Whether you’re an old-school insurance agent who firmly believes in the power of a landline and a legal pad or a young turk who has more apps on your smartphone than a calendar has days in a year, you likely have one primary goal for this year’s Open Enrollment Period (OEP): More sales.
And while working the phone and making copious notes used to help fill the funnel, it’s just not enough anymore. By the same token, every new app to hit the market is probably not going to be the solution that guarantees an uptick in sales. That said, it’s tough to deny that the health insurance space is still in the midst of a monumental digital transformation. What’s more, those who adapt accordingly are likely to grow more quickly than those who don’t. Because at the end of the day, when wielded effectively, technology has a lot to offer
Organically growing leads lists, establishing client trust through transparency and consistency, tracking the success of your marketing campaigns to the most granular levels – these are but a few advantages technology can put in your hands. The trick is to know which tools to use and when to use them.
Here are 5 essential tools that can either help you get started on your digital journey or take you a few steps further if yours has already begun:
Website Monitoring
Your website is your most visible and one of your most valuable insurance marketing tools. It helps validate your business, gives your brand visibility, and can also help you bring in new leads. But to do any of those things, your website has to perform, and unless you’re tracking it, you can’t be sure.
Along with installing Google Analytics – which can tell you how landing pages and content is performing – a monitoring tool like UptimeRobot can help keep you on top of the site’s overall health. The free version of UptimeRobot will alert you if your website goes down, while paid plans cover everything from server response times to SSL certificate (which ensure your site is securely encrypted) status.
User Shopping Cart
Speaking of your website, another function it can potentially offer you is the power to give consumers 24/7 access to shop around for their own plans, pull quotes, and even enroll themselves in new policies.
Quotit’s shop-and-enroll tool can be added to any website. Along with allowing customers to self-serve, the integration also allows agents to promote it in emails, social media posts, and more via a hyperlink. The tool not only offers shoppers convenience, but also helps increase your website’s engagement metrics – a double win.
Insurance-specific CRM
A Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool is a must-have for any busy office. But a platform like Quotit that is equipped to serve the needs of an insurance agency or brokerage can be a lifesaver, especially during OEP.
A CRM with insurance-specific feature sets will not help you manage your sales process from beginning to end, but you can also automate client communications about policy changes and renewals, track sales conversations, and easily access client and prospect contact and coverage details. All of which saves you time, keeps you track towards sales goals, and helps keep you organized.
Social Media Management
Social media can be highly effective at driving traffic and increasing your brand footprint. Social media sites can also be excellent lead generation tools. But to get the marketing success you’re looking for, you need engagement. And as Shakespeare famously wrote, “aye, there’s the rub.”
Like a beloved pet, social media has to be fed and watered daily to give you the results you’re hoping for, and for busy agents hustling during OEP, finding the time to create new content, engage with users, and track the results can be challenging. That’s where scheduling and publishing tools like Hootsuite, Sprout Social, and Buffer can come in handy. Each will allow you to pre-schedule content to deploy several time a week and help keep your social media moving even when you’re busy with other tasks.
Marketing Design Tools
Many social media algorithms are set up to give preference to highly visual content, which means you will need a good-looking image or graphic with your posts to help ensure your audiences see them.
Unless you have an in-house graphic designer on staff, you are going to need some assistance creating social media content that will keep your feeds fresh. A tool like Canva or Venngage may be just the ticket. Each offers free versions, and super easy-to-use design tools and templates that will allow you to create appropriately-sized infographics and other social media shareables. Canva also offers templates for brochures, flyers, newsletters, and more, opening up your options to create additional marketing materials as needed.
The point of having digital tools on-hand is to help streamline your workload so you can focus on tasks that help increase your revenues. If you’re spending too much time trying to figure out how to use them or create workarounds to get the job done, however, the tools you’ve chosen may not be the right fit.
Quotit is made just for insurance agents and brokers, and can help you save time so you can sell more. If you want to see for yourself how Quotit works and what it can do for your insurance business, book a demo with one of our consultants today!
