Savvy insurance agencies use tools and technology to work more efficiently. With the right customer portal, you can empower your customers, reduce your workload, and focus your efforts on more important tasks.
What Are Agent and Client Portals?
Understanding how client portals work is essential before learning how such tools can benefit you and your clients. A good client portal will give your agents and clients access to relevant information about policies and other insurance products anywhere at any time.
These platforms allow agents to view real-time customer information and interaction history. Meanwhile, clients can use the portal to check their policy coverage and payment history, among other functions.
How an Agent Portal Improves Efficiency
An insurance agent portal is just one of many tools you can use to improve your team’s efficiency. Like agency management software, an agent portal will put all the information and documents your agents need in a single place.
This makes it incredibly easy to find the right forms and proposals for clients. It also saves your team the time they would have spent switching between programs.
It Also Reduces the Need for Training
Using an intuitive agent portal also reduces the time you need to spend training new agents. That is especially true if your agents can do everything they need from the portal and the connected insurance agency management system.
This reduced need for training means that your agents can get right to their main responsibilities – managing and selling insurance. This not only improves initial efficiency but also helps new agents feel like they are part of the team right away. That can boost morale and help with retention.
How a Client Portal Empowers Customers
If you have an intuitive client portal, you make it easy for clients to access the information they need. They should find everything they need on the platform, such as policy information, payment dates, past payments, coverage levels, and certificates of insurance. The best portals even let clients print and share documents.
How It Helps Clients
Clients appreciate the ability to find the information they need on their own. They don’t have to wait for one of your agents to get back to them. Additionally, the Jenesis client portal is available 24/7, so they can view policy information in the middle of the night or on a public holiday, even if your office is closed. Because the client portal is online, your clients can access their information from anywhere, whether they are at home, at work, or on vacation across the country.
This helps your agency not just meet expectations but exceed them. This is the next best thing to offering 24/7 service from humans as you still offer around-the-clock support.
For those rare cases when clients can’t find the information they need in the client portal, the portal also makes your team easy to contact. After all, the best ones have your contact information clearly displayed, including multiple methods, such as phone and email.
It Allows for Transparency
The convenience of having 24/7 access to policy information is not the only benefit of a portal for clients. Good client portals also improve your transparency, which is crucial for client retention and satisfaction. Clients will trust what you tell them about their policies, as they know they can easily confirm the information if they choose to. This should improve retention and renewals.
How It Helps Your Team
Meanwhile, a client portal will save your team time, as they will have fewer interactions with clients. Clients will still reach out for complicated questions, but the number of easy-to-answer questions will dramatically decrease. Now, your agents don’t have to stop their other tasks and responsibilities to answer phone calls or respond to emails of commonly asked questions.
What to Look for in Agent and Client Portals
While most agent and client portals will improve efficiency and offer the benefits mentioned above, they are not all created equally. As you browse the various options, make sure to look for the following features, as these will maximize the benefits.
- Intuitive navigation and layout
- Minimal data entry required
- Client policy details
- Client payment details
- Ability to view and print certificates of insurance
- Agency contact information
- Access to relevant documents for insurance agents
- Support for or integration with insurance agency management software
Conclusion
Every insurance agency should have a digital portal for agents and clients, whether they are the same or separate portals. This type of portal puts all the information clients need within reach, letting them answer their own questions. That improves customer satisfaction and reduces the time your team spends answering questions with simple responses. That way, your team can focus on more important tasks.