers can boost profits by
100%.
How can you bring that kind of growth to your
independent insurance agency?
Know What Your Customers Want
A surefire way to retain customers is by giving them what they want. The same goes for gaining quality leads – give the people what they want!
“What do they want?” you ask. That’s up to
you to figure out. Use
the data you gain from marketing automation campaigns and what’s stored in
your insurance CRM to identify patterns. Do you gain more leads when you talk
about your one-on-one video calls? Do you see leads drop off if it takes more
than 12 hours to get a policy proposal together? Identify what your customers
are drawn to and what turns them away with this digital data.
Actively solicit information, too. Have your
agents ask long-term customers what they love about your business, send an
email survey to customers, and provide the option to leave feedback after every
interaction with your agency. The more you know, the better you can be at
giving customers what they want.
Make It Easy to Connect
Over the past year, one
study found that more than 70% of insurance customers “found it difficult”
to connect with their agency about their policy or ask questions. The same
survey found that 69% expected companies to communicate with them using
automated and digitized services.
Customers and prospective customers alike want to
connect with you. Some may prefer email, others might like texts, and others
may want a phone call. The point is, you need to expand access to you and your
agency. One great way to up your connection is to
use an online customer portal and a mobile app to give customers access to
their policies and claims anytime, anywhere. Within these tools, you can
provide direct ways to connect with your team via phone or chat.
Identify New Target Markets
The COVID-19 pandemic shook up the world in many
ways, including making it more acceptable to work with an individual or
business outside your geographic sphere. Digital
communication tools expanded reach, and the whole world is your potential
target. Determine your strengths and look into areas outside your city or state
that are looking for what your agency provides.
Make Things Quick, Easy, and Seamless
These three words are the hallmark of the digital
age. Customers and prospects are used to getting the information they want
quickly, easily, and with minimal disruption. Are your customers receiving that
smooth experience? Tools like
esignature, integrated email, and secure document sending can bring your
ease of business to a whole new level. Evaluate ways you can serve your customers
and prospects with speed and precision.
Integrate Your Systems
When everything in your agency syncs together, you
save time and get better customer data. Your management system,
marketing automation, CRM, email, texting, accounting, and any other systems
you frequently use to interface with customers should all come together in one
hub. The data you gain and the time you save can be used to target and follow
up with quality leads and improve relationships with existing customers.
Grow Your Partners
Businesses like Ikea, Airbnb, Ford, and others partner
with national insurance agencies, providing exclusive deals to their customers.
While you may not be a first-choice partner for Ford nationally, you can
connect with your local Ford dealership. Grow your customer base by partnering
with realtors, colleges, animal shelters, and other relevant organizations in
your area, offering special policy pricing for their constituents.
Make a Tech Team
You can do a lot, but you can’t do it all. Work
with tech partners to integrate systems and provide the best customer service
and agency operation technology for your business. That’s what we do here at
SIS, working
closely with our Partner Allies to provide best-in-the-business tools and
training for our
Partner Platform agencies.
As a community-minded, independent agency, you can’t afford to expose your customers to that risk. Not only would it affect you financially, it would also damage your reputation in the community. How can you keep your customers and agency protected?
Know the Possible Threats
Your first step to protecting your agency is to know
what you’re up against. Cybercrime has evolved over the years, and there
are now multiple common attack methods. Some notable ones to watch for are:
Phishing: when a cybercriminal tries to
get an employee to provide information to help them access funds or data (i.e.,
bank account number, access to password-protected data). Phishing usually
originates in an email link or attachment sent from the cybercriminal posing as
someone in the organization or a member of another trusted organization.
Spear-Phishing: when a cybercriminal
targets a specific person in a phishing attack, delivering a personalized
message rather than a mass email.
Malware: a type of software that gets
downloaded and causes data on a device to become scrambled or locked by a
hacker. Malware typically comes through an email attachment or link.
Ransomware: a specific way hackers use
malware, asking for a fee to release control and/or refrain from sharing data
in a way that would harm the organization or person.
Spyware: a type of software used to give
hackers access to a device, allowing them to look at files and use the device’s
camera and microphone. This helps the hacker gather information to manipulate
an organization to give access to their data unknowingly. Spyware is also sent
through an email attachment or link.
Educate and Equip Your Agency
Once you know what to watch for, you can put
together tools and training to help your team stay alert. You can also
update your processes and tools to ensure they’re providing the highest level
of protection. Some critical steps to take include:
Upgrade your software and tech, especially
if you’re still using Windows XP or 7. Virus protection and support ran out for
these a few years ago, so your agency is vulnerable if you’re still using them.
Use two-factor authentication to log into
your agency’s systems, especially your management system, to add extra layers
of protection.
Use a VPN to access your agency’s system,
especially when accessing it out of the office.
Upgrade or install firewalls on browsers to
filter out malicious websites.
A large part of upgrading your protection is
educating your staff. Have regular training to keep them alert for suspicious
activity like:
Unexpected emails from you or your management
team
Emails marked as “URGENT!” or asking them to
take quick action
Receiving an attachment they weren’t
expecting
Requests for passwords or links to re-set
passwords
With your staff as your first level of protection,
you can close potential openings for hackers. Simple actions like googling a
link before opening it or sending someone a separate email when you’re unsure
if they sent a message can go a long way.
Partner with Like-Minded Providers
A final way to keep your agency safe is by
partnering with providers that are protecting themselves (and you!), too. Data
privacy laws hold data owners responsible for all data breaches, so if a
third-party provider makes your agency’s data vulnerable, the blame ultimately
falls on you. Vet your partners accordingly to make sure they’re as on top of
their cybersecurity game as you.
You can learn more about how we put security first
and get a first-hand demo of our Partner Platform agency management system by contacting us at [email protected] or 800.747.7005,
Option 6, today.
The evolution of sales as a software (SaaS) has
dramatically changed the software landscape. Thanks to their easy-to-integrate
nature, more businesses use SaaS applications over desktop software to improve
operations. A 2019 report found that companies with less than 50 employees had,
on average, 47 SaaS
apps in use across their organization.
This SaaS revolution takes shape in the insurance industry with insurtech. Based in SaaS, insurtech provides streamlined operations through integrated solutions. While agency owners recognize the benefit, many ask how to incorporate insurtech – do they implore their management system providers or take on the integrations themselves? The answer lies in what it is you as an owner want for your agency.
Essential Insurtech Integration Your AMS Should Include
There are a handful of integrations that your
management system provider should offer in 2021. But, before we get to the
list, the first element you should evaluate is your management system hosting.
To allow for future integrations, you need a cloud-based management system. When
your AMS runs off the cloud, you can build on it with little to no
infrastructure interruption.
From there, you can add on essential insurtech
integrations that provide:
Digital billing and payment
Esignature
Sales and marketing integrations (CRM and
marketing automation)
Comparison quoting
Each of these integrations is one piece of the new
digital insurance puzzle. Customers expect more to happen via digital, and they’ll
move to a new agency if they don’t see it.
Beyond the Essential Integrations: When to Ask
The above list should be your “make or break”
items: if your management system provider doesn’t have these or isn’t willing
to include them in your AMS experience, start shopping. If you find other
applications useful, think about what you want your processes and data flow to
look like before you talk to your provider about integrations.
If you want all your data to live in your
management system and integrate into that one hub, talk integration with your
provider. If you’re more interested in data sharing but don’t need a central
hub, consider how you can work with the insurtech provider to make it easier
for their tool to talk with your AMS. Both
paths break down data silos and bring more data integration. It all depends
on what you and your team prefer.
Looking Towards the Future
As you consider the best path for your agency, also
reflect on your relationship with your agency management system provider. Do
you feel comfortable coming to them with your requests? Do you feel like your
requests are heard? If you’re not answering “yes!” to both, you need
to rethink if you’re with the right system and team.
As a true partner to our Partner Platform
agencies, we at SIS focus on our agencies and their customers’ needs. Through
our regular Regional Learnings, monthly webinars, annual user conference, and
always-open lines of communication, we
stay connected with the Partner Platform community to continue to add to
our list
of insurtech Partner Allies, equipping our community for the challenges and
opportunities of today and tomorrow.
Semsee and Partner Platform simplify agents lives making it easy to prospect, quote, manage, and service commercial policies without logging into a different system. Partner is a comprehensive agency management system and CRM with high ease of use and long-term...
The coronavirus pandemic accelerated trends in several
areas, including digital insurance customer service. A
recent survey showed that almost 90% of American consumers think customer
service is more important now than before the pandemic took hold of the world.
Consumers not only expect more from service providers, they also have more options, meaning they’ll choose an agency that offers quicker and smoother interactions over one that’s, say, unable to process esignatures. As your team transitions back to the office, now is the time to reevaluate your customer service tools and processes to keep up with expectations.
1. Get more customer data
The more you know about each potential customer or
group of prospects, the better. Set your agency up to gather customer data through
marketing
automation and record that data in an insurance
CRM integrated with your agency management system.
With
all your customer data in one place – your insurance CRM – producers and
CSRs alike can look up a customer profile and get to know everything they can
about a customer before speaking with them. The more you know, the better you
can serve their needs and streamline interactions.
2. Focus on the customer
With so many choices and access to reviews,
consumers can easily tell when they’re being “sold to” rather than actually
helped. Use your customer data to focus on each individuals’s goals rather than
your own. Train
your producers to ask questions to understand what would best benefit the
customer. Selling lower-priced coverage may seem like a loss in the short run,
but if that’s what the customer needed to be happy, you’ve got a net positive
in a life-long customer.
3. Stay in touch
You have a great deal of customer interaction
leading up to signing a policy, but what about after? Take time to follow up
with customers to see how things are going and if they have any new needs. If
every contact isn’t about a sale, your customers are more inclined to trust you
when it comes time to talk about an upsell or cross-sell opportunity. Use your insurance
CRM and marketing
automation to put in reminders to get in touch and automated messages to
reach out regularly.
4. Be accessible in many ways
You
know each customer is unique, so why don’t you offer them unique ways to
get in touch? Some customers may prefer a phone call, while others want a text.
Some may only look at email, while others want to talk over online chat. Whatever
the way, make sure you have it as an option.
Marketing automation can let you know those
preferences, tracking individual engagement with certain types of outreach, and
options like integrated
text and email
make it easier for you to respond and capture customer data at the same
time.
5. Offer self-service
A
self-service client portal is a must for the modern insurance agency. A
self-service portal allows customers to access their policy, claims, and other
information 24/7. During the COVID-19 lockdowns, consumers got used to
self-service, and now many prefer it to get information almost instantly. With
a self-service portal, customers can make payments, print ID cards, and update
information without needing to call your office. That ease of use is essential.
6. Make feedback available and public
As we mentioned, online reviews play a big part in
consumer choice. With so many seemingly similar insurance options, people often
go to reviews to make their final decision. Make it easy for your customers to
leave reviews about their experience. Ask for a review after a service call and
add a link on your website and in your team’s email signatures. Check out your
review pages to respond to less than stellar experiences, too. Your honestly
and attempts to “make it right” go a long way.
7. Make more time for people
After lockdowns and social distancing for more than
a year, people are craving more personal interactions. Structure your agency so
you can give more time when needed. With a system like the Partner Platform agency management
system and insurance CRM, you can automate and speed up processes thanks to
real-time integrations and esignature capabilities, among other time-saving
tools.
With less time spent on small tasks, you can give
your time to the most important job: being there for your customers. Find out
how you can give your customers back more time with a system that gives you
that competitive advantage: get
in touch with the Partner Platform team today.
We’re almost halfway through the year, and a lot has changed since January. At this mid-year mark, we took a look back at some of our most popular posts and put together a list of the essentials. These posts can help hone your insurance marketing strategies for the remainder of the year and beyond.
Posts to Improve Service
• What Customers Want and the Insurance Software to Get It (view post)
• What Insurance Tech Do Agency Customers Want (view post)
• Digital Insurance Customer Service: Keeping it Personal (view post)
Insurance is now digital insurance. The same goes for almost every consumer sector – from banking to healthcare and beyond, most consumers are finding what they need online.
But just because people are searching for what they need online doesn’t mean they only make purchases via digital means. Customers still want that personal connection, they just want to get business done faster.
This is the conundrum of the independent insurance agency – responding quickly, yet personally, to prospects and customers. These statistics tell that story.
When it comes to your insurance prospects and customers, there are three main areas to focus on:
1. Improving ease and speed of service
2. Personalizing prospect and customer experience
3. Gaining data for expert advice
Each of these areas answers the question, “what do insurance customers want?”. Are you leveraging the right insurance sales software and processes to respond to these needs?
