The use of data analytics and lead distribution tools in life insurance is increasingly gaining momentum, powered by advancements in business intelligence solutions and AI-driven sales technologies. These tools offer significant benefits to both insurance carriers and BGAs. In this article we will explore innovative tools that are transforming the way we analyze and interpret lead data, whether it pertains to insurance prospects or monitoring agent performance.
Staying ahead in today’s highly competitive insurance landscape requires more than traditional marketing strategies. To reach and engage target audiences effectively, insurance professionals must embrace innovative approaches as consumers become increasingly discerning and digital channels continue to proliferate. At the heart of this evolution across the industry lies the power of data and analytics. Harnessing the insights gleaned from data has become indispensable in the quest to maximize marketing ROI and drive sustainable growth.
As a seasoned veteran with 37 years of experience in the insurance industry, I find it imperative to highlight revolutionary solutions that equip insurance professionals to navigate the complexities of modern marketing—especially when some companies are still sticking to archaic and outdated legacy systems. Statistics support the need for constant change—88 percent of
consumers demand more personalized insurance products; 41 percent say they are more likely to switch providers due to a lack of digital capabilities. Industry leaders also realize this, as 67 percent of insurance CIOs say that SaaS will transform the industry in five years or less.1
In this regard, performance marketing automation software Phonexa—one of my partners at InsurTech Express—is a beacon of innovation, empowering insurance professionals to streamline their operations.
A Closed-Loop Approach To Reporting
Accurately tracking and measuring the effectiveness of campaigns remains one of the most significant obstacles insurance marketers encounter. With enterprise-grade tracking software solutions like Phonexa, marketers gain unprecedented visibility into their marketing efforts across various channels, from digital advertising to email campaigns and beyond. These capabilities are essential as insurance agencies focus less on lead generation and instead shift their efforts toward tracking and retargeting leads.
Since sales and marketing teams focus on different stages of the lead funnel, collaboration is necessary to optimize lead retargeting strategies. With sales solely responsible for monitoring a portion of the customer journey, crucial insights regarding lead quality and purchasing intent are obscured, leading to inefficiencies and wasted resources on leads unlikely to convert.
By consolidating data from multiple touchpoints into a single operating platform, Phonexa enables marketers to seamlessly track the customer journey from initial engagement to conversion. This closed-loop approach enhances campaign optimization and facilitates continuous improvement, ensuring marketing efforts align with business objectives.
KPIs to Prioritize
While traditional metrics such as click-through rates and conversion rates provide valuable insights, Phonexa encourages marketers to broaden their scope and focus on holistic KPIs that reflect the entire customer journey. Customer lifetime value, cost per acquisition, and return on investment are invaluable indicators of marketing effectiveness. Each enables insurance professionals to allocate resources strategically and boost profitability.
The importance of personalization in today’s hyper-connected world cannot be overstated. Research indicates that companies adept at personalization yield a 40 percent increase in revenue.2 Phonexa, for one, enables insurance marketers to deliver highly targeted and relevant messages to their audiences using advanced analytics and machine learning algorithms.
Whether by tailoring messaging based on demographic data or optimizing ad placements for maximum impact, Phonexa helps marketers forge meaningful connections with their target customers, fostering engagement and loyalty in the process.
Embracing Data and Analytics
The era of data-driven marketing has dawned upon the insurance industry, presenting challenges and opportunities for forward-thinking professionals. By embracing the power of data and analytics, insurance marketers can gain a competitive edge in an increasingly crowded marketplace. With Phonexa as their trusted partner, life insurance, annuities, and health insurance professionals can accommodate the specific needs of different segments within the industry.
Maximizing the full potential of marketing efforts, driving measurable results, and achieving sustainable growth in the process oftentimes comes down to making a tweak in the tech stack. To learn more about Phonexa’s all-in-one marketing automation solution, visit www.phonexa.com.
Revolutionizing Insurance Sales: The Power of Lead PrioritizerTM
In the dynamic world of insurance, staying ahead in the sales game is crucial. This is where Lead Prioritizer™ comes into play, a groundbreaking tool that is transforming how insurance carriers and brokers/agents approach their sales strategies that is offered through Spinnaker Analytics. Lead Prioritizer™ is a responsible AI solution designed to optimize the distribution, underwriting, and operations processes in the insurance industry. Its primary function is to convert high-priority prospects into placed policies efficiently. This tool is not just for carriers but is also an invaluable asset for brokers and agents.
One of the key features of Lead Prioritizer™ is its ability to assign a likelihood score to each new business prospect. This score helps organizations align their resources effectively, focusing on prospects with higher scores and a greater likelihood of sale conversion. Additionally, it provides action recommendations such as whether a quote should be provided, enhancing decision-making processes. Lead Prioritizer™ operates by identifying patterns in in-house data and augmenting this with external market data. It blends data science insights with management experience to develop actionable recommendations. The tool is equipped with autonomous learning capabilities, allowing it to adapt to the latest market shifts and management actions. This continuous learning ensures that the Lead Prioritization solution remains updated with the best proven techniques, algorithms, and libraries.
A significant advantage of Lead Prioritizer™ is its ability to seamlessly integrate new data that was not available during initial deployment. This flexibility means that carriers and brokers can start using the solution immediately with whatever data they have, bypassing the need for extensive data gathering and infrastructure investments.
Results Delivered
The impact of Lead Prioritizer™ on sales and customer satisfaction is significant. By prioritizing high-likelihood cases, which are often overlooked in traditional workflows, sales growth is driven effectively. For instance, one carrier reported a 20 percent growth in sales after implementing this tool. Additionally, it helps in identifying attractive customer segments, allowing carriers to target leads with a higher propensity to sell.
From an operational standpoint, Lead Prioritizer™ enhances the utilization and productivity of scarce resources and skill sets in distribution and underwriting. It also plays a crucial role in improving customer satisfaction, with one carrier increasing segment profit by 15 percent using this tool.
Lead Prioritizer™ has been successfully deployed across various clients, including carriers and brokers, with a track record of over four years in growing sales. It is implemented on a secure portal, customized to the client’s needs, and can accommodate technical requirements such as AWS or Azure. This integration dovetails with existing management reports, ensuring a seamless transition and operation. Its ability to prioritize leads effectively, adapt to new data, and drive sales growth makes it an indispensable asset for carriers and brokers aiming to stay ahead in the competitive insurance market.
So what are the lessons learned? During a recent deployment, the CEO’s priority was to improve efficiency. However, the underwriters wanted to improve their workflow and distribution wanted to grow sales. While the algorithmic solution addressed all of the above analytically—there was an initial resistance to adoption by various functions. It took off only after each priority was explicitly acknowledged and the solution to achieve that priority was communicated to specific audience/stakeholders. Now everyone at the carrier is happy as sales have increased 20 percent, accompanied by improvements to efficiency and profitability. More importantly, channel partners are happy because now they flow more favorable cases to the client carrier—which is an added plus! This is an important reminder that solving business problems by combining data science with management art and stakeholder priorities is what wins the day for everyone. Visit Spinnaker Analytics to learn more: www.spinnakeranalytics.com.
Reference:
1. https://www.liferay.com/blog/customer-experience/20-must-know-stats-for-insurers-in-2022.
2. https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/growth-marketing-and-sales/our-insights/the-value-of-getting-personalization-right-or-wrong-is-multiplying.
Responsibility
My sons grew up on a farm. They learned responsibility early. The land and the animals demanded constant responsible intimate care and service. That requirement fell squarely on those who created the obligation from the moment we stepped onto that ground. There is no finger pointing on a farm. If you have ever sold or facilitated the purchase of an insured chronic illness or long term care financial instrument you are directly and permanently responsible for the exercise of that leveraged risk obligation. Renewals and service are merely a friendly reminder of what is a permanent obligation. For the last twenty years we have lived in a rapidly shrinking universe of dwindling sales particularly for stand alone LTCI health policies.
In relation to new sales vs growing claims adjudication, we long ago became a negative growth industry.
Although no one wants to discuss or loudly admit it, we are in the midst of what may ultimately prove to be an extended and truly unpleasant rate spiral. All but a handful of carriers still have an open for new business sign on the front door. We are an industry of claim management. Closed blocks of premium dominate our activities including corporate priorities and expenditures. Cries in a wasteland of needed premium growth appear to be dominated by managed care strategies and a plethora of claim management vendors. We are paying claims. Last numbers I saw were in excess of 12 billion. Our sales may not ever have been what we would have preferred but it is absolutely true that we have placed on the books trillions of potential claims dollars now waiting for us just over the horizon. Our industry has no choice but to be focused on the rear-view mirror hoping the police never catch up and prove that we were speeding ahead to avoid the inevitable.
The strength and freedom of thought provided by this magazine now allow me to knock the hornets’ nest out of the tree and run. I would ask you to take a moment and review the case study complaints concerning LTCI claims readily available at your State Board of Insurance or the Better Business Bureau. In my humble opinion they are not dominated as might be expected by rate increase concerns. They are drowning in complaints about confusing policy terms and poor service. Shame on us. We should all be extremely proud of those agent advisors and brokerage centers providing advice and counseling to those already caught up in the struggle to get claims paid. Many are already actively responding to the cries for help to understand how a claim is adjudicated and ultimately paid. Simply providing a toll free number in response to the very point in time in which every financial and emotional risk we were intent on leveraging against is, in my humble opinion, morally and ethically insufficient. There is too much here to complete in one column therefore lets just begin with a few shots across the bow of an industry doing it’s best to respond to current realities:
The American consumer remains exposed to the wear and tear of an extended need for custodial assistance. We created and continue to market a complicated insurance leveraging of that risk. The obligations we install with those policies will demand our attention with hands on and standby assistance. We cannot ignore the reality of an adversarial relationship between marketing and claim adjudication that may have always been inevitable. Paperwork is after all just paperwork. I’m sure attempts at fraudulent claim acceptance are also quite real. I am also absolutely certain that we are perhaps inadvertently complicit in building a consumer black eye that may be very slow in healing. We can be better prepared to help navigate choppy water. We can acknowledge that these claims are extremely time sensitive. The need for care is most often immediate and intense. Our involvement and assistance in helping to facilitate expedited claim justice is mandatory.
Other than that I have no opinion on the subject.