Digital insurance matters. According to McKinsey & Company, agencies that “digitally transform stand to gain satisfied customers, lower operating costs, and achieve higher growth.” Going digital doesn’t mean moving all your operations to A.I. and forgoing a physical location; it simply means moving towards meeting customer needs, improving processes, and protecting your business.
What are the first steps to harnessing the digital insurance landscape? Below are the tools and training your agency needs to get started.
Learn more about customer demand for digital agencies on our blog
Your Top Digital Agency Tools
- Your agency website. J.D. Power found 74% of insurance shoppers used agency websites or aggregators to research and obtain quotes before purchasing insurance. You need to have a website that’s easy to find and navigate to stay in the game.
- Social media. You don’t have to post daily on all possible platforms, but you do need a presence. Social media gives you a way to connect with customers and prospects to hear what they need and give feedback on their concerns. And it boosts your visibility.
- Customer self-service options. This includes a Client Portal and mobile access. Self-service options increase customer satisfaction and reduce time and energy spent on assisting customers who can help themselves. Agency Nation found one agency that added a client portal, “…increased client retention to 93% and saved $70,000 in COI labor, printing and postage expenses per year.”
- CRM and marketing automation. Both tools are designed to streamline your agency’s operations and improve your ability to identify and convert leads and understand your customer’s needs.
- Paperless options. Digital lines download and digital document signing, sending, and storage not only get business done faster (downloads alone can save up to 60 minutes per employee per day), it can save hundreds annually in printing and postage as well.
Get more details on how to leverage digital tools to improve agency lead generation and conversion
Top Team Training for Digital Agencies
- Agency management system training. Your management system is your agency’s central processing tool and you and all your staff need to know how to use it in the most efficient, digitally-compatible way. Modern systems offer client portal, CRM, and marketing automation integration. You need to understand how each capability can best serve your customers and your agency.
- Website training. Your agency website is not a “one and done” situation – it should be dynamic. You need someone in-house who understands how to update information on your site to stay accurate and relevant.
- Social media training. This one may come as a surprise. Although social media is relatively easy to implement and understand, you should talk with your team about how their personal social media use reflects on your agency. Especially for independent, community-focused local agencies, when your team says something outside the office they could be construed as speaking for your agency. Be clear on what is appropriate.
- Cybersecurity training. With all the benefits of digital tools comes the threat of cyber-attacks. In an interview with Insurance Business Magazine, Ron Berg, executive director of Agents Council for Technology (ACT), part of the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America (IIABA), said insurance is the fourth most attacked economic sector. Educate your staff on what risks exist, how to spot and avoid attacks, and what to do should your agency experience a cyber-attack.
Get our full guide to Cybersecurity for the Digital Insurance Agency here
Get the Right Tools and Training in One Place
We work with our agency clients and industry experts, like our partners at Agents Council for Technology (ACT) and IVANS, every day to identify the most powerful digital insurance tools. Thanks to these collaborative efforts, we’re confident our Partner Platform agency management system suite offers the best and most effective capabilities to help agencies better serve their customers and grow their business.
And we don’t stop at the “what” of digital tools but go the extra mile with the “how.” With targeted agency trainings and always-accessible online videos and guides, our Partner Platform agencies stay informed and equipped. We also offer regular webinar trainings, focusing on topics like cybersecurity and customer self-service tools.
Get to know more about the Partner Platform system, including our service and training, at sispartnerplatform.com.
Sarah Deak has been contributing to the SIS team since 2013, covering topics like agency perpetuation, workflow improvements, data security, and marketing. She has a background in small business, working with organizations to improve their online presence and client engagement. Sarah also writes for the SIS newsletters and website, and counts herself lucky to hear from our many passionate, hard-working clients for our client stories. Her favorite part about working for SIS are the dedicated, service-minded people.