Insurance agencies know the importance of creating and maintaining a connection with their clients and one of the best ways to accomplish this task is the use of marketing automation for insurance agencies at scale. Marketing automation allows insurance agencies to engage with their clients or prospects with messages that can be both personal and creative while also letting the person know their business matters to the insurance agency.

In this article, we will spotlight the multiple ways insurance agencies can take advantage of insurance agency marketing automation to create and maintain a connection with clients as well as deliver a better experience while also growing their business.

What is Marketing Automation?

Marketing automation is a marketing strategy that uses technology to attract the attention of a person and then engages with customers, clients, or prospects. Marketing automation “automatically” uses rules-based logic to tailor the messaging to previously indicated interests of the person.

For example, you can enter a new prospect into your database when they fill out a form. Then, you enter their information into a specific list based on which form they fill out. The next step is to send the new contact an email that is unique to the list they are in. This will trigger a task for an agent to reach out later that day and directly contact the prospect by phone.

All of the above actions are done automatically which is how an insurance agency can effectively and efficiently use insurance agency marketing automation software.

Benefits of Using Marketing Automation at Your Insurance Agency

The benefits of using marketing automation for insurance agencies are easy to understand. The automation tools create efficiencies that are difficult for an individual to produce within the same time frame.

Here are some of the ways that marketing automation can save you time and manpower:

Save Time

If a person tried to perform the same tasks as the marketing automation system, the person would find the tasks to be both tedious and time consuming. By using the automation platform, it can take less than one second to successfully execute the tasks.

Cost Effective

The labor costs saved using marketing automation can be quite large and will have a positive impact on your budget. The hourly rate and total cost needed for a team member to perform these tasks would eventually be more than the cost of purchasing and setting up the automation platform.

Personalization

Due to the efficient nature of these platforms, you can personalize your communications efforts in order to provide a better experience for your clients and prospects.

Results

The combination of timely delivery, cost efficiency and the ability to personalize your message provides an increased volume of engagement and conversion results that ensure a return on your investment in marketing your insurance agency.

Components of Marketing Automation that Insurance Agencies Need

To get the best results from your marketing automation efforts, agencies need to have a marketing plan in place. Here are the components you need to know that specifically relate to marketing automation tactics and tools:

Goals & Strategy

Don’t start your marketing efforts without devising a strategy to reach specific goals. The act of setting an overall goal for your marketing efforts, by creating a broad strategy to achieve these goals, is a vital step in successful marketing campaigns. The insurance industry is no different so start creating your marketing plan!

Database of Customers & Prospects

Segment your database to isolate existing customers from new prospects so you can properly message each group.

Workflows & Triggers

You will need to create rules-based behaviors to make your marketing automation properly work. Common inclusions for this component include:

• Workflow Entrance Criteria (Who is being entered and are they being entered as new prospects or existing clients)
• Timing (When will the triggered action take place)
• Deliverables (The assets you send to the public such as email marketing, direct mail pieces, etc.)
• Actions (Creation of tasks, notification schedule, segmentation of names into prospects or current customers, etc.)

Emails & Notifications

Emails are a crucial deliverable of any marketing automation campaign that goes out to customers and prospects. However, you will want to set up internal notifications that alert you when specific actions have taken place. These actions could be emails, entry tasks, texts or push notifications (based on your platform of choice).

Integrations & Direct Mail

One big advantage insurance agencies have with marketing automation platforms is the ability to integrate into other platforms. For example, you can connect an existing CRM to the system of your choice and then expand your capabilities by syncing data between them.

This is especially helpful with a direct mail campaign. This can be one of your workflow assets so when a customer or prospect takes a specific action, the automation platform will automatically send the person a direct mail piece.

Reporting

Reporting on all of this information helps you make smart and informed decisions on what is happening with your marketing efforts. Setting up dashboards that tell your performance story as well as those that provide the necessary insights used to prioritize messages, products or services are all helpful tools in growing your agency and optimizing your customer interactions.

Marketing Automation Platforms for Insurance Agencies

Every agency has their own specific needs so you will have to choose a platform that best fits your tasks. Some of the most most popular marketing automation tools insurance agencies use include:

• HubSpot
• Active Campaign
• Salesforce Marketing (Pardot)
• Keap/Infusionsoft
• Zoho One (Marketing Cloud)

We could keep talking about marketing automation for insurance agencies but we’ve shared the majority of what you need to know when considering using this technology for your agency. If you need assistance finding the right automation platform, we can help.

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