How Insurers Can Use Marketing Automation to Retain Existing Policyholders
The insurance industry is a highly competitive place now as policyholders are demanding higher levels of service, better communications, and competitive pricing. At the same time, insurance companies face challenges of identifying their ideal customer profiles, underwriting to a profit, and avoiding churn.
Also, disrupting new players who are trying to entice existing policyholders with unrealistic promises. Hence, to acquire new and retain existing customers, insurance agencies have to work harder than ever before.
Many agencies are discovering innovative ways to reach customers and learning to leverage technology to make a huge difference.
As agencies are exploring new tools and techniques to delight their customers, these are the three common challenges they need to address:
1. Customer churn
Customer churn is one of the most significant challenges insurance agencies face. Customers nowadays are highly empowered and very capable of switching carriers. People do this not only because of some aggressive insurance processes but also for a new and better experience. Many times, customers cancel their contracts with brands because they feel their time is being wasted. Some are tired of repeated information thrown at them again and again, and others are tired of waiting for their issues to be solved.
The issues are built up over time in the majority of these cases. Most customers leave because of an ongoing negative experience. Hence, each time you don’t quickly address an issue or your organization fails to answer a question accurately, those customers take their business elsewhere. Generally, it’s too late to change their minds if they have already decided to leave. More than half of insurance companies are unsuccessful in trying to win back customers after canceled contracts by offering them an apology or a discount.
2: Utilizing data judiciously
Insurance companies are overloaded with customer data. In today’s highly competitive environment, it is a constant struggle to extract helpful information for retaining customers. Insurance agencies that can do this have the upper hand. Here having the right kind of technology is significant. First, you need to have the correct tools for capturing the right information. Then, you can start tracking essential metrics to help agents determine where, when, and how to improve the customer experience once you have solid data for help.
3: Making a competitive insurance quote process
While outstanding customer data and service are essential, it’s equally important to focus on fine-tuning the system for quoting policies.
Whether you want to introduce existing policyholders to additional options or work to win over new customers, the process should be seamless and smooth. You need to have an insurance quote process that’s painless and quick to compete in the current landscape.
Many brands are choosing to automate quote generation for these reasons. Typically, this means setting up a document generation tool and an online form builder. When a customer or prospect fills out an online form, the data is instantly sent to the document generator. The information is used to personalize and populate the template, which automatically creates a new custom quote within minutes.
It may sound simple, but that kind of speed goes a long way to gaining and retaining loyal clients. There are three ways to address technology; automate workflows, simplify data capture, and fine-tune the quote process. This all has a significant impact on the bottom line.
Here are some proven marketing strategies for retaining insurance policyholders
You need to do everything you can to anticipate each policyholder’s unique needs and exceed your retention goals. You should provide them with the facts they need to find the perfect fit for themselves and their families. Here are three proven marketing strategies for retaining insurance policyholders.
Automating personalized renewal campaigns
This lack of personalization and perceived indifference can be a significant turnoff to insurance consumers. However, you can also automate personalized renewal campaigns which speak to policyholders with marketing automation.
The first step is to segment your customers into particular buckets that match their current policy types. You can transfer these contacts into your renewal campaigns from any welcome programs you’ve built. From there, you can further segment based on their age, health status, income, and known life events.
Create a series of emails that triggers within 90, 30, 15, and 3 days of their policy renewal date once you’ve placed each contact into their respective segment(s). However, it would be best if you educate them about their current policy. Make them understand the benefits of their plan; You can set these programs to repeat annually. It will save time, money, and energy while maintaining revenue and improving renewal rates.
Sending monthly educational newsletter segmented by policy type(s)
Most policyholders don’t give much thought to this until it’s time to renew. The primary reason for this is that most of us don’t realize how vital our insurance plans are and how we can get more out of the policies if we are a little more informed. So, when it’s time to renew, try engaging your policyholders throughout the year with relevant messages and content in the form of a monthly newsletter.
Most insurers think newsletters involve a lot of work, but if you are looking to diversify the content within your newsletter based on your recipients’ policy types. You can simply segment your audiences based on demographics and policy type and then populate your email templates with each policyholder’s most relevant content. These communications fortify existing relationships and keep you on top of your game with your customers all the time.
Understanding and supporting your policyholders’ evolving life events
Things happen in life for better or for worse. However, it doesn’t matter what life throws at us; we can change it positively. Sometimes this change is predictable; other times, it is a complete surprise. As an insurance agent, your job acts as the steadying hand during both the worst and the best moments in life. Therefore, when you understand how your policyholders’ lives are changing, it also permits you to give personalized digital experiences to secure their future and meet those challenges.
Data can give you an exact glimpse into your existing customers’ lives. Here, marketing automation helps you in gathering this data and then making it actionable. You as a marketer should know policy dates, income, and family size, anything that will help you understand the right time for the launch of your renewal campaigns. Your new customers are important but getting a clearer picture of your existing customers gives you the insight you need to know for selling additional policies or supplementing existing ones.
When you know what your policyholders need, you can use marketing automation to deliver multi-channel marketing communications that focus on those needs. Consider adding forms to your emails if you want to collect the information to give them the care they deserve. You can also place a tracking beacon on your website to envision which web pages your customers are regularly visiting. You can also make pay-per-click landing pages that present helpful content in exchange for additional information. Before launching campaigns to maximize your opportunities, you should develop tactics to collect as much data as possible,
Establishing trust through localized community involvement
Insurance is all about institutionalizing trust. By making a positive impact within your community, you are doing a great job. You can also establish health and wellness programs with local hospitals or sponsor a local blood drive, or work with children’s organizations. You can organize fundraising events for good causes like accumulating food and clothing for families living below the poverty line or helping with children’s literacy by teaching them for free or any community initiatives. Don’t just participate in these activities. Use marketing automation to promote your involvement across your digital channels.
It is best to dedicate some portion of your monthly newsletter to upcoming and previous community causes or events. You can also make a page on your website that is dedicated to community service. It must encourage visitors to promise a fundraiser and maybe join you at an upcoming event if possible. You must place a tracking beacon on the page to understand which policyholders view your community involvement content and then send those personalized communications highlighting your activities and inviting them to participate in them as well. Sharing your experiences and setting a good example like this will humanize your organization and generate brand goodwill. This is the kind of trust most people are looking for in the brands they do business with.
It is essential to understand customer behaviors, needs, and preferences, to meet these challenges effectively. Insurance companies can proactively manage customer relationships to make them more profitable and longer-lasting by applying customer analytics to the vast amount of customer data.
Do you want to use professional assistance for implementing and managing marketing automation for your insurance business? All you need is to write us your requirement via our Contact us page, email us at info@marrinadecisions.com, or get in touch with us on Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn.