It may not be what it’s always been – and it may surprise you how preferences have changed. Advancements in insurance tech and changes in purchasing patterns mean your current and prospective customers may be looking for something more. Though you’ll have variation among different generations, there are commonalities within what your customers are looking for to get excellent service.
Insurtech: Finding the Best Fit for Your Agency
This past year was one like no other. With the entire world forced to move to digital work rapidly, many industries felt growing pains and suffered from the sudden shifts. One industry that didn’t was insurtech.
The term “insurtech” applies to a variety of digital tools used in the insurance industry. Everything from a client portal to an integrated rater are insurtech. Overall, insurtech removes barriers in insurance, speeding up enrollment and claims processing, among other procedures, making it easier for agencies to grow their business and serve their customers.
Since 2015, insurtech investment has steadily increased, hitting $2.5 billion in funding in 2020. This consistent growth speaks to insurtech’s value, and individual agency successes show that insurtech works.
Given its benefits, many of our independent agencies are asking if and how they should adopt insurtech. We offer advice with the following questions.
Where are you in your tech use?
There’s no doubt insurtech can advance agency operations. But, if your agency is still using decade-old computers or in the midst of upgrading to paperless workflows among other modern systems, you should take it similarly slow in adopting new insurtech. Know your own pace and make a plan as to what you’ll adopt and when, giving your team time to adjust so you can implement new tech with fidelity.
What are your goals for insurtech?
What exactly is your agency after in investing in new tech? Do you want to address operational issues? Grow your customer base? Add value to the customer experience? What your goals are will determine what types of insurtech to add to your operations first. You should only add new technology if you have a clear plan for its use.
What insurtech do we have now? Do we need to add to it?
There are a few key insurtech items every agency should work to adopt. Those include:
- Client portal
- Insurance CRM
- Marketing automation
- Integrated email and texting
If you already utilize this tech, you can consider adding other items, depending on your specific goals and needs. Other tech to consider include:
- VOIP phones
- Digital payments
- Commercial rating
- Digital forms and eSignature
It’s up to you and your agency how to want to grow. But, pay attention to how trends move and keep a pulse on whether or not these “nice to have” items move to the “need to have” column.
What are the potential risks we need to address?
Yes, insurtech improves operations, enhances customer service, and promotes growth, but it has drawbacks. The most prominent is the increased vulnerability to cyber threats. The more you leverage digital connections, the more you expose your agency to cyber-attacks. That doesn’t mean you should write off insurtech; you simply need to ensure you have robust security measures and employee training to keep your data safe.
The other significant risk is losing personalization and the human touch your customers value. Be intentional about how you use insurtech – it can increase personalization if used correctly. Pay attention to how you’re using new technology, including training your staff on how to leverage its benefits and avoid falling into a less human-centric approach.
Who should we partner with for insurtech?
This is one of the most important questions you can ask. While the tech may sound great, if the provider isn’t willing to work with and for you it’s not worth the investment.
We work side by side with our Partner Platform agencies to determine what tech they need. Our in-house team is well versed in integrating top-of-the-line insurtech resources into our system, and we’ve partnered with our elite Partner Allies to get experts on the case.
Along with providing an integrated, best-in-class experience, we work with our agencies to ensure they have the best training and always accessible resources to keep themselves equipped to serve their customers.
Find out more about our Partner Platform system, our tech partnerships, and how we can help your agency stay connected. Get in touch at at [email protected] or fill out a contact form here.
What is a Conversion
What is a Conversion? Demos Guides Blog News Carriers FAQs Events Not all conversions are created equal. “Auto Insurance is auto insurance—as long as you have it you’ll be OK.” You’re not foolish enough to believe that—so why would you assume all conversions are...
The Story Behind Our Insurance Agency Software: Archway Computer
In the latest of our “Behind Our Insurance Agency Software” series, we talk with Brad Ruben of IT services provider Archway Computer. Archway has been one of our industry partners for years, and we rely on Brad and his team to keep us and our community up-to-date on the latest insurtech and cybersecurity.
Brad Ruben has been working with insurance agnecy software since 1985, when he first helped a family friend install and run a Coast Premium Rater software as part of the friend’s insurance business. Since then, Brad founded Archway Computers to help independent agencies get the best insurtech and IT support at a price they can afford.
I talked with Brad about Archway’s partnership with SIS and the Partner Platform community, aiding agencies with IT services and providing expert consultation around insurtech and security.
How did you first become connected with SIS and Partner Platform? What prompted you to want to collaborate?
We had a mutual client who told me about SIS and Partner Platform. There was a definite connection around personalized service and commitment to innovation. Once I met with SIS President Michael Doran, we immediately hit it off and have been working together ever since.
We had a mutual client who told me about SIS and Partner Platform. There was a definite connection around personalized service and commitment to innovation. Once I met with SIS President Michael Doran, we immediately hit it off and have been working together ever since.
We get great feedback from our Partner Platform clients about how SIS and the team support them, which we love to see in any insurance technology provider. However, what really stands out is the seamless sales and marketing integrations SIS provides in Partner Platform. That’s something few agency management systems do well.
What services do you provide for SIS and the Partner Platform customer base?
Archway Computer provides managed IT services exclusively for independent insurance agencies. That means keeping their information secure and their technology compliant with cyber regulations in their state. Small and mid-sized agencies usually cannot afford a full-time IT person, and their local IT company knows nothing about insurance technology. So, we’re a great fit for the independent agencies in the Partner Platform community.
Beyond being a preferred IT service provider for Partner Platform agencies, we also provide educational opportunities for the broader Partner Platform and SIS community. We’ve been part of numerous national conferences and hosted cybersecurity webinars for the community. We’re a comprehensive IT resource for SIS and its Partner Platform agencies.
We’ve been lucky to work with SIS for years, establishing a solid relationship. As cybersecurity and compliance issues grow, our partnership is that much more important. Partner Platform understands that having a digital presence and working from anywhere are vital issues for their agencies. Working with us, they can help agencies grow while keeping them protected from cyber vulnerabilities.
You have a unique value proposition that aligns with independent agents (as does Partner). How do independent agents benefit from working with you versus a big-name provider?
Independent agents need someone who already understands the technology they’re using and how to make it work better for them. Larger IT firms just don’t know insurtech and take a long time to get up to speed. Agencies love that we’re knowledgeable, responsive, and hands-on right from the start.
Also, we’re not selling them anything they don’t need. Insurtech software providers will often sell their IT services alongside their tech and then constantly try to upsell. We’re a neutral party that fairly evaluates agency tech without a stake in the game. Our only goal is to keep agencies efficient and protected.
What has been your experience with the SIS/Partner Platform team so far?
We love the SIS team. All our mutual clients experience excellent customer service from them, and we know they’re always working for the client’s best interest, just like us. It’s been great sharing our expertise with the Partner Platform community, including the staff at SIS, who integrate our expertise into their software.
Plus, the Partner Platform team are just all-around great as people. We look forward to getting to meet face-to-face again at the next convention.
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Our Partner Allies like Archway Computer provide invaluable insights into tech advances and how to keep our Partner Platform community connected and protected. You can learn more about Brad and his team at myarchway.com, and see the remote work tips Brad shared with us on our blog.
Find out more about Partner Platform’s expanding capabilities and our other Partner Allies on our website at sispartnerplatform.com.
Top Digital Sales Stats and What they Mean for Insurance Websites
The COVID-19 pandemic forced us to change many elements of our lives. For businesses, it created a quickening effect on plans to increase tech use and move to digital. With those changes, many agencies turned to their insurance websites as hubs for their business, whether or not their site was optimized to take on that level of responsibility.
As your agency evaluates how to shift to the “new normal,” consider these insurance website statistics and what they mean for your agency.
Connect with Marketing Automation
Marketing automation sends messaging to interested prospects and clients when they take a particular action, like clicking “request a quote,” or at a specific time such as when they’re up for renewal. When integrated with your website, you can set up marketing automation to send messaging at the ideal times to engage prospects and customers. Research shows the personalization that marketing automation provides works:
- Close to 90% of customers now demand more personalization from businesses, much of which can be done through marketing automation (Accenture)
- Insurance companies that leverage marketing automation sell 20% more policies per producer (Velocify)
Pay Attention to Your Site’s SEO
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is critical to your site’s success. Your SEO status dictates how easy it is for your target prospect group to find you in an online search. Independent agencies that specialize in serving their local community benefit from quality SEO by targeting localized search phrases like “Ashville NC auto insurance.” Your search ranking is important as statistics show more people are turning to online searches to find coverage:
- Almost 70% of insurance customers run online searches before making a purchase (LSA)
- Online searches for “insurance near me” have grown by 100% in the past two years, making it more critical than ever to have your SEO locally targeted (Google)
Optimize for Mobile
More people are accessing the web via mobile than ever, and your website needs to adjust. Ensure you’ve optimized your website design so it can be easily viewed on any device. Mobile access is taking over as the most popular way to view online content:
- Mobile searches make up 59% of all organic search visits (Broadband Search)
- Mobile devices (excluding tablets) accounted for almost 55% of global website traffic in the first quarter of 2021 (Statistica)
Highlight Customer Reviews
Whether it’s from social media, a review site, or an email message, show off the feedback you get from happy customers. If you don’t have many examples yet, encourage customers to go to places like Google Reviews or Yelp and comment about your service. Integrating your social media feed and these review site comments into your site gives a boost, too. We know authentic reviews make a huge impact:
- Close to 60% of consumers say they go to social media to influence their purchasing decisions (Marketing Drive)
- People are up to four times more likely to purchase a product or service with at least five reviews (Review24)
Get the Custom Website You Need
If you’re looking to upgrade your site to bring better service and higher-quality insurance leads, look no further than the experts at Partner Platform. Our latest agency website offerings are personalized sites custom-designed, thanks to our trusted Partner Allies. Each site offers integration with marketing automation, customer service tools like our Client Portal, and secure infrastructure to keep you and your customers safe.
See samples of agency websites here and get in touch with us to find out more.
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The Story Behind Our Insurance Agency Software: Eisenhart Consulting Group
Next in our series on what’s behind our Partner Platform insurance agency software community is the management and operations consulting group, Eisenhart Consulting Group. For over ten years, we’ve been lucky to work with owner Mary Belka and her team.
Mary Belka, CEO and founder of Eisenhart Consulting Group, has been part of the Partner Allies team for more than a decade. When she was first introduced to the Partner Platform system, she was impressed by the hands-on, personalized service the Partner Platform team provided to one of her clients. Since then, a mutual dedication to personalized service has made Partner Platform and Eisenhart Consulting the perfect team for our independent agency clients.
I spoke with Mary to talk about how she came to meet the Partner team, the unique and transformational service she brings to Partner agencies, and how she prepares agencies for the future.
The Story Behind Our Insurance Agency Software: Lightspeed Voice
We strive to provide the best insurance agency software to our Partner Platform agencies, but we don’t have all the answers on our own. That’s where our trusted technology partners, our Partner Allies, come in. In this series, we get to know more about our industry partners and how they bring innovation and expertise to the Partner Platform system.
Based in Nokomis, FL, Lightspeed Voice® is a VoIP, cloud-based IP telephone provider founded in 2009 to provide the insurance industry with reliable VoIP and client relationship management (CRM) solutions.
Lightspeed differentiates through high-touch and high-service, which aligns nicely with Partner Platform’s approach – and is also true for the way our independent agency clients sell. Both Partner Platform and Lightspeed strive to be hands-on, building relationships with clients just as our independent agents do with their customers.
I talked with Lightspeed’s VP of Sales and Marketing, Steve Mohr, about the partnership.