When you’re working with insurance clients, it’s easy to focus on the ones who have a complaint or are working through a claim, and your day slips away quickly.
While it’s important to address concerns and help your customers with complicated insurance processes, you don’t want to neglect your biggest promoters. Your promoters are loyal clients who are most likely to leave a review or tell a friend about your agency. By nurturing these relationships, you can drive agency growth.
Here are eight opportunities to create strong relationships with promoters:
1. Ask for feedback and follow up
You should survey all your clients at least twice a year to identify promoters and retention risks. Use a simple survey, like the Net Promoter Score®, to have your clients rate their likelihood of recommending your agency to others.
When a customer gives you a high score on one of these surveys, call or email them to thank them for their feedback. This reinforces how much you value them, and they’ll feel appreciated.
2. See if they’ll leave you a review
Very few people visit Google or Facebook to leave reviews on their own—they need to be asked. Once you’ve identified your promoters with a simple survey, follow up and see if they’ll leave you a review.
Make this process as easy as possible for you and your customers by automating your review request emails. Include a simple link that takes them directly to your Google or Facebook review page. You can even send them any positive written feedback they’ve left on a previous survey so they can copy and paste that as a review.
3. Thank them for their referrals
Some of your most qualified insurance leads come from word-of-mouth referrals and cost very little compared to other prospecting tactics. When your biggest referral sources feel appreciated, they’re more likely to continue recommending your agency to others.
Always thank anyone who sends an insurance prospect your way with a handwritten thank you card or a quick phone call to express your gratitude. You can even include a gift card as a surprise for people who refer others to you.
4. Wish them a happy birthday
How great does it feel when you open your mailbox and see a handwritten envelope among the bills and junk mail? And it feels especially good when you receive a birthday card because it means that person thought of you ahead of time and made the effort to celebrate you. Send your clients a beautiful, handwritten card on their birthday to show how much you value them, improving their loyalty.
5. Ask about coverage they may be missing
Your promoters are the clients who are most likely to purchase additional policies because they’re already happy with your agency. These loyal customers will be more receptive to a genuine cross-sell offer.
Skip the over-the-top marketing emails listing out all the reasons they should buy more insurance as this will make them feel like a name on the list instead of a valued client. Instead, try sending a well-timed email simply stating you were checking on their account and noticed they were missing a certain policy. Offer to help them add that policy if they need to. They’ll appreciate your attentiveness and will be more likely to purchase additional coverage.
6. Personalize the renewal process
Keep your clients updated about any changes in the insurance market that may affect their policies and remind them of upcoming renewals 30-90 days in advance. Ask your customers if they’d like to have a quick call to review their renewing policies. During this time, see if anything has changed with their personal life or business that may affect their coverage needs and explain those changes to them.
Alternatively, you can email clients a list of questions or a checklist to help you prepare their renewal. Your promoters will appreciate this individualized service and will be more likely to increase their coverage limits or bundle other policies.
7. Skip the holiday emails and mail a card instead
You likely experience the influx of holiday emails in November and December just like your clients do. Since insurance isn’t a gift someone would wrap and give to others, any holiday emails your agency sends will likely be ignored or may even annoy your customers.
Instead, send your customers a holiday card with a warm, handwritten note expressing your gratitude for working with them. Your promoters may even display this holiday card on their fridge or mantel. When guests come to visit their home for holiday celebrations and see these cards, it’ll be a natural opening for your customers to talk about their experience with your agency.
8. Send them something just because
Your biggest promoters have likely been loyal clients with multiple policies for many years, so send them something they’ll appreciate without asking for anything in return. For example, try sending a card with a handwritten note inside thanking them for their loyalty and a simple reminder that you’re there for them as well as their friends and family.
Occasionally, email your customers something they may be interested in, even if it’s not insurance-related. For example, you could send a parent a list of driving tips for teens, or send one of your commercial customers a podcast about motivating employees. The important thing is to reach out to your promoters throughout the year to maintain your relationship and build loyalty.
At ClientCircle, we make it easy for you to automate regular touchpoints with your insurance customers to help you retain more clients and grow your agency.