Customer portals offer digital convenience for clients and improved productivity for agency staff. The more your clients choose online self-service over traditional methods like phone calls or emails, the more productive your agency becomes.
41% of insurance agencies have adopted a self-service customer portal.Source: 2022 Applied Digital Agency Annual Report
Once your clients see how easy and convenient it is to access policy information, view ID cards, generate and download certificates, check on claims, and submit requests for themselves online, it quickly becomes their preferred service method.
But how do you get them to use your portal in the first place?
Here are a few ways to raise awareness:
- Promote it through an email campaign
- Include a link in your agency email signatures
- Embed access on your agency website
But the secret sauce to driving traffic to 24/7 online self-service is giving clients a reason to go there in the first place. And one way to drive traffic to your customer portal is through online payments. After all, paying premiums is something every client needs to do.
What’s that, you say? “My agency is predominantly direct bill.”
Don’t worry; EZLynx has you covered!
With our latest product release, you can provide direct payment links to carriers in EZLynx Client Center. This lets them make policy payments on your agency’s customer portal rather than going to the carrier directly.
On the Payments page, clients can see the policies available for direct-bill payments, each with a Make Payment button attached. Once clicked, clients are redirected to a carrier portal, where they can complete the payment for their policy. EZLynx maintains the carrier URLs, so there is no additional work to set up this feature.
Your customer portal is an online extension of your agency, allowing you to deliver the digital experience consumers have come to expect. Customer portals elevate the client experience with instant gratification any time of the day or night.
Big tech companies like Amazon and Google have set the bar for online convenience – and insurance is not immune. Even during regular business hours, many clients prefer the online option because it’s convenient.
EZLynx Client Center is your one-stop shop for clients to make payments, whether you agency bill or direct bill. When discussing payment options with clients, mention that a convenient payment link is available on your customer portal. Your clients will now have another reason to seek online client self-service, and your agency will reap the benefits of being even more digital.
Since your clients will get better and quicker service with more payment options, you’ll have happier, more engaged clients with fewer calls to your agency and fewer interruptions for your staff throughout the day.