Best Practices for Texting Health, Benefits, & Senior Insurance Consumers

Table of Contents

• The rise of text messaging in health insurance
• Understanding text message compliance requirements for health insurance agencies
• Best practices for text message marketing & communications

Text Messaging Best Practices for Health & Benefits Insurance Agencies

It’s not a secret that text messaging has ballooned in popularity over the last decade. From when smartphones and texting started gracing the scene in the early 2000s to today, when they’re universal, we’ve seen a lot of change. Although text messaging is a deeply ingrained part of our everyday lives, it’s still a growing marketing and communication tactic for health, benefits, and senior insurance agencies and uplines. 

This blog will focus on the rise of text messaging in the health insurance industry, best practices agencies should consider when texting prospects and clients, and the communications your team can send via text message.
 

The Rise of Text Messaging in Health Insurance

Before we dive in, let’s define SMS text messages: “SMS (Short Message Service), commonly referred to as 'text messaging,' is a service for sending short messages of up to 160 characters (224 character limit if using a 5-bit mode) to mobile devices, including cellular phones and smartphones.”

The average US smartphone user spends 26+ minutes texting each day. Text messaging is quickly becoming the primary way we communicate with others. It’s also becoming the preferred way. 

There is a ton of research and statistics out there about text message usage, but here are some of the highlights:

• Businesses that use text messages to communicate with consumers are over 217% more successful than those that don’t
• 99% is the average open rate for text messages, compared to 28-33% average for emails
• Over 90% of businesses that text their customers report marketing success
• 59% of consumers respond to B2C text messages within five minutes, and 77% respond within 15 minutes

Text messaging provides many benefits for insurance agencies. It’s fast, has great open and click-through rates, and is accessible to nearly everyone. Additional advantages of business-to-consumer (B2C) texting include:

• There’s no hold time. Sitting on hold waiting to speak to someone is frustrating. Even if the business offers a call-back option, you’re still waiting around for that call. Texting eliminates that frustration as you can read and respond to a text message at any point with little to no disruption to your life.
• It creates instant records. The health insurance industry is heavily focused on releasing compliance regulations centered around transparency. Record keeping is a big part of that. Text messages provide instant records, especially if your team uses a CRM with built-in texting tools, like AgencyBloc’s AMS+ solution and the companion AMS+ Talk & Text mobile app (available with specific packages).
• It makes sending links simple. Trying to explain where articles are or spell the URL out over the phone is maddening. Text messages make sending links simple and accessible.
• It saves the business money. Since texting is faster, it’s often cheaper than calling, when considering the cost of employee time. 

Now, let’s discuss compliance and best practices for texting your insurance prospects and clients.

Understanding Text Message Compliance Requirements for Health Insurance Agencies

For the United States, SMS compliance is governed by three main bodies: 

• The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) 
• The Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
• The Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association (CTIA)

In 1991, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) was passed to protect consumers from unwanted telemarketing and text messages. Under the TCPA, companies are required to:

• Obtain prior express consent from consumers before making telemarketing calls or sending text messages to their cell phones
• Provide consumers with an easy opt-out mechanism for future calls or text messages
• Keep records of consumer consent for a certain period of time
• Honor the National Do Not Call Registry, which allows consumers to opt out of telemarketing calls

Additionally, the CAN-SPAM Act was passed in 2003. While this act is commonly referenced when discussing email marketing, it also covers text messages. To comply with CAN-SPAM for text messaging, you must provide:

• Identification
• Instructions for opting out
• A phone number to reply to or call back

We’ve mentioned offering opt-out options a couple of times, but what does that look like? You can always include a line like: “Reply END to opt out of future communications.” Some of the most common and honored opt-out terms include:

• STOP
• QUIT
• UNSUBSCRIBE
• OPT-OUT
• CANCEL

Lastly, as a health, benefits, and senior insurance organization, your team has access to sensitive personal information. Always consider HIPAA regulations and personal identifiable information (PII) best practices when sending text messages.

Best Practices for Text Message Marketing & Communications

Just like all communication, personalization is one of the best practices your insurance agency or upline can employ. Having tools at your disposal that allow for mass personalized text messages is essential. 

The next step is to determine when and how often to communicate via text message. 

For health insurance, group benefits, and senior insurance agencies, some of the top things to communicate about include:

• Celebratory messages: happy birthday, happy anniversary, etc.
• Confirmation messages: lead form submissions, scheduled appointments, consent to receive text messages, etc.
• Reminder messages: upcoming appointments, deadlines, OEP/AEP dates, etc.
• Nurture-focused message: lead nurturing, new client onboarding, policy renewals, etc.
• Educational messages: related industry news, changes, carrier- or plan-specific announcements, etc.
• Business-related messages: office hour changes, holidays, etc.

Be sure you have the consent of the recipient to send text messages, whether they’re a client or prospect. This is the same best practice with email marketing. We all receive many spam phone calls, text messages, and emails, so you don’t want to add to that or diminish your business's reputation. 

Are you looking for more ideas about using text messaging in your agency’s lead nurturing efforts? Check out our free templates, Lead Nurturing Email, Text Message, & Workflow Recipes.

Finding a balance between promotional, nurturing, celebratory, and transactional text messages is essential. Work with your team and gather feedback from prospects and clients to find the right cadence for your organization.

Health Insurance Text Messaging Tools in AMS+

Insurance is a relationship business. Your agency or upline must have the tools to maintain a connection, including the ability to send text messages.

Source | AMS+

AgencyBloc’s AMS+ solution is our industry-leading agency management system for health, benefits, and senior insurance agencies and uplines. AMS+ has integrated text messaging tools, including the AMS+ Talk & Text companion mobile app (available with specific packages), that simplify agency communications. Send text messages to contacts, automate text messaging for prospects and clients, and centralize all your communications in one place — AMS+.

Health Insurance Text Messaging FAQ

1. What types of messages should agencies send via text?

The best types of text messages for health insurance agencies to send are: 

• Confirmation (appointments, lead form receipts)
• Reminders (renewals, deadlines)
• Celebratory messages
• Policy or compliance updates
• New plan announcements
• Nurture-oriented content
• Relevant industry info
• Helpful links

2. How frequently should health insurance agents text clients?

The sweet spot is around one message per week, or 2–6 texts per month. Balancing promotional, transactional, celebratory, and nurturing content helps keep communication welcome rather than invasive.

3. What is required for texting compliance?

Agencies need prior express consent, clear opt-out instructions, the ability to honor “STOP” requests promptly, and diligent record-keeping for consent to align with TCPA, CAN-SPAM, and HIPAA standards.

4. How can business text messaging personalization be achieved at scale?

Use a CRM with integrated SMS tools that support personalized merge fields, triggered workflows, and tailored group messaging. This ensures relevance while maintaining operational efficiency.

5. Why should insurance agents include texting alongside other communication channels?

Different clients prefer different communication styles. By combining text messages with phone calls, emails, and in-person contact, health insurance agencies ensure messages are received in the most effective way for each individual — improving both engagement and retention.

Posted by Allison Babberl on Friday, May 29, 2026 in Texting

1. insurance automation
2. selling