In a recent Applied blog, the writer talked about the increasingly digital consumer of today. Go to a mall, or shop Amazon Prime? Stand on the street and hail a taxi, or hire Uber on your phone? More and more people are choosing the digital option.

“The insurance industry is not immune to these changes,” states the blog writer. “Agencies and brokerages using self-service portals have an immense opportunity to provide the anytime, anywhere service demanded by consumers. Customer self-service software provides greater flexibility and servicing options for your business by allowing your customers to review policy information, request changes, make premium payments, and report First Notice of Loss and track claims processing via the Internet and mobile app.” 

You Need to Tell Customers About It

The blog states nine ways to maximize the value of your customer self-service software:

• Incorporate your customer portal into you overall web presence and brand
• Let clients access self-service via your agency-branded mobile app
• Send an email to announce your new 24/7 customer portal
• Train your VIP customers and large commercial lines customers
• Promote your new portal via social media
• Update your automated message system to include your portal and app information
• Create a branded insert for your sales proposals
• Update your email signatures to advertise your portal and app
• Add notices to your brochures, invoices, renewal documents and statements

Applied customer Ansay & Associates implemented Applied CSR24 and Applied Mobile to allow both producers and customers to access their data when and where they need it, increasing productivity and boosting revenue per employee by 7 percent. 

“CSR24 has kept us competitive in our industry by giving us a portal we can use with our customers and also giving us the ability to stay relevant,” says Greg Kirsch, Director of IT. “As an organization, we're really impressed with the real-time information transfer between Applied Epic and Applied Mobile."

Need More Strategies?

Travel the Connecting with Customers Track at Applied Net 2017, The Digital Transformation of Insurance, Sept. 25-28, Las Vegas. The track helps you discover the benefits of online customer portals, branded mobile applications and more to create a quality customer experience at your agency or brokerage. Learn about customer experience strategies that will delight your clients and allow you to focus more time on being their trusted adviser.

Topics to be covered in the Applied Net 2017 Connecting with Customers Track include introductory, advanced, a hands-on-lab and app design sessions on Applied CSR24 and Applied MobileInsured. In addition, there will be a case study session featuring Kim Krizek (CEO) and Lynette Sugden (Team Leader) of PDCM Insurance. The presenters share their story on how they created a business case to gain approval and then built a development, communications and training plan to ensure a successful rollout of Applied CSR24. There is also a roundtable session for peer-to-peer discussion about Applied CSR24.

Applied Net 2017 registration discounts are available through Sept. 22.

Can't make it to the Applied Net 2017 conference? Applied Client Network has a number of webinars available for download that cover digital communications ideas. We recommend the two-part "Deliver Effective Customer Service with Applied" peer-to-peer webinar. Click here to access the full list of resources.