Smaller business owners that provide niche-level insurance policies might be a little skeptical when it comes to the benefits of a mobile app. Enterprise-level companies have offered them for years now, but regional providers have been a little more reluctant.
By using a mobile app, your customers can exercise an additional level of control over their policies. They can specify which types of coverage they want and then pay right from their smartphones or tablets. Very traditional insurance adjusters might balk at this and say that customers will make the wrong choices when given this level of freedom, but that's not true at all. The existence of open banks and other free-to-use online financial products has proved this fact time and time again.
In fact, if anyone knows what they need, it's your own customers, and giving them the right options will help them make good choices when it comes to creating a custom policy.
Expediting the Policy Creation Process
Once they've signed up, any mobile app they install will send out automatic updates on their policy. This translates into far fewer customers who habitually don't pay the premiums they owe. On top of this, it provides your company with an additional revenue stream. Users can receive information on discounts and promotions, which in turn can help to drive sales of more insurance products. Car insurance companies have used this trick for years by offering cash bonuses to individuals that get their friends or family members to sign up with a particular brand. Now they are taking this even further with car insurance apps.
Online consultations are another way that mobile apps help to speed up the policy creation process. In the past, your clients would have to pick a time to come meet with you in your office. If neither of you could find just the right moment to get together, then there was a chance you'd never be able to sign them up for a policy at all.
Insurance apps provide an online chat feature as well as a feedback window and other ways to communicate with your clients. They'll never have to speak with an insurance agent face-to-face, which means they'll be able to do everything at their own pace. That makes them more likely to become paying customers.
Perhaps the biggest reason to build your brand around a mobile app, however, is the fact that if you don't your competitors will.
Though some companies invest literally billions into mobile app development, you don't have to do this to get one into the hands of your clients. Building an app around a simple CMS is an affordable option for those who can't invest too much.
Getting a Leg Up on Other Insurance Companies with Mobile Technology
An overwhelming majority of major insurers now provide at least some form of mobile software for their clients. If you're not providing your customers with something, then they could turn elsewhere for convenience.
Information collected from the app can also help you edge out your competitors. Your marketing staff might not always know what sorts of offers to send out to each of your clients. There's a good chance you end up sending out generic blanket ones to everyone you have contracts with.
While this isn't necessarily a bad thing, you can increase your conversion rates by sending out customized offers that better meet their needs. Once your policy marketing department has collected enough information, they can even merge it into a customer relationship management database to further streamline your workflows. New security techniques can keep prying eyes away from whatever data you collect.
A good deal of actionable information you'll get from the app, however, will come directly from your customers.
Customer Feedback can Change Everything About Your Business
Clients can report a claim directly from the app as soon as they have it installed. Even if they've only just created an account, they'll have the freedom of doing business in seconds. That gives your adjusters the ability to process these claims just as quickly. In many cases, well-designed insurance apps can work with scripts on a distant server to automatically process reasonable claims without the need for human intervention.
That can often translate into less complaints and better overall satisfaction. Customers who don't have any complaints might stay with the brand that pleases them even when a competitor offers a lower rate. Those who do have problems, however, are at risk for switching unless they have a way of venting their frustrations.
That's why most insurance companies use a dedicated feedback window to offer their clients the ability to write out any problems they've been having with the service they've received. Agents can get back to them if the problems require immediate human attention. Since so many workflows have been automated at these businesses, there are often agents standing by to handle the most serious situations.
Over time, customers might also lodge complaints about overarching issues that reflect problems they've been having with an insurance company overall. By addressing these concerns, insurance companies can remain competitive without ever having to spend a dime on holding focus groups or conducting research studies.
Best of all, these benefits are universal.
How Mobile Marketing Helps Any Firm
Every single one of these benefits apply regardless of what kind of insurance your firm provides. An auto insurance company can process claims keyed in on a smartphone just as easily as one that handles homeowners insurance. Companies that take the steps needed to get on the apps store now will start reaping these benefits as soon as the first user downloads their new piece of software.
