Customer satisfaction is crucial to keeping your insurance agency alive and well. Happy, satisfied customers become repeat buyers and bring new customers your way. Referrals can be your primary source of leads, with 60 out of 100 new leads coming directly from referrals. Doesn’t sound too shabby, does it?
According to Outbound Engine, ninety-two percent of customers put more stock in the referrals they receive from friends and family than they do in any other form of advertising. Not only does an insurance referral create a new customer, it solidifies brand loyalty and helps retain existing customers. Pretty sweet deal!
Referral customers act as brand ambassadors for your insurance agency. Just take a look at these stats—they speak for themselves:
- People are 4 times more likely to buy when referred by a friend. (Source: Nielsen)
- Businesses with happy customers have as much as 16% advantage over competitors in consumers’ willingness to buy, reluctance to switch brands and likelihood of recommending them. (Source: Temkin Group)
- Word of mouth referrals are the primary factor behind 20 to 50% of all purchasing decisions. (Source: McKinsey)
- Customer churn because of declining loyalty and poor customer experiences represents as much as $470 billion Life and Property & Casualty premiums globally. (Source: Accenture Strategy Report)
- A referred customer has an average of 92% retention rate over the first three years versus a 67% rate for a customer from any other marketing source. (Source: IIAD Dallas)
One surefire way to make sure customer satisfaction skyrockets? Go the extra mile. Going above and beyond for customers will improve your referral rate. Make each customer feel special and always put them first. Going above and beyond means delivering that over-the-top “WOW” level of superior customer satisfaction and experience.
Here are some other great ways to achieve customer satisfaction.
Be attentive. Always be there for your customer. Respond to their questions and help guide them through the confusing path of insurance. Remember that they are looking to you for your expert advice and guidance—insurance is uncharted territory for most customers. Check in with them regularly to see about any life changes or if they need any additions to insurance. Be proactive about finding the best rate for them. Put their needs before your commission and you’ll see the financial benefits in the long-term.
How to Gauge Customer Satisfaction – 2 of Your Go-To Tools
How do you know if you’re meeting the expectations of current and potential customers? Try using one of these effective tools as a benchmark for how you perform as an insurance agent.
Customer Satisfaction Survey
Not only will a solid customer satisfaction survey provide a benchmark for how you are as an insurance agent, it also will communicate to your customers that you genuinely care about your performance. It shows that you’re interested in them as people and that will speak volumes. Before preparing a survey, keep these tips in mind:
- Keep it simple. Never bombard your customers with too many questions. It may deter them from responding at all.
- Carefully select what subjects are most important to measure. Are you interested in discovering how your communications are received? Do your customers feel in the know? That you have their best interest at heart?
- What medium is best for reaching your customers—is it using an email to send your customer satisfaction survey, an interactive website or enclosing a response card with every policy?
Track these Critical Metrics
Looking into your metrics will help you pinpoint where you can make the most impactful improvements. Guiding Metrics shares which 18 are the most important metrics you should start tracking today to improve customer satisfaction and your bottom line.
Leveraging customer satisfaction to increase insurance referrals will create customer advocates of your business. They will give your insurance agency positive word-of-mouth advertising to start increasing your retention rates and profitability. Providing superb customer service has never been more important than it is today. Remember that happy customers can lead to more referrals, which can lead to a fantastic return on your investment.
Pivot Your Insurance Agency Towards Sustainable Growth Are you an insurance agent who feels that your agency is stuck? Is your team grinding new leads each month yet your agency never seems to grow? Client Focus has worked with thousands of agents over the past 15 years just like you. Our purpose is to help your insurance agency pivot onto a path to sustainable growth.
