CRM Integration for Your Insurance Company

There was a study conducted by PwC that highlighted the need for insurance companies to keep up with technological innovations if they are to remain competitive. 

In this study, more than half of the CEOs surveyed (54%) said that embracing technology had a significant impact on their company's competitiveness. These CEOs identified two key areas on which to focus if insurance companies were to achieve the kind of growth necessary to keep them afloat. 

These key areas were: 

• Digital transformation

• Improved customer experience

The implementation of a robust CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system is at the core of these two key areas.

By having a system that allows you to efficiently manage your client data as well as interact with them in a professional and data-driven way, insurance companies can achieve the competitive edge that they need. 

Why Insurance Companies Need Salesforce CRM Integration

There was a time when people needed insurance agents; this time is quickly coming to an end.

Today, people can do their own research online and compare reviews on different insurance companies to come up with the best option for their policies. 

Thanks to this on-going digital disruption, people are no longer willing to spend the time it will take to sit down with an agent who will only give them information that is skewed towards a particular insurance company.

As such, more and more people are only signing up with companies that deliver the kind of service they need. 

For insurance companies to capture this market, they need data. However, they can't just phone up people and ask them what they would want from their insurance company. They have to collect this data more subtly and effectively. 

One of the best ways to do that is through CRM (Customer Relationship Management) technology. Here are several reasons why insurance companies should make CRM integration one of their main operational objectives: 

Gives You the Ability to Track Important Clientele Metrics

Most CRM systems offer you a wide range of pre-built forms that allow you to keep track of things such as:

• Revenue

• Campaigns

• Products

• Clientele information

• Leads 

The CRM system by Salesforce gives you an opportunity to keep track of things such as clientele habits and preferences.

For better efficiency, systems such as Salesforce CRM make it possible for insurance companies to customize company-specific forms for things like:

• Policy renewals

• Application submission status

• Policy coverage types

• Annual premiums

• Agent productivity

All these parameters allow the company’s management to keep track of all the important metrics that run the company.

Based on this information, they can make informed decisions on what is and isn't working in a more efficient manner. 

Allows for Better Management of the Books 

For cleaner audit trails, insurance companies must keep perfect records that provide the necessary data.

Instead of using thousands of spreadsheets that can easily be lost or corrupted, all this information can be kept in one secure central location that keeps a log all access and amendment activities. They are also very easy to search!

Since the best CRM systems use robust blockchain technology, they can be updated in real-time. They can also keep archival copies of past documents thus making continuity all that more efficient. 

CRM Can Help You Save Costs

One of the biggest costs that most insurance companies foot is customer support. With hundreds of thousands of customers, all in need of information and guidance at one time or another, it is easy to see how customer support costs can get astronomical if not properly managed. 

Additionally, the fact that most insurance companies have so many customers who only ever call when they have a complaint or want to lodge a claim means that these companies aren't always contacted at the best of times which tends to skew public opinion towards the negative. 

To correct all this, having an efficient CRM system that offers a self-service portal will allow your customers to find the answers they need on their own in a more relaxed manner without necessarily having to call your offices.

This means that the customer service agents you do have on-call have fewer calls to deal with, which in turn means that they have more time to dedicate to those customers who do call in. 

This greatly improves the quality of service offered by your customer support agents, which in turn slowly, shapes your brand opinion among your customers towards the positive.

Also, since you no longer have to deal with so many calls, you will no longer need so many customer support agents, which saves you money.

Improves your Competitive Edge

It is all about remaining competitive and effective. When you have a system that allows you to not only collect customer information but also organizes that information in such a way that allows you to use that data to your marketing advantage then you have a better chance of remaining competitive. 

The Salesforce CRM software allows you to see how your customers behave as well as what they prefer.

This means that you can use this information to come up with the right kind of marketing strategy to target specific demographics within your clientele base as opposed to coming up with a "one-size fits all" approach that rarely works.

Plus, being technologically ahead of the curve could give you the best kind of press.

A good example would be how Jim, the A.I owned by Lemonade Insurance made history in 2017 by receiving, reviewing and processing a claim online within three seconds.

This kind of publicity can only mean better brand awareness for your insurance company, which often translates to more leads and sales.

While it is true that most companies are looking for ways to cut costs, spending some money on Salesforce CRM integration shouldn't be one of the things that you exclude from your budget. 

The benefits of having a robust system installed far outweigh the amount of money you will spend having one customized, installed and having your employees trained to use it appropriately.

Not only will it keep you competitive in today's Millennial-Driven market, but it will also make your internal operations that much more efficient and effective.