Digital Insurance Customer Service: Keeping it Personal

Marketing, Sales, Technology Trends

As we recently heard from one of our Partner Allies, one of the most significant challenges facing independent insurance in the next ten years is how to keep up with the progress of digital insurance technology while maintaining a personal connection with customers.

Studies show customers want agencies to use more tech and increase service personalization. A recent PWC survey found 41% of insurance customers said they’d switch to a new provider if that provider were more digitized than their current one. And the recent COVID-19 pandemic shutdown exposed more people to digital service speed, causing a lasting shift in expectations.

How can your agency harness digital insurance tech’s speed and efficiency without losing your signature personal touch?

Read more about digital insurance technology trends for 2021 and beyond

Where to Start with Digital Insurance Tools

There are a few essential tools to add to your digital insurance toolbox right away. Each hit at the heart of efficiency for you and your customers and, if used correctly, can strengthen your relationship with your customer base.

1. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Software: By name, a CRM is built to improve customer relationships. In insurance, the agency management system works with the insurance CRM. While you leverage your management system to build current relationships, the insurance CRM holds data on your interactions with prospects before they become customers. That’s why it’s so critical that your management system and CRM work together (or better yet, are integrated together) to provide insight to each prospect and customer, helping you see the big picture of customer preferences. With this knowledge, you can improve your overall outreach approach and apply a more personalized touch to individual prospects, customers and customer segments.

Learn more about how to leverage a CRM in your agency with our “CRM for Insurance Agents”

2. Marketing automation: With marketing automation, you can better understand your customer’s communication preferences. Some individuals or groups may prefer a text over an email, while others may want a phone call. Once you know how your customers like to keep in touch, you can automate some communication with customizable messaging to keep engaged in-between personal outreach.

3. Text messaging: Recent studies show text message open rates go as high as 98% – meaning you can almost guarantee your texts will be read by customers. And, texting is becoming more popular among consumers, especially Millennials and Gen Z.

Beyond improving outreach, texting is quite valuable when it comes to gaining time-sensitive information like accident photos or appointment reminders, too.

4. Client Portals: Client portals are essential customer service tools. More than 60% of customers say they prefer to monitor their insurance claims status with digital tools. Client portals provide more transparency to customers and give them 24/7 access to information like their current coverage, payment dates, and printable ID cards. This wealth of self-service information increases trust and makes it easy for customers to connect with what they need.

See why a self-service client portal is a must-have for your independent agency

How to Set Your Agency up for Digital with Partner Platform

With these digital service tools, you can improve service to create life-long customers, decrease acquisition costs, and increase referrals for a net gain across your business. Yet, nine out of ten insurance agencies say their “legacy software and infrastructure” creates a barrier to digitization. To get the most out of this amazing communication technology, you need to start with a foundation that makes digital possible.

For more than a decade, the team at Partner Platform has worked to create a system and infrastructure that is robust, intuitive, and designed to grow. Our innovative system starts with our agency-friendly management system. It builds from there with a host of digital engagement tools like integrated texting, Client Portal, CRM and marketing automation, and VoIP integration, among other tools.

With all these resources, we understand that there is no “one size fits all,” so get in touch to see what fits for you and your customers. Contact us at [email protected] or 800.747.7005, Option 6, to view a demo and learn more.

The Key to Stepping into Insurance Sales Software

Marketing, Sales, Technology Trends

Identifying the right insurance sales software and systems requires understanding the balance of quality and quantity for valuable insurance leads.  The concept of “living on renewals” is great – until it’s not.  Intentional, proactive, professional insurance sales demand the right mindset, strategy, and systems to make the desired impact in an independent insurance agency.

Rethinking your insurance sales software and systems doesn’t have to be a major project. Start with knowing what you want, bringing that into your sales mindset, and finally acclimating to new tech. It only takes a step at a time.

Know What You Want: Quality or Quantity for Insurance Leads

Most agencies desire quality over quantity. Quality insurance leads resemble your best clients and provide your agency with the greatest opportunity to deliver your unique expertise and the right coverage at the right price. Your number of insurance leads depends upon available resources to respond quickly and professionally, engaging with leads the moment they show interest.

A quick response will improve your close ratio and the likelihood a prospect becoming a long-term client. Regardless of the quality or quantity debate, the meaningful question is how to capture, organize, and communicate with the individuals or businesses seeking a policy.

Get the stats on customer retention and how it can benefit your agency

Update Your Sales Mindset

The most significant shift you need to make as an agency is to focus on the importance of new business acquisition via better communication.  This is a long-term goal that can be executed on in the short term. Perhaps you’re already there as an owner or agent, but you need to motivate your agents to do the same. Long-term, you’ll need a shift in processes and infrastructure, but in the short term, you need to shift where agents spend their time: communicating with prospects and customers.

Part of long-term thinking is a shift to focus on customer retention and growth rather than exclusively net new business. On-boarding a new customer requires multiple times more resources than growing a current customer through cross-selling, up-selling, or gaining referrals. Communicate the value of service and customer growth to your team to help you stay competitive in the long-run.

Gain insights on how to build up your agency referrals on our blog

Update Your Sales Software

The prospect of adding new software can be the biggest hurdle for an agency. Implementing insurance sales software is an intentional effort to support your growth goals and develop systems to purposefully build new relationships and win new business.

Through the simple implementation of an integrated CRM, your agency can implement more effective and dependable client and prospect communications. Coupled with integrated marketing automation, you’re able to respond faster to inquiries and stay connected consistently.

See more on the software essentials for your agency here

Understand Your Options

Change is difficult for any business, and your agency is no exception. As you move to rethink your sales mindset and systems, there are many paths you can take to get to your goal.

When you’re ready, let the experts at Partner Platform guide you to discover the best insurance sales software options for your agency. Our hands-on team will meet with you to discuss the outcomes you want and provide you with the insurance sales resources and support you need to make those outcomes a reality.

Discover how the Partner Platform team can equip your agency: get in touch to schedule a demo today.