Choosing the right insurance agency software is important, as you want to ensure that it has everything you need to run your agency smoothly. If it doesn’t have the features you need, you will have to purchase additional programs to get all of the necessary functionality. This is not only time-consuming and expensive, but it can also potentially lead to issues with integration.
To avoid that, the following guide outlines the most important features to look for in your insurance agency software.
ACORD Forms
Every insurance agency is familiar with ACORD forms. You need to use them on a regular basis. Because of the frequency with which you use them, look for agency software that has the most common forms already built into it.
The best solutions will have pre-filled forms as well as blank ones. Systems like Jenesis, for example, can auto-populate most of the fields in the forms based on the information already in the system. This saves you the time that someone on your team would have to spend to find and fill out the relevant form. Jenesis also keeps records of the forms you generate, so you don’t have to wonder whether you already have a certain one.
A Client Portal
In today’s modern world, clients expect to be able to access their information from anywhere, without having to contact you. As such, the best insurance agency software includes a client portal that they can access.
For example, clients of agencies using Jenesis can visit yourinsuranceportal.com to view their contact information and basic details. They can also see the contact information for your agency, their account information, their payments, and their policies. This portal goes beyond the minimum requirements for most clients and even lets clients access ID cards and certificates of insurance.
Email Integration
Every modern insurance agency will send dozens if not hundreds of emails every day. Between emails to clients and those to carriers or employees, you need to stay on top of the vast number of messages. Insurance agency software that integrates with your email helps you do just that.
This type of integration should not only give you access to your email within the software. It should also integrate with the system enough to let you send emails directly to clients or about clients while tracking them all in one place.
Invoicing
Because your insurance agency software should have all of your clients’ information in it, it is natural to want it to also offer invoicing. It should only require a few clicks to create an invoice. From there, you want several options of sending the invoice, including at least the option to email and/or print.
Marketing Campaigns
Savvy insurance agencies have constant marketing efforts, as they know that they need to bring in new clients to maintain their current size or grow. While you can get separate software for marketing, this should not be necessary.
The ideal insurance agency software will have marketing campaigns built right into the system. This saves you time and adds convenience, as you can easily access the data already in the system, such as client contact information. For example, you want to be able to run new customer campaigns, happy birthday campaigns, cross-selling campaigns, and more.
Commission Tracking
Because most insurance agents’ earnings depend on their commissions, you should always be sure to choose software that lets you track commissions with ease. You want to be able to set commissions for agents in your agency or users. You also want the ability to set commissions for companies.
Leave Notes on Clients
There is any number of things that you may want to note about a given client of your agency. This is true of any type of company, but it is especially important for insurance, as you strive to build relationships with your clients.
It isn’t possible to remember every little detail about each client, but you can make notes of the important ones. You could do this in a notebook or document of some sort, but it will be much easier if you choose agency software that has a notes feature built in. That will let you easily review the notes immediately before contacting a client.
Reports
It should go without saying that any insurance agency software should have reports of some sort. The best systems will take this to the next level by making them customizable, so you can get the data you need without excess data you don’t care about.
Conclusion
Think about the features and functions that are most important for your insurance agency software before you choose which one to use. At a minimum, you want ACORD forms, invoicing, a client portal, and integration for marketing and email. It is also smart to look for note-taking functions and commission tracking. If there are other functions that you need, look for those as well. For example, you may want the ability to download commercial and personal lines from carriers or to attach media files.
Find how Jenesis can help you do all of this and more. Sign up for a free demo, today!