Five tips for communicating with policyholders during inclement weather

No matter where in the country your insurance clients live, they will probably experience inclement weather regularly.

Here are the things you can do before and after a weather event to help your customers feel supported and make the claims process smoother.

Reach out as soon as you know something

You can save your team, your clients and yourself a lot of time and headaches by being proactive when bad weather is coming. As soon as you know a storm is going to hit, email or text all your clients in the area to make sure they’re prepared.

Include tips for preparing their home or business for the bad weather to help reduce damage and claims. For example, you could remind customers to leave a faucet dripping before a blizzard hits so their pipes don’t burst. You can also include personal safety tips, such as making sure their flashlights have batteries and to keep bottled water on hand.

Make sure your policyholders know how to file a claim if needed and remind them you’re there to help them navigate the process. Your customers will feel much more secure knowing you and your team are there for them during a scary time.

Follow up after a weather event

Once the worst has passed, check in with your customers to make sure they’re okay. This simple gesture will mean a lot to your clients and may help start a conversation about increasing their coverage.

Add texting to your agency tools

Providing texting as a way for your clients to get in touch can help improve retention and lead to more sales in general. During inclement weather, this can help alleviate a lot of stress for your customers who may want the simplest and fastest approach to communicate with you.

Look for a texting platform that allows you and your clients to share images and securely text PDFs and other file types. This will help you message clients quickly with the information they need if they have to file a claim after bad weather. And if your customers’ internet goes out because of a storm, they’ll have greater peace of mind knowing they can still text you if they need to.

Educate throughout the year

Your clients want to hear from you outside of severe weather or policy renewal times. Sending your customers the occasional article, video or podcast is a great way to keep in touch throughout the year in a way that makes your clients feel cared for. This is an excellent opportunity to help your policyholders be proactive about preparing their homes, cars and businesses for future weather events.

For example, at any point in the year, you could send your clients an article about driving safely in the snow and rain or a video with tornado safety tips. Your customers will appreciate you checking in with content that could help keep them safe.

Offer appropriate coverage at the right time

Check to see if your customers’ current policies have adequate coverage and reach out if you see gaps. Even if your homeowners don’t add flood or earthquake coverage, they’ll appreciate you looking out for them and alerting them to coverage gaps.

Depending on where you live, there’s a time of year when weather events, like tornadoes, floods, hurricanes and others are more likely. At the start of these seasons, email all your clients who have inadequate coverage to see if they’d like to add the necessary policies. Your clients will feel a stronger sense of urgency to round out their coverage when they know inclement weather is coming soon.