Using Automation To Streamline Your New Client Onboarding

Onboarding Communication for New Life & Health Insurance Clients

Your clients want to find a partner, not just an agent. They want someone they can trust, count on, and someone who will be there for them when they need it most. 

That’s why communication is so important.

This blog will focus on how to use automation to successfully onboard new clients and communicate with them throughout the year. If you’re curious about other ways to improve client and prospect relationships using communication, check out these additional resources:

• [Blog] Establish a Successful Life & Health Insurance Sales Process with These 3 Tips
• [Blog] 3 Steps to Convert More Online Insurance Leads
• [Blog] The #1 Reason Clients Leave Insurance Agencies & How to Stop Them
• [Blog] 2 Simple Steps for Automating Your Group Policy Renewals
• [Blog] Integrating Automation & Communication for a Killer Retention Process
• [Blog] Using Automation to Stay In Touch with Your Senior Market Clients

What is client onboarding?

Onboarding is the process of bringing a new client onto your agency and sharing the information they need.

It’s the time they have to get to know you better and understand how you will serve their short-term and long-term needs. Through this process, you can develop deeper relationships with these clients that can prove mutually beneficial down the road—think referrals, cross-selling, retention, etc.

Using automation, you can streamline these efforts and make the process more efficient and effective for all parties involved.

Automating New Client Onboarding

If you’re unsure of what workflow automation is, check out this blog. The fast and short version is it’s an automated assistant that performs a series of activities like assigning tasks or sending emails based on predetermined scenarios.

If you’re still a bit confused, stay with me. We’ll dive into the details more in a bit.

Using workflow automation within your new client onboarding process can help streamline your efforts. Plus, you can experience these benefits:

1. Providing your new client with honest, transparent communication helps them feel more secure in their decision to choose your agency
2. Adding efficiencies saves time for both you and the client
3. Communicating regularly can help reduce confusion and frustration, which can lead to happier clients

How does workflow automation streamline client onboarding?

In this section, we’ll cover a few different scenarios where you can employ automation to streamline your efforts with new client onboarding. I’ll be using AgencyBloc’s workflow automation tool, Automated Workflow, to design these scenarios. 

When considering using automation, the main thing to think about is that you need something to trigger the action. The trigger can be many different changes, like adding a new record or updating one. 

Once you have your trigger chosen, you can then choose the timeline and types of actions that trigger will initiate (task assignment or email). Then, whenever that trigger is met, those actions will automatically launch per the timeline you create. 

There is no limit to the number of actions you can create, and you can create cyclical actions that trigger when another action (or Activity in AgencyBloc) is completed. That’s a bit more in the weeds, so let’s look at some examples.

Examples of Client Onboarding Automation

Your workflow automation can be as in-depth or overarching as you’d like. You can create multiple actions or just one to two. It depends on what your goal is for the workflow automation and what need it is filling.

For example, some people build an onboarding process from the policy level. As soon as the policy is listed as active or enrolled, the actions start and the onboarding takes off. Everything is in that one singular workflow. 

Others prefer to have multiple workflows created for different scenarios like new client welcome, new policy thank you, policy submission tracking, etc. Each of these automations is separate, with its own set of actions attached to the unique automation trigger.

There is no right or wrong answer, but here are some examples that you could employ. Remember, these can all be grouped in one automation or segmented out to multiple automations:

• New client welcome — email and/or call the new client to welcome them and thank them for their business
• Policy submission tracking — receive notifications (task assignment or email) for when a policy is submitted, received, rejected, approved, etc.
• New policy check-ins — these take place shortly after the policy is approved to see how things are going (Pro tip: this is also a chance to check when they receive their new insurance cards, get their first prescriptions, have their first doctor’s appointment, etc.—again an opportunity for more actions or automation)
• Wellness/usage check-ins — these usually occur quarterly to maintain a connection with the client and see how they’re new doing

Let’s dive deeper into a few of these examples and see how you could use Automated Workflow in AgencyBloc.

New Client Welcome

• You convert a prospect/lead/opportunity to a client
• You mark that individual as a client in AgencyBloc 
• That update triggers a task assignment to the agent of record to call the new client and welcome them
• Simultaneously, a second trigger sends an email to the new client welcoming them and providing them with the agent’s contact information

Policy App is Submitted

• A staff member enters the app submit date into AgencyBloc for that specific policy
• That triggers an email to the agent of record alerting them to the submitted policy
• Simultaneously, the agent is assigned a task to call and follow-up with the client to explain the next steps
• Also simultaneously, an email is sent to the client alerting them that their policy has been submitted

Policy App is Pending

• The carrier updates the status from submitted to pending
• A staff member updates the policy’s status in AgencyBloc to pending
• That triggers an email to the agent of record alerting them that the policy is now pending
• Simultaneously, the agent is assigned a task to call the client and discuss the next steps
• Also simultaneously, an email is sent to the client alerting them that their policy is now pending

Policy App is Active

• The carrier updates the policy’s status from pending to active
• A staff member updates the policy’s status in AgencyBloc to active
• This triggers a task assignment for the agent of record to call the client
• Simultaneously, an email is sent to the client alerting them that their policy is now active and that more information will come shortly

The Policy App is Active example gives you other opportunities to build out more actions, too. You can create actions like:

• 45 days after the policy is marked active, send an email to the client to see how things are going
• 3 months after the policy is marked active, trigger a task assignment to the agent of record for a 3-month check-in
• 6 months after the policy is marked active, trigger an NPS email for the client (NPS stands for Net Promoter Score and gives you insight into the overall happiness of your clients.)

The possibilities are endless. Using automation with your client onboarding process gives you the peace of mind that your clients are well cared for while giving you the space to focus on other revenue-generating aspects of your business.

Implementing a Client Onboarding Process

Find a timetable that works best to check in with your clients and ensure they have the support they need. The other benefit of having a client onboarding process is that you achieve more touches in a year to maintain the connection you’ve built with that client.

Once you determine your process and get the workflows in place, it’ll run independently. Within AgencyBloc, you can choose your scenarios and triggers, so it understands when and what you want to send.

This blog was originally published on April 15, 2019, and updated on July 27, 2021.

Posted by Allison Babberl on Tuesday, July 27, 2021 in Insurance Automation

1. client retention
2. data management
3. insurance automation
4. productivity