A 2022 Guide to Insurance Agency Software

One of the most crucial aspects of running a successful insurance agency is having the right tools to help you manage your insurance business. Yes, manual processes may work, but they're also time-consuming and require a lot of capital and human resources. They're also prone to errors and can cause lags in your business processes. 

Insurance agency software, on the other hand, is usually equipped with multiple capabilities to help you run various aspects of your business. The best part is that you can either implement it on a standalone basis or as a software suite to help you maintain client relationships. Insurance agency software also allows you to monitor the performance of your agents and improve your sales & marketing efforts. 

In this guide, we'll highlight the different types of insurance agency software as well as the best option in each category. 

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Different Types of Insurance Agency Management Software

There are various types of agency management systems, all of which are suited for different elements of your business. For instance, marketing automation and CRM software are great for enhancing agency-client relationships. Additionally, these tools often come with commission processing abilities and automated workflows that help facilitate policy management and claims management. 

Here are the 4 main types of insurance software you should invest in. 

1. Data Collection and Quoting 

Two of the most time-consuming insurance agency processes are collecting data from clients and quoting them. By adopting data collection and quoting software, your productivity is significantly improved. This is because your agents will spend less time transferring insurance quotes into excel-based proposals. The software also makes the insurance purchasing process effortless, ultimately reducing the time spent on administrative tasks. This frees up more hours for your agents to sell more products, increasing your agency growth. 

Data Collection and Quoting software also improves your Insurance lead generation, edges out your competition, and improves your quote-to-enrollment flow. 

2.  Agency Management System (AMS)

An Agency Management System is a tool that helps you with contact management as well as your interactions with your clients. These systems are often a suite of tools that help you analyze, manage and support your clients at every stage of their journey. 

Customer relationships are the foundation of business growth. How you interact with your prospects and existing clients highly determines your customer retention rates. Research shows that personalization most often drives 10 to 15 percent revenue lift. Keeping detailed information to ensure you can quickly and easily provide the best service possible is essential.

Investing in an agency management system improves your customer service. It equips your agents with the most essential and relevant customer details, enabling them to provide your clients with superior experiences. This then boosts customer satisfaction which results in more sales. 

3. Customer Relationship management

According to a Microsoft study, around 90% of customers evaluate customer service to decide whether they should purchase from a company. This statistic may seem shocking, but there's a high chance that the first interaction a customer has with your agency is through your customer service team. If they have a bad experience, they will definitely not purchase your policies, and in some instances, they'll even dissuade their acquaintances from contacting you. 

Customer service software works on the premise that your customers are the most important part of your insurance business. It's a program or a centralized system that provides assistance to clients that reach out to your business. Most of the time, this software is referred to as a ticketing system, and it helps agents keep track, manage, respond to, prioritize and resolve client queries. In addition, customer service systems are often integrated with an AMS or a CRM to give your customer support team access to important contextual data such as the customer's purchase history. 

4. Communications Software

The use of communication software can help you manage internal operational communications more efficiently. It enables your agents to keep in touch through text, audio, or video formats, keeping them connected. The communication can either be asynchronous or synchronous, but this is dependent on your project management requirements. 

There are 3 main types of communication software;

• Web Conferencing: This software has video, audio, and text capabilities and comes in handy during employee training, video presentations, tutorials, client onboarding, and conference calls. Web conferencing systems are perfect if you have remote clients or employees. 
• Unified communications system: This system includes ticketing, VoIP, phone support, and various enterprise communication tools to help with outbound sales and customer support. 
• Live chat: This communication tool can either be used as a standalone feature or integrated into your digital sales channels such as social media pages and websites. Live chats help you interact with customers in real-time and solve their problems at a time when they really need a solution. 

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Best Data Collection and Quoting Software

Data Collection and Quoting software eliminates vast amounts of paperwork, reducing the risk of human error. It provides you with an efficient and effective solution for building quick and personalized proposals for your prospects and clients, ultimately enhancing your overall productivity and increasing your enrollment. 

Here's our top pick for this category. 

InsurGrid

This software for insurance agents lets agents gather dec pages in half the time and increase close rates by 50%. InsurGrid enables your clients to upload their insurance details and policy data on their accounts so your agents can access them and prepare new quotes. 

Here are the main reasons why this tool is a favorite among insurance agencies;

• It enhances their customers' experiences: Admit it: finding dec pages is one of the least liked activities. InsurGrid minimizes this hassle for your clients by offering them an instantaneous way of sharing their dec pages.
• It reduces time wasted:  Agents are able to collect all the vital information such as coverages, contact info, and premiums in one place. 
• It increases the sales conversions: The sales process can be full of friction, and InsurGrid streamlines it allowing them to make more conversions.

Most importantly, this platform increases your customer retention rate, ultimately helping you expand your book of business.