As an industry in flux, there is, understandably, a wide spectrum of transformation. Many leaders acknowledge that change is necessary but they aren't sure what the specific goals of those changes should be or where that journey should begin. While there is no one-size-fits-all approach, within the insurance industry, these initiatives typically fall into one of the following categories:

• Customer experience
• Customer retention
• Service innovation/product development
• Customer acquisition
• Reduce costs/process automation

Unless you are fortunate to have almost unlimited resources, trying to attack all of these areas at once is not a wise approach. Each digital initiative requires dedication, resources, time and money. So the question then becomes, where should you start for maximum impact?

Marketing: The most straightforward entry-point

Today's prospects live online. Forrester research states that by 2023, 85% of insurance sales will be digitally influenced, which means that if you are not speaking to your target audience through digital channels (e.g website, email, social media, and online advertising), your products and services, no matter how good they may be, will be invisible. Personal relationships are still key to turn prospects into clients, but to turn an anonymous person searching the Internet for information into a prospect, you need a digital marketing strategy and the technology to activate it.

Second, brokers and agents possess a wealth of information about their clients that can be used for marketing purposes. Yet less than 20% feel they are taking full advantage of the data they possess. By leveraging insights about your current clients' demographics and buying behaviors to personalize your marketing, you are able to better target your next client. Additionally, tying your management solution (AMS/BMS) to a digital marketing platform can foster the sale of new product lines into your client base.

By example, a broker is offering a new line of cyber insurance and knows that a certain segment of her current clients has an online component to their business. She can use her digital platform to run a campaign that provides targeted information to that client segment about the new product and how it would be relevant to the needs of those clients.

Lastly, marketing is a wise choice for starting the digital transformation because its workflows are usually outside of many of the back-office processes that occur within a traditional BMS/AMS — thereby allowing that system to continue to operate without change. Brokers and agents are able to run campaigns, attract prospects, and market to current clients all within a separate system without affecting internal workflows that, for example, enable how policies are created, renewed, and invoiced (although this will likely be a second stage within the digital transformation).

Leveraging the right technology

Once you've decided to implement a digital initiative within your marketing efforts, where specifically should you focus? With over 7,000 digital marketing technologies to choose from, many marketers suffer paralysis by analysis.

Many marketers begin their journey by cobbling together a number of independent and unconnected tools to send emails, post on social media, display online ads and the like. However, without a coordinated hub to manage all of those activities, your data and leads are likely not captured and utilized to their fullest extent possible. Effective digital processes are supposed to move a prospect in an organized manner through an established buyers' journey, so it is not so much about having any technology as it is about having the right technology designed for scalability — specifically, marketing automation.

Why invest in marketing automation?

It is best to think of your marketing automation platform (MAP) as the place where you market to your prospects and clients throughout the duration of their lifecycle with you. Turning a prospect into a client can be extremely difficult, yet even when this has been achieved, your marketing efforts must continue.

The combination of a comprehensive MAP plus a coherent and focused marketing strategy can allow any team (no matter how small) to punch above its weight when it comes to executing their digital marketing strategy and expanding brand reach. Helping prospective clients find you online and then nurturing them through highly-targeted, personalized messaging and content (even after they convert to policyholders) is a primary use case for any quality MAP.

Looking back at the initiatives that spur the pressure for digital transformation mentioned at the beginning of this article, a MAP provides the foundation to accelerate in these categories and focus on specific goals with clear direction and visibility. This is accomplished by the following key functionalities:

Personalized messaging, relevant content

Remember that consumers are research-obsessed and, due to the plethora of online resources, begin their buying journey with a much deeper understanding of their needs and options than ever before. Almost 80% of consumers say that personally relevant content increases their purchase intent for a brand's products and services, according to OneSpot. So it's important for you to gain their trust by offering information that they find applicable and useful.

For example, email remains the most cost-effective means of communication with your prospects and clients. Despite a crowded inbox, they are still the backbone of marketing communications. Create segmented lists for personalized messaging, optimize timing of delivery, share value-packed content, and provide calls-to-action within those emails to dramatically improve your email's opportunity to stand out. Failing to do this and simply blasting your prospects and clients with emails will quickly identify you as someone who is more interested in promoting themselves and just hoping that a recipient takes the bait.

Strengthening client relationships

Because insurance policies are renewable products, you must market to your current policyholders on an ongoing basis to retain their business and ensure they grow with you as you launch new offerings. Failing to stay top of mind with your current clients makes them more susceptible to your competitors.

After all, only 35% of insurance clients say they're satisfied with their current providers, which could lead to an estimated $1.4 trillion in business for the taking globally, according to an EY Insurance Trends Analysis. Like any subscription-based offering, brokers and agents must be disciplined about implementing ongoing touchpoints with their clients.

Analytics and measuring ROI

Once you have deployed your digital assets, you must measure effectiveness so that you can alter and adapt your strategy to ensure you are getting the most out of your digital marketing spend. Unlike offline marketing, online marketing that stems from a MAP can provide insights into who is coming to your website, what they view while on the site, and how particular pieces of content perform versus others. You can also track who is opening and interacting with the content of your emails.

A recent Gartner survey indicated that 64% of brokers do not track the return on investment they are getting from their digital efforts, which indicates that these marketers are pumping a lot of money into online marketing with zero insight as to whether these investments are successful. You don't need to be in the finance department to understand that flying blind like this is a major problem when multiple priorities are competing for a limited set of dollars. Fortunately, with the reporting and analytics capabilities available today, this is a problem that can be solved relatively easily.

Marketing and sales alignment

Finally, implementing a MAP assists not only your marketing team but also the producers within your organization. These solutions essentially establish a persistent handshake between marketing and sales with respect to the information that flows between the teams. The producers receive relevant data in real-time pertaining to a particular lead's interactions with the brand.

For example, if an individual is looking into the benefits of higher liability coverage, the producer who reaches out can easily tailor her questions to determine if they're interested in an umbrella policy. This may spark a discussion about bundling all their insurance needs, and someone who was clicking around to learn more about liability insurance winds up becoming a home, auto, and umbrella policyholder. The sales cycle is accelerated as conversations can be focused based on the research and other interactions taken by the prospect.

Strategy makes or breaks tech initiatives

Once you have decided to begin your digital marketing transformation by implementing a MAP as the foundation, what is the next step? First, unless you have people on-staff with robust experience in implementing and operating an industry-leading MAP, you are likely going to need some strategy and consulting services to ensure you are successful. MAPs, like complicated BMS/AMS solutions, are not products that you simply download and begin using. There are technical requirements for optimal results, decisions about what your goals are, and education on best practices.

So where can you find this much needed assistance? Generally speaking, there are a couple of options for you to choose from. Inquire whether your vendor of choice has in-house expertise you can leverage for strategy, consulting, and training. At Act-On, we have a full suite of pre-and post-sales services solutions that can serve our customers regardless of where they sit on the MAP sophistication spectrum.

A second option is to engage a consulting agency that specializes in digital transformation, particularly one with a focus on the insurance industry. Digital agencies like this, such as Goose Digital, work with brokerages to map out goals, timelines, and dependencies to tailor a comprehensive solution and serve as a trusted advisor.

What's best for your business

It is important to find the marketing technology that is best suited for your business's specific needs and situation. As each brokerage and agency has its own unique objectives, consider these initial questions to recognize how to choose what's right for you:

• Can it integrate with your core platforms, whether that be a BMS/AMS, CRM, accounting system, etc.?
• Does it support your current needs and future needs as your business grows?
• Does it include the features you need to execute on marketing plans?
• Can you operate it with your current in-house resources or is it too complex?
• Does it have templates you can leverage?
• Does the vendor and its partners understand the insurance industry?
• Will it provide the reporting and analytics you need to gain insight into the success of your marketing activities?
• Does it meet your requirements for compliance and security?

Embracing digital transformation

We live in the digital age (whether we like it or not) and digital transformations are essential for continued business growth. Within this embrace, consider your marketing activities as the place where the biggest impact can be felt the quickest. Invest in a MAP that will act as your foundation and system of record for your marketing activities. Regardless of which MAP you choose, remember you don't have to do it alone because a custom, comprehensive strategy is the only way toward success.

Following these steps will put you onto a path to a broader digital transformation that will help attract and convert new leads, renew and cross-sell to current clients, and enable efficiency within your organization to allow each of your team members to focus on the tasks that drive value for you and the individuals you serve.

Based in Portland, Oregon, Bill Pierznik ([email protected]) is COO of Act-On Software. He has more than 15 years of leadership experience in the areas of legal, operations, business development, corporate development, technology partnerships and ecosystem relationships, particularly in fast-growing, software-as-a-service technology companies.

These opinions are the author's own.

See also:

• How insurance agencies can boost customer retention by 95%
• How technology is changing the face of insurance as we know it
• Using emerging technology to enhance today's claims for tomorrow's weather