4 Things We Loved About InsurPATH 2018

by Industry News & Company Updates

It’s hard to believe that less than a week ago ePayPolicy was jet-setting in California and rubbing elbows with some of the coolest cats in the insurance industry. Now that we’re back on our home turf in Austin, Texas, check out the top 4 things our team loved most about the InsurPATH 2018 conference!

#1. Cali.
As if we weren’t already excited about attending InsurPATH this year, the powers that be decided the conference would be held in sunny Fresno, California, which was just fine by us.

Cali was great for tons of reasons (other than the sun, of course). For starters, we were able to really take a deep dive into learning about the landscape of the insurance industry in The Golden State. We were privy to some pretty awesome and educational talks, like the California New Laws Briefing, as well as best practices for hiring in Cali.


“There’s so much opportunity in California,” said Todd Sorrel (ePayPolicy Co-Founder & Underwater Basket-Weaving World Champ).

With conversations underway with Big I Sacramento, San Diego, and Los Angeles, there’s no telling what the future holds for ePayPolicy.

“What we can achieve there — I mean, the sky’s the limit.”

#2. The familiar faces
Conferences can get a little overwhelming, so it’s always nice to see some friendly faces in the crowd. Some of our clients were also InsurPATH attendees, and we were pretty jazzed to catch up with them and make sure our product and services are exceeding all of their wildest dreams (spoiler alert: they are!).

Of course, we are also partnered with IIABCal (a.k.a the very kind hosts of InsurPATH 2018) who endorse us as their payment processor of choice. In fact, here they are telling a sold out InsurPATH crowd this very thing:

 

Thank you for your continued support and partnership, IIABCal!

#3. The UN-familiar faces
Catching up with friends and customers is great, but what would a conference be without making some new friends and potential customers?

“I think the benefit of that face-to-face interaction is really valuable,” said Ruben Arce (resident rockstar / ePayPolicy Sales Rep. extraordinaire). “You’re no longer just a phone number or email address. It really helps to build a relationship with people.”

At the end of the day, it’s about quality. ePayPolicy is committed to engaging with and building our community, and InsurPATH was an intimate event that really facilitated quality conversations.

#4. Texas Hold’em
I know, I know. This one is a given.

As the sun set on Day 1 of 3, IIABCal hosted a Sponsors Kickoff Party & Texas Hold’em Tournament, which was, of course, AWESOME! Our team was able to loosen up a bit after a long day of traveling to the West Coast, and they got to do so with other like-minded, insurance professionals! Attendees were able to grab a cocktail and have fun all while continuing to network in a unique way. Not a bad way to close the books on Day 1.

Bonus! #5: Being the only payment processor at the show
Whoop, whoop!

If you missed us at InsurPATH 2018, no sweat!
Schedule a demo today to learn about how ePayPolicy helps you speed up receivables, bind policies faster, and crush your business goals (and competition)!

 
Flying into The Golden State. View from the top! (Can you spot the Apple HQ?)

Who wouldn’t want to meet this guy?!

Swag & Poker Chips. Would you bet on ePayPolicy?

Texas Hold’em. Deep in thought.

Bonding over breakfast

U.S. Risk Insurance Group, Inc. is a specialty lines underwriting manager, wholesale broker, and awesome ePayPolicy customer. Great to see y’all! Until next year.

ePayPolicy is NetVU’s newest Silver Corporate Partner

by Industry News & Company Updates

Netvu Silver Partner

We’re excited to finally announce that not only is our product is offered as a Technology Solution Provider, ePayPolicy is also NetVU’s newest Silver Corporate Partner.

About NetVU:
NetVU is an independent, national member organization committed to providing industry advocacy, world-class education and networking to the more than 30,000 insurance agencies, carriers, MGAs and compliance organizations, and over 500,000 users of Vertafore solutions.

About Us:
ePayPolicy provides a simple and efficient way to collect
online insurance payments. We help clients speed up receivables, bind business faster, and create a positive payment experience for their customers.

We enable organizations to accept both credit card and ACH payments, effectively eliminating the need for paper checks and improving an agency’s bottom line.

Product Benefits:
– Pass on transaction fees
– Integrates to with many management systems, including Vertafore’s Sagitta, AIM and FinancePro
– Endorsed by over 10 independent insurance associations
– Convenient and user friendly
– & more!
About the Partnership:
Thanks to our new partnership, ePayPolicy is now part of the NetVU Community (NCOM) – a gathering place for other members to share the latest automation information, as well as trends and tips on how to make their businesses more successful.
We’re jazzed to be part of a community with other like-minded, tech-focused insurance professionals. From agencies, to carriers, to compliance officers, the group of individuals and organizations that make up NCOM are diverse and talented, and our team is proud to call ourselves a Technology Solution Provider of NetVU.

To learn more about ePayPolicy:
https://epaypolicy.com/
To learn more about NetVU:
https://www.netvu.org/web/

Introducing: Recurring Online Payments

by Industry News & Company Updates

Recurring Payments

So, what’s the deal with recurring payments?

Well, you guys asked, and ePayPolicy delivered. It’s that simple. (You can just call us your fairy Godmother.) We have an awesome video that details the ins and outs of the feature, but if you haven’t seen it yet, not to worry. We’ll break it down and get you up to speed now.

The Gist:
If you’re a Custom Payment page subscriber, you can now offer customers the option to set up recurring payments. Bonus: Customers can also set frequency and track all payments from a single view.

The Deets:
We embedded the feature where your customers are already making their payments, so they don’t need to navigate or sign up anywhere new.
It’s easy. All customers have to do is:
1.  Sign in (or sign up) to your company’s payment page
2.  Navigate to “Make a Payment”
3.  Fill out the info fields accordingly, selecting “Yes” when they reach the “Recurring Payments” field

4.  Choose a start date, end date, and how frequent they’ll make payments.

After customers are done with set-up, they can head to “Recurring Payments” from the navigation bar to track all payments from one page.

And you? You can sit back in your chair and track all of your clients’ payments by navigating to the “Recurring” menu in your dashboard.

The Perks:
Other than being totally awesome, the recurring payments feature has some pretty great perks that are beneficial to both you and your customers.

Improve Customer Relationships
Recurring payments typically lead to fewer late and missing bills. Which hopefully means fewer awkward late-payment conversations with your customers.

Simplify Life
Just as customers have the ability to track all their payments in one area, you too, can monitor all of your clients’ payments by clicking over to the “Recurring” menu in your dashboard.

Go Green
Making regular payments electronically helps to reduce your customers and your organization’s carbon footprint. Have a client who still can’t seem to ditch paper checks? You can spin recurring payments as a choice that not only benefits you, but also the environment.

The Big Picture:
ePayPolicy listens when our customers talk. When we got word that customers like you wanted this feature, we hustled hard to deliver. The bottom line for us – Continue to make insurance payments as easy and friction-less as possible.

To view a quick tutorial on recurring payments, navigating your dashboard, and more, check out our demo page, or set up a training with our team.

For the customer married to their smartphone—our app is their better half

by Digital Payment Processing

Your customer is married to their smartphone—our app is their better half
What’s the biggest disruptor affecting the insurance industry? Your customers. As their expectations and demands change at the speed of technology—it’s your job to keep up.

According to TechCrunch, at the end of 2016, 4.8Billion individuals were using their mobile devices. By 2020 90% of smartphone users will have made a mobile payment. It’s estimated that by the end of 2017, there will be $60Billion in mobile payment sales. If so many individuals are using their mobile devices to conduct research and make purchases, why should paying for Insurance be any different?

Mobile is now! Offering your customers an option to pay online, gives your Insurance agency that competitive edge that you’ve been missing. It opens a world of opportunities as well when you streamline your agency management, recruiting, and even retention using real-time data from our solution to keep up with your customers’ needs. Knowing information about your customers can help you with the creation of cross-sell, upsell, custom, flexible and sometimes predictable digital experiences across all points of contact.

At ePayPolicy, we take the pain out of collecting Insurance payments online. Whether your clients want to pay with credit card or ACH, we have you covered! Contact us today and we can get you up and running in 24 hours. Interested in integrating ePayPolicy into your management or accounting system? We can help with that too!

A new look for our payment page

by Industry News & Company Updates

A new look for our payment page
One of the greatest benefits of having such loyal customers is the steady stream of feedback and ideas that are freely sent our way. Everything we’ve done at ePayPolicy has the fingerprints of customer feedback. And I mean everything. From the design of our user interface to the way we fund our customers’ bank accounts, you have provided an endless supply of thoughts, ideas, and suggestions.

And when our customers talk, we listen.

For the latest example of this, check out the newest version of our hosted payment page.
After speaking with all of you, we found an opportunity to make the fees associated with credit card and ACH payments more clear. As you can see in the new design, a payer can clearly see those fees side by side while choosing the payment method that suits them best (see the image below).


We’ve also taken design cues from our customers by centering the logo at the top of the page instead of left justifying it. This calls more attention to their branding at the time of payment.
To bring it all together, finer details were modified across the payment page and the mobile experience was upgraded for smoother, sleeker presentation for those on the go.

We aspire to have our customers feel a sense of ownership with ePayPolicy and with that comes the ability to see the impact of your suggestions. So thank you again for continuing to share your thoughts; we value that greatly.

3 reasons to accept electronic payments

by Digital Payment Processing

3 reasons to accept electronic payments
In today’s constantly changing world, the insurance industry must find innovative ways to improve productivity and at the same time, satisfy their customers. What’s the easiest way to boost productivity? Automation.

au•to•ma•tion (n): The technique, method, or system of operating or controlling a process by highly automatic means, as by electronic devices, reducing human intervention to a minimum.– Dictionary.com

And fortunately, we’ve been hard at work at ePayPolicy to automate your receivables. Automated receivables can help your organization in 3 ways:
1. Improve cashflow
Cash is the lifeblood of any business. By accepting electronic payments instead of waiting for checks to arrive in the mail, you are speeding up your receivables and improving your cashflow.

2. Save time by eliminating mundane tasks
Your team is busy and their time is valuable. It takes more time than we all care to admit to deposit each check and manually enter those payments into the management system. This is why we’ve built integrations into your favorite management systems like Vertafore’s AIM and FinancePro products as well as MGA Systems. Contact us today if you would like us to integrate into your management or accounting system.

3. Convenience
When was the last time someone asked you to write a check and drive it across town? Asked another way, if one business asked you to write a check and another accepted an online payment, where would you be more inclined to take your business?

The insurance industry as a whole is making the move to accept online payments. And when your competitors accept online payments, you simply cannot afford to ask for payments via check.

Virtual checks and desire to fight change

by Digital Payment Processing

Virtual checks and desire to fight change

It’s funny how much we all fight change. It’s a normal human tendency. But there’s one instance I run across recently that illustrates that clearer than ever – the use of virtual checks.

Follow me on this one…

As a preferred payment method, paper checks hit their peak in 1995 (22 years ago at the time of this writing). As of 2013, a report by the Federal Reserve listed paper checks as the payment method of choice by only 3% of the American population. Meanwhile, there are several European countries that have completely eliminated paper checks.

I’m sure none of this comes as a surprise. Think about the last time you were asked to write a check. I bet your response was “But, but – can I pay you online?”

It was out of that desire to pay electronically that the virtual check was born. With a virtual check your clients no longer need to write a check; they simply fill out an online form and…ahem…you print the check.

Hold on a second.

If you, your clients, and 97% of America doesn’t want to pay by check, why offer a solution to your clients to “pay online” just so you can print a check to run to the bank? I thought we were trying to get rid of those things.

It’s not all bad. Checks are a cheap option to accept a payment if you only look at the hard costs.
But think about the drawbacks including the fact that someone in your office has to manually handle these payments. Not to mention that you open up your office to security risks by physically handling routing and account numbers.

Is it worth the E&O exposure and manual effort to save a few bucks a year?

There is a better way. There is a way to end the paper check for good. By taking payments online, your clients enter in their banking information in a secure form, ePayPolicy processes the payment, and the funds arrive in your account without one iota of manual intervention. And if that payment bounces, our system will notify you and your client automatically.

It’s like magic.

So come join the revolution and make payments easier for your customer AND your agency. Because we think that your customer shouldn’t be the only one that wins with online payments.

Three Flavors!

by Digital Payment Processing

Three Flavors!

As a kid, a visit to the local ice cream shop was the best! The dilemma was deciding on which ice cream flavor to pick. Do I go with my standby or do I try something different? At the end of the day, there wasn’t a bad choice in the entire shop. All were great choices.

Choices abound for ePayPolicy’s agents, brokers / MGAs, and carriers too. Three different flavors of online, payment processing pages will get the job done. It’s up to you decide which fits your needs the best.

  1.  The basic payment page is clean, simple, and extremely intuitive. Our clients can add and size their own logo at the top left. White-labeled branding is the best. And it should be. You have the close relationship with that payer so that connectivity needs to be front and center.
  2.  The custom payment page offers the chance to dial-in the level of information you want to capture from the payer. You can add an upload feature to the page where the payer can attach an invoice or statement to his or her payment. Other optional fields include but are not limited to a phone number, account id, a custom disclaimer, or even a policyholder number. Here’s one of our client’s payment page as an example.
  3.  The integrated (type ‘123’ inside Account Code field) product blends your management system and payments into a dynamic payment page where individual invoices can be recalled from your locally hosted system and displayed. The integrated system supports full, partial, and credit type payments. Our API (free) offers even more customization by adding those attributes that you want the payer to see. All payments are then ported and recorded back into your management system. Vertafore’s AIM product is a platform we’ve recently integrated.

No matter which flavor you choose, payments are processed quickly and efficiently. All parties receive an e-receipt and the payment is immediately reflected in your online dashboard. Any payment flavor is an excellent choice!

3 Takeaways From NetVU17

by Industry News & Company Updates

3 takeaways from NetVU17

It’s been about 2 weeks since we returned from NetVU17 and my head is still swirling. Since I feel like I’ve finally caught my breath, it’s a good time to share some key takeaways from that trip.

Takeaway #1 – Nashville is booming!

I know, I know. I’m late to this story, but I was amazed at how many cranes are up around the Nashville area. What’s really cool about the construction is that even though there are some beautiful hotels going up like the JW Marriot right across the street from the Westin, Nashville isn’t giving up it’s charm. There are still older buildings like the one owned by The Standard (even if you don’t smoke cigars it’s worth the trip).

Takeaway #2 – NetVU17 is the busiest insurance event I’ve ever been to

During our 4 days in Nashville, I barely had time to sleep. It was constant movement from the time we got to the hotel to the time we checked out. There were breakfast meetings, hurried lunches, and long dinners with prospects and partners. In between the food, the exhibit hall was packed. The agencies and brokers were out in full force soaking up as much as they could between sessions and exhibitors. It was such a cool, high energy event. We are definitely looking forward to to NetVU18!

Takeaway #3 – There will be more Vertafore + ePayPolicy in the future

It’s always good to be at a show and bump into our existing customers. Words cannot describe how great it is to see so many people in the flesh after speaking over the phone for months or even years. And that goes the same for our partnership with Vertafore’s team. While we’ve integrated with Vertafore’s Finance Pro and AIM products, we anticipate more integrations on the way. Sit tight and wait for more great news on the horizon.
We hope to see you at NetVU18 in Atlanta. I’m sure it will be another great event.

Independent Insurance Agents of Wisconsin endorses ePayPolicy

by Industry News & Company Updates

Independent Insurance Agents of Wisconsin endorses ePayPolicy

IIAW knows! When it comes to speeding up receivables and accepting electronic payments in insurance, ePayPolicy is the go-to solution. IIAW now endorses ePayPolicy as the payment processor for all members.

“The IIAW not only endorses ePayPolicy, but we give it the ultimate stamp of approval by utilizing it so our members can pay their insurance premiums electronically. The feedback we have received has been fantastic and its interface is easy to use and efficient.” – Matt Banaszynski, CEO of Independent Insurance Agents of Wisconsin.

We promise no technical expertise, no contract, and you cancel at anytime. IIAW members should use the code “iiawmember” when signing up. Speed up your receivables with ePayPolicy!