How to win business with easy tech upgrades

If your company doesn’t yet offer an app, you are leaving money on the table.

Today, customer engagement is all about communication, which insurance professionals can leverage in powerful ways using technology. (Shutterstock)

Ease of communication is one of the hallmarks of today’s insurance distribution ecosystem.

Simply by communicating the way your prospects and customers like to communicate, you can attract, win and retain more business.

Here’s look at some quick technology wins that should be non-negotiable in today’s marketplace.

Mobile apps

Apps are one digital capability that companies and agencies can employ to enable customers to follow them more closely. A Deloitte study notes that nearly 70% of consumers would be willing to download and use an app from their insurance provider.

Liberty Mutual’s app, which the company brands as “an insurance concierge right in your pocket,” enables policyholders to manage their accounts, file and manage claims, and show proof of insurance as needed on their phones. Every customer of every company should have at least these capabilities at their fingertips.

Allstate’s Digital Locker mobile app enables customers to create and store an inventory of the valuables in their homes — complete with photos, notes and costs — on their smartphones. State Farm’s Steer Clear app is designed to reinforce good driving habits among under-25 drivers; those who complete the app’s program can be eligible for policy discounts.

Another company that offers a useful app is Country Financial. This mobile app walks policyholders through the process they need to follow if they get into an auto accident. It outlines the steps the driver needs to take to collect information at the accident site and start the claims process. The app also makes it easy to call emergency responders, find the nearest towing service or call for roadside assistance. In addition, the mobile app can help clients pay their bill or contact their broker. It provides a central, easy-to-access place where clients can store all their important information.

If your company doesn’t yet offer an app, you are leaving consideration and money on the table. If you can’t build an app internally at a carrier or company level, work with a third-party vendor to create an out-of-the-box experience that will have an impact on your business and far surpass the cost of building or deploying it. Build it now.

Two-way conversations

Do you offer a live chat on your website/? Using this feature, your team can communicate with customers in real time, one-on-one. It can defuse frustration quickly for prospects or customers who are having trouble finding what they need.

Video

Videos are another feature that many consumers use when making purchasing decisions. Seven in 10 B2B buyers watch a video sometime during their buying process. If you sell business insurance, send potential customers a customized video, or post one on your website and social media pages.

Communicating via holograms is the next step in video — live video streaming in your own living room. This is all going to happen, but we must establish the basic platform before we can move to the future.

Omni-channel marketing

Success in a customer-controlled marketplace hinges on how well you reach customers where they are. That’s why omni-channel engagement is becoming the norm.

Now, people often use the terms “multi-channel” and “omni-channel” interchangeably, but they aren’t the same. Multi-channel marketing means each channel used in marketing campaigns has its own reporting structure and revenue goals. These channels may include physical locations, phone campaigns, online marketing and mobile marketing. Omni-channel marketing puts the customer at the center and focuses on how all the channels work together to enable a conversion. It’s about eliminating marketing siloes and focusing on the full consumer experience.

Here’s an example of how omni-channel marketing works:

  1. A prospective customer visits your website and reads about a product.
  2. Later that day, while visiting Facebook, she sees a re-targeted ad about that product and a promotional offer.
  3. She clicks the ad and is taken to a landing page.
  4. She enters her email address into the contact form on the landing page.
  5. Soon she receives a white paper via email that details key features of the product she was reading about.
  6. She clicks on a call to action for a product that’s an upgraded version of the product she was interested in.
  7. She visits a landing page for the new product and receives a new promotional offer.
  8. Instead of buying through the website, she decides to visit your practice.
  9. When she arrives, your team is able to see every interaction she has had with your company so far and then continue the process in person.
  10. Once she competes her purchase, the second promo offer she received is automatically applied.
  11. All future marketing will focus on continuing the relationship with the customer, personalize according to her journey.

When you use an omni-channel sales approach, you provide customers with an integrated shopping experience that’s consistent whether they’re using a mobile device, a desktop computer or visiting your office. Every touch-point is captured electronically so your team knows what steps each customer has taken to get to you.

It’s important to streamline all your communications so prospects and customers receive the same type of interaction, experience and message across different channels and devices as they interact with you.

Train everyone on your team to deliver the same message the same way, all the time. One way to do this is by scripting every potential conversation your team might have with prospects and clients and then practice those scripts until everyone can deliver them in a conversational, natural manner.

The takeaway

Today, customer engagement is all about communication, which you can leverage in powerful ways using technology. Some of these concepts will require a bit of time and effort, but most of them are easy for you to implement now, with minimal investment. All of them are valuable investments in the future of your practice.

Troy Korsgaden is president of Korsgaden International in Visalia, Calif. He is an international insurance carrier consultant, industry main-platform speaker, executive team coach and the author of six books. He consults most major companies in the insurance and financial services industry in some capacity, working with large carriers, both in property & casualty and financial services.

These opinions are the author’s own.

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