5 Creative Ways to Retain Insurance Clients

Written by Cam Bob III, originally published by Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America, Inc.

As we all know, in insurance, the money is in the renewals. Now, your clients want to know if you are actually a cool insurance agency or if it was all just a facade. Do you really go above and beyond? And what are you going to do to keep them coming back for more?

I can’t answer those questions. However, I can share these five powerful strategies for retaining insurance clients:

Create buyer personas. 

Insurance is an intimate business. Clients rely on you to protect the things they love. Therefore, you should care about your clients enough to get to know them.

That means more than understanding their insurance needs, how they make decisions in their household, and what ways they prefer to communicate. Understanding your client requires learning what makes them tick—and a great way to do that is to align your client experience to a set of “buyer personas.”

A persona is a semi-fictional representation of your clients based on market research and real data about your existing customers. Developing buyer personas gives your agency tremendous structure and insights into client interaction.

To build personas, look at your client list, and document and group your clients by interests, lifestyle, demographics and motivations. After you’ve stepped back and bucketed your clients, develop a persona for the trends you see amongst your base.

Here are a few examples:

Soccer Mom Susan: early 40s, two children, senior-level employee, always busy, needs time to relax, willing to pay a premium

Danny Drives Too Fast: early 20s, college student, speed risk, $30,000 vehicle, doesn’t care about service

Bingo Better Betty: late 60s, senior citizen, one car, health issues, enjoys quality service

As a result of investing some time in buyer personas, you’ll be able to focus your time, improve client service and get your team on the same page.

Reach out when no one else does. 

Every insurance agency in America sends out a birthday or Christmas card. But how many insurance agencies send their left-handed clients a card on left-hander’s day?

Sure, it sounds a bit absurd. But the point is to avoid the clutter and make your outreach stand out in. Doing this not only shows that you know your clients, but also gives you another opportunity to stay top of mind!

After you get to know your clients, here are three ideas:

Send all every client who owns a dog few doggie treats on National Dog Day, Aug. 26.

End of summer? I bet your client’s children would appreciate a gift to clip on their backpacks.

Check who’s got a renewal coming up soon—there’s probably a funky holiday coming up around then.

Make them laugh. 

Laughter is the best medicine, and the effective use of humor is a proxy for high emotional intelligence.

As opposed to being boring and run of the mill, think of how you can use laughter to associate your agency’s brand with positive emotions. Who knows—you may even learn you have some comedians on your team!

Here are three ways to add a humorous touch:

Share online content such as memes or daily jokes.

Post about office pranks.

Print funny flyers, signs and billboards.

Brand association. 

Double down on associating yourself with positivity by linking up with something commonplace in your community or service area. This helps you become part of your clients’ and prospects’ identity.

Associate yourself with:

The home sports teams.

The fire department, police department or EMTs.

Religious institutions and churches.

Landmarks or indigenous animals.

Other local favorites.

Create some fanfare. 

People also want to associate with the brands that make waves. A good way to gain an edge on your competitors is to be seen having fun.

For five more creative ways to retain your insurance clients, keep an eye on IAmagazine.com and upcoming editions of the News & Views e-newsletter.

Cam Bob III is author of The Digital Insurance Agent and founder of Infinity Leads, a digital advertising agency exclusively for insurance agents.

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