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.
Everyone loves to get two for the price of one. It’s the beauty of doubling your money and getting more done in half the time: a win-win for all. The digitization of insurance has made that “two for one” thrill possible with insurance marketing tools that double as customer service tools, too. And it all begins with data.
The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated digitation across industries, and insurance was no exception. Part of the acceleration included a rise in direct-to-consumer (DTC) purchases. More people started buying goods and services online, cutting out in-person or phone interactions. That rise in DTC increased access to customer data.
That data is the main component to your double-dipping in marketing and customer service tools. The more data you can gain through marketing, the better you can serve customers and prospects.
How to Harness Data
Your customers want their interactions to be more efficient,
yet they still want the personalization they expect from an independent agency.
You want the same: faster processing with a personal touch. With proper data management, you can get both. It takes three steps:
Seems simple enough, right? It can be if you have the right tools at your disposal.
The Insurance Marketing Tools You Need
Start with a robust insurance website. Your website is your digital storefront and the landing spot for every customer you serve and prospect you want to serve. Make your website count by connecting it with your agency management system to track visitors and their interactions. And, make sure it’s optimized for mobile: 63% of Google’s daily search traffic takes place on a mobile device.
On your agency website, you need a Client Portal. With a Client Portal, you can connect your customers directly to their policy information, including the ability to download and print insurance cards, view claims status, make payments, and do other essential services on their own. The more self-service you provide, the less time you spend on small tasks, freeing more time to focus on complex customer issues. And, you gain data on what your customers are looking for and what they value.
Similar to the Client Portal, you should also have an agency mobile app so your customers can access information on their mobile devices. A mobile app provides the same self-service options as your Client Portal but makes it easier to access on the go. A mobile app is essential for quality claims processing as it allows customers to take photos of accidents or damages the moment they happen.
Marketing automation is another critical insurance marketing and customer service tool. With marketing automation, you gain data on every customer and prospect’s digital interaction. Whether it’s filling out a web form, clicking an email link, or interacting with a social media post, data from that interaction is stored in marketing automation. You can then analyze that data to discover which communication methods and what pieces of content individuals and groups prefer. From there, you can create customer and prospect segments and send out the information they need via the modes they choose – all in one system.
Your final essential insurance marketing and service tool is an insurance CRM. A CRM is the center of data storage and analysis. Within your insurance CRM, you can see each prospect and customer’s digital interactions, along with their in-person and phone interactions, detailing their entire relationships with your agency. With this wealth of data, you can create customer and prospect segments and identify gaps in coverage, referral and cross-sell opportunities, and other valuable information to boost interactions and improve services.
Find Everything You Need in One Management System
If you think getting two for one in a single marketing and service tool is exciting, how about getting all of these valuable tools in one agency management system?
That’s what you can find in the Partner Platform agency management system and insurance CRM. Our cloud-based system combines all the practical management system elements with data-driven digital tools for a personalized digital experience.
Find out more about the advanced agency technology you can leverage to improve service and retain and grow customers. Get in touch at [email protected] or 800.747.7005, Option 6 today.
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?
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.
As a particularly vulnerable industry, insurance agencies
must be mindful. The volume of files processed daily and the sensitive
information contained in each mean insurance agencies are increasingly at risk.
Yet, KPMG
found that only 43% of insurance executives said their organization was
protected.
Cloud-based systems – most notably agency
management systems – are the fastest, most accessible tools. Yet, cloud-based
systems are also increasingly vulnerable to cyber threats. Keep your agency
safe with up-to-date hardware and secure cloud hosting. Consider using a VPN to
keep information protected at all times, especially
when accessing data outside the office.
2. Train and re-train your staff
Humans are by far the weakest link in cyber-safety.
Shockingly, anti-virus developer McAfee
found that only 30% of employees receive cybersecurity training. Without
training, your staff can create multiple cyberattack vulnerabilities each day. Train
employees on elements like identifying and reporting suspicious emails and test
them regularly with fake attack attempts. As tech advances rapidly, so too do
cyberattacks. Continually train your staff to stay up-to-date on the latest
threats.
3. Use anti-virus software
While your staff may be well-trained to spot cyber attacks
once they reach them, they cannot see what is going on behind the scenes. Anti-virus
software can identify threats before they make it to your inbox or server,
offering a sophisticated level of protection. As you keep your staff training
updated, do the same with your anti-virus software. Be sure to download updates
to add new protections against emerging threats.
4. Use more and complex passwords
Your
agency processes sensitive information daily. Each time you access personal
data, you should enter a password. The more often you require passwords to view
information, the better it’s protected. Establish guidelines for these
passwords, requiring them to be as complex as possible and less vulnerable to
hacks. Enhance protection by requiring passwords change frequently and remind
employees not to share their passwords with anyone, including their coworkers.
5. Employ back-ups
Whether it’s a cyberattack or a power outage, you
need back-ups of all your agency data. If you find yourself unable to access
your primary server, you want a secure back-up to rely on to keep your business
moving.
6. Vet your vendors
You and your agency can do everything to combat
cyberattacks, but if you partner with a company that’s vulnerable to attacks,
you are, too. Work
only with vendors that take cybersecurity seriously and understand how to
keep their – and your – information safe. Ask questions about their
cyber protections, back-ups, and disaster recovery plans. You want a partner
that cares about your data just as much as you.
At Partner Platform, we value security to keep our
agencies protected. And, we know enough to recognize we’re not the experts in
everything: that’s why we partner with highly-vetted
Partner Allies to keep us at the expert level.
On
our secure, cloud-based infrastructure, we employ redundant back-ups and
multi-character password protection on our host servers. We understand that cybersecurity
measures change frequently, so we regularly train and test our employees on
cybersecurity measures. We value providing a high-quality agency management
system experience that’s also well-protected.
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.
Stats on the Move to Digital
Almost 70% of consumers searched for
insurance online before making a purchase
When they started searching, 68% of insurance
consumers didn’t have a specific company in mind
Close to 75% of customers who attempted
to make an online insurance purchase encountered problems
Approximately 67% of Millennials say they
want digital shopping experiences
More than 70% of consumers aged 55 and over say
they want online chats or video to replace in-office claims processing
Stats on the Desire for Personalization
66% of consumers said they would share
“significant data” to obtain personalized services (up 54% from two years
ago)
Close to 50% of insurance customers said
they’d trust a human advisor over an automated chatbot or web system when
making a claim
88% of insurance customers demanded
additional personalization, such as personalized call experiences
After running an online search, 78% of
consumers call a business to make a purchase
Look into how to integrate your systems, like
your email and phone, among others, into your agency management system.
Improve information flow with digital
document storage and a CRM
system to hold customer and prospect information. And improve your website
with a simple, branded, easy-to-navigate site and an integrated client portal
to streamline customer service access.
Each of these innovations can upgrade your
internal processes, increasing your customer response times and bringing
high-quality service to prospects and customers quickly and efficiently.
See how you can find all these tools in one
intuitive management system: get in touch with us at
800-747-7005, option 6, or at [email protected].
Texting has quickly become one of the most popular and efficient pieces of insurance tech. Almost 90% of consumers say they’d like to be able to text businesses. It improves communication by making it easier to get in touch and get a response from customers and prospects, streamlining outreach with automation and integration into agency systems. Studies show that 98% of text messages are read, compared to 20-30% of emails and phone calls.
Texting is one of the tools all your team members can use, from producers to CSRs, as it speeds up communications and helps your agency move.
Social media marketing is nothing new in the larger marketing industry but may be novel for independent insurance agencies. This tool is something all agencies should include in their insurance agency marketing strategy for several reasons. Social media can help your agency show off your expertise, build trust with customers and prospects, and help you better engage your customer base. For independent agencies, social media is an excellent tool to amplify their valuable local and personal connections with their communities.
Whether your agency is on social media or not, you’re being discussed in the social media space. Join in that conversation! Get your agency started by following a few simple dos and don’ts in the social media sphere.
The insurance industry isn’t known for embracing change quickly: maintaining the status quo can seem easier than adapting new insurance tech. Despite this, insurance agencies tend to face a greater cybersecurity threat than other small to medium-sized businesses due to the sensitive and valuable data they collect from numerous avenues.
With cyberattacks on the rise, and the COVID-19 pandemic forcing many agencies to leave the traditional way of doing things behind, the need for insurers to maintain cyber regulation and compliance has never been greater.
With this in mind, here are four ways insurance agencies can secure their insurance tech to protect their business, employees, and clients.
