Getting Ahead by Outsourcing E-Mail

As the insurance industry continues to face increasing challenges, including intense competition and ongoing consolidation, many brokers are forced to meet the challenge of retaining and obtaining customers. Agents are asking themselves how can they compete with larger providers, bring in new business and maintain existing clients while still providing quality service?”

The biggest challenge for brokers lies in how to reach out to current and prospective clients efficiently and effectively with useful news. There is not enough time in the day to have several face-to-face meetings, and cold-calling and direct mail often produce mediocre results at best.

The ability to quickly and reliably distribute time-sensitive information is paramount to achieving business success and closing the deal. Additionally, if one doesn’t “stay in the face” of current customers, another agent or large carrier can swoop in and steal that important part of a business away. E-mail is a perfect communications tool that enables a broker, regardless if they are a small independent agent or an employee at a large firm, to easily reach a target audience on an ongoing basis.

Through e-mail campaigns, brokers can differentiate themselves from competitors by delivering customers and prospective clients timely and highly targeted information, such as rate changes, open enrollment announcements, plan updates and new legislation changes.

That said, time is money, and many agents cannot sit at a computer all day personalizing each e-mail message for distribution to clients or potential customers. That is where an outsourced e-mail provider can be of assistance.

Outsourced e-mail providers that possess an array of enhanced e-mail management solutions can enable brokers to stay ahead of the competition at a relatively low cost. By outsourcing the process of distributing and receiving high volumes of e-mail, companies have immediate access to efficient, secure and creative e-mail capabilities, without stretching internal technological resources and employees’ valuable time.

Staying ahead of the competition
Through outsourcing, agents can quickly and reliably distribute information to hundreds or thousands of targeted recipients by using easy to implement e-mail management solutions that operate on powerful and sophisticated delivery networks. E-mail management solutions can allow an agent to customize each message with the recipient’s name, or other text. Costs also can be considerably reduced because no software or hardware installations are required. With some providers, payment is on a per-usage basis for e-mails that are delivered to the recipient (i.e. the message distributor would not be charged for returned e-mails or wrong addresses).

There are many value-added services insurance agents can use through outsourced providers when using e-mail as a means of marketing themselves to current and potential clients.

They include:
Creative, dynamic messages: In today’s technologically advanced world, it’s not enough to merely send text messages to your targets. E-mails should be aesthetically pleasing, with graphics, Web links and logos. Some outsourced providers have special downloadable software that allows users to develop dynamic HTML messages. Should there be concern that your recipients cannot read HTML, the provider can send the message in parts—either HTML, text or the HTML version used by AOL—enabling the recipient only to see the portion their computer is configured to read.

Forms to the masses: Some e-mail management outsourcers have designed products specifically for businesses that send out numerous forms. Currently there are services available that allow a broker to create HTML forms that contain individualized, pre-populated fields, such as the recipient’s name, address, identifying code and agent name. This is a simple way for agents to keep their customer information updated. Because most of the information is already completed, it is an easy way to get your customer to return it.

Inbound response management: The provider manages the delivery and subsequent influx of responses and keeps lists clean, sending the agent details of all bouncebacks, bad addresses and requests to be removed from lists. Valid responses from interested parties are forwarded to an e-mail address supplied by the agent. This alleviates the strain on internal e-mail systems and allows for the handling of regular incoming e-mails or customer requests during peak times.

Detailed reports: Some providers can embed individualized Web links into messages so the sender can track who receives those messages and to what information they linked. This knowledge provides a direct advantage over the competition presently using in-house e-mail systems or direct mail—allowing for knowledge of who the best targets are before following up with anyone. This feature provides a broker with a great way to gauge what customers and potential customers are interested in learning more about.

Test messages: Some companies send out a series of e-mails as “test messages” to target-specific audiences, and then distribute the one that generates the best responses to a larger list. Because it’s all done via the Internet and e-mail, companies can send out their test e-mail, obtain the results, and then e-mail a targeted marketing pitch to a larger audience all within 24 hours. Overall, campaigns can be run very quickly, going from concept to test messages, to delivery to qualified responses in just a few days. This fast turn-around time allows for current and potential customers to learn and take advantage of services offered and special promotions faster than direct mail.

Using e-mail marketing to supplement existing marketing and customer relations efforts keeps one ahead of the competition. Through outsourcing, agents can remain on the cutting edge of communications, gaining increased reliability and accountability on an ongoing basis.

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