Article 4 in a 6-part series
Client Experience is one of six primary categories we recommend independent insurance agencies invest in to build out their InsurTech strategy in 2020.
What Is Client Experience?
Client experience is anything that gives your clients ease and comfort when doing business with you.
Why It’s Important to Use These Tools
You’ve worked hard to build an agency your clients trust. But in today’s digital world, more business is conducted virtually for buyer convenience. This presents opportunities for you to “up your game” and delight clients in new, tech-enhanced ways.
The Importance of Client Experience
The agent/client relationship can never be replaced. However, today that relationship extends beyond personal interactions. It encompasses every single touchpoint a prospect or client has with your agency.
InsurTech both guides and reflects this trend. Technology that supports responsive service and puts clients at ease is a good thing. It also gives you greater control of your brand.
Client Experience Automation Tools
Here are some of the major work tasks you can automate, and we’ve included representative solutions vendors as well. These are just examples. Our list is not intended to be exhaustive of all the options out there, nor does ePayPolicy endorse or prefer one vendor over another.*
Payment Gateways
Today’s shoppers expect convenient, cashless payment options. Most payment gateways, PayPal and Apple Pay, for example, are industry agnostic. These services let consumers:
- Make purchases via mobile device or computer
- Be assured of payment security
- Send or receive money instantly
Other portals (e.g., ePayPolicy)* are designed specifically for the insurance industry. They:
- Offer check-free payment convenience while speeding up agency receivables
- Handle the unique fiduciary and compliance requirements of the insurance industry
- Integrate into your Account Management System
Website
People access websites on computers, laptops, tablets, and phones. They use browsers like Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Safari. You:
- Do want to provide a seamless experience on your website across all devices
- Don’t want anyone to have to switch devices to visit your site
Likewise, you want your website to offer fresh, accurate and useful information. Web building platforms like Wix and WordPress:
- Let you be your own web designer (no coding needed)
- Make updating content a breeze
- Give you control over the user experience (UX) of your site
Data Security
Security threats are getting more aggressive. Give everyone peace of mind that all of their PII (Personally Identifiable Information), financial records, passwords, devices and applications are safe and secure.
McAfee, Duo Security, LastPass, and IBM Security are just a few of the powerful data security platforms you can choose to:
- Protect your agency
- Protect your staff
- Protect your clients
Client Onboarding
Once you bring on a new client it’s now time to create a successful onboarding strategy. This can be anything from a dedicated landing page highlighting how to “Get Started” to setting up automated email drips to keep your new clients engaged. Remember at the end of any good onboarding strategy is the request for a review. Although this seems slightly awkward it’s the most beneficial thing a new client can offer your agency. There are services out there like Rocket Referrals that have this down to a science. Those referral platforms help you:
- Simplify and automate client communications (e.g., personalized notes)
- Stand out online (rank higher with search engines, get more reviews)
- Track your performance and act on client insights
Integration Portals (client-facing)
This six-part series covers both agency-facing and client-facing integration portals. These are a few examples related to Client Experience.
Customer support integrations enhance:
- Client communication
- Client engagement
- Client satisfaction
And Sales and Marketing don’t stop when you ink a contract. You have ongoing opportunities to stay connected, keep learning about your clients, and build loyalty (including client referrals).
Thinking Ahead
There are many functions that individually and collectively work to create the client experience. Whether that experience is good or bad is determined by the tech solutions you have in place. The Client Experience tools mentioned above are designed to enhance client satisfaction. Enhancing internal satisfaction is just another InsurTech bonus!
Where Does Your Agency Stand?
Find out! The InsurTech Award presented by ePayPolicy is now open for entries. Top scorers will get cash and other awesome prizes. All entrants receive their InsurTech adoption score, along with valuable feedback. Enter today and find out how your agency stacks up against others (and how you’ve improved over time, if you’ve entered before):
- Sales
2. Marketing
3. Team Collaboration
4. Client Experience
5. Customer Support
6. Agency Management Systems
Our 6-part series covers all of these InsurTech solution categories. We invite you to explore them all.
