72% of unhappy clients point to poor or lack of communication as the main reason they’re unhappy with their insurance agent. If you aren’t communicating with your clients regularly or in a way they expect, and in ways that are pleasantly unexpected, the relationship can deteriorate quickly.

Email is an easy and inexpensive way to stay in touch. So how come it can often feel like it’s not working? The success of your email communications comes down to three things: how many client email addresses you have, what kinds of emails you’re sending and how personalized they are.

Before we dive into the content of your client emails, let’s start with email addresses.

Collect more email addresses

Collecting client emails is an important first step in your communications strategy.

The longer you go without an email address for a client, the more opportunities you miss to stay in touch, cross-sell products or share updates with them.

Time to put a system in place.

Collecting emails can be tricky. The key is to do it in a way that provides a memorable client experience.

Here are two things you can do:

• Send a handwritten card and ask your clients to provide you with an email address. Everyone loves to get a card in the mail, and your clients are very likely to respond to such a personal request. Of course, mailing cards to a large number of clients is time consuming. Skip the manual work and automate the process.
• Pick up the phone and call them with the same request. Whenever you notice you’re missing a client’s email, give them a call and ask for one so you can update their records. Phone calls are also a great way to increase client retention.

Send a variety of emails

What do we mean by variety? Well, if you’re only sending clients one or two emails per year, they’re not hearing from you enough. Not only are you leaving a lot of opportunities on the table, you’re likely hurting some relationships.

Focus on sending a few different things throughout the year. Frequent communication has a big impact on client relationships and how they feel about you.

Here are a few ideas:

• Welcome emails. Make this part of your onboarding process.
• Survey emails. Do you know how your clients feel about you? Having an ongoing communication that measures client sentiment is important to help quickly identify unhappy clients and save relationships.
• Check-in emails. Show your clients you care by reaching out outside of renewal times.
• Renewal emails. Reach out at renewal and inquire about any life changes.
• Cross-sell emails. Use these to cover gaps in coverage and round out accounts.

Writing and sending these emails at the right times can be a lot to take on unless you have the right tools.

With ClientCircle, you can automate all your client communications using our pre-written templates. We also know when to send these and to which clients, so you don’t have to worry about a thing.

Between these emails, you’re off to a great start. But there’s one more thing you can do to show your clients you truly care and help you build even better, long-term relationships with them.

Ditch the newsletter and send more personalized emails

The truth is, generic mass newsletters simply don’t work for insurance. Your customers can tell when they’re just a mail-merged name on a list.

In today’s competitive market, customers expect personalized communications meant just for them. And they want to know about things they find interesting.

Think about two of your clients. Maybe Bob is into classic cars, and Sally really enjoys traveling. If you send a newsletter that includes an article on gardening, are either of them going to open it?

Probably not.

Now think about sending an article on maintaining classic cars to Bob and a video on the best travel sights across the country to Sally. Will they open it?

Probably. They may even respond.

That single email alone will strengthen your relationships more than any newsletter ever could.

If sending unique, customized content sounds like a lot of work—it is. That’s why we created Client Connect. It’s an entirely new way to share personalized content with clients to help you build better relationships.

We have a library full of useful content your clients will love. You can automate these messages or you can send them whenever you learn something unique about a client.