How to Prepare for Open Enrollment & Annual Election Period
There are countless ways your life and health insurance agency can prepare for Open Enrollment and Annual Election Period.
However, we aren’t here today to tell you every little thing you could do. We’re here to share 3 quick things to consider putting into place at your agency to make your workload during OEP a little less daunting:
- Create/optimize your website’s lead form
- Go mobile
- Implement workflow automation for tasks and communication
These are 3 items that would be simple to get going before OEP begins this year, but they are definitely not the end-all, be-all for OEP efficiency. If you’re interested in more in-depth tips, check out our brief guide: Ways to Ease Your Workload This Open Enrollment Season.
1. Create/Optimize Your Website’s Lead Form
Most people search online before making a purchase decision— and many people search online via desktop and mobile devices for local services, like your agency.
According to HubSpot:
- 46% of all Google searches are looking for local information
- 97% of people learn more about a local company online than anywhere else
- 900% increase of “near me” or “close by” type searches over two years
Two takeaways: a mobile-responsive website is crucial and you must have a lead form to capture these searchers!
Having a lead form front and center on your website encourages searchers to get in touch. A form makes it easy for them to submit their information and questions.
However, do not use a lead form if you cannot follow up within a couple of hours (or at the very least, within 24 hours). Several studies show if you wait too long to follow up, your chances of conversion decrease dramatically.
When someone fills out a form requesting more information, they expect to at least receive a confirmation email. Bottom line: When they’re searching for your services, they’re in the mindset to talk, so try to reach them ASAP.
How to Use Automation to Follow Up with New Insurance Leads Immediately
Speed to contact is essential when selling and courting new leads. Use lead forms and automation to ensure your agents are quickly following up.
Agency management systems (AMS) and CRMs often include lead form builders that you can integrate with your website. In AgencyBloc’s health and life insurance-specific AMS, use:
- Lead Forms - These allow you to build forms and bring new leads into your database immediately. Once you’ve built your lead form, copy and paste the HTML onto your website. From there, leads will appear on your AgencyBloc Dashboard as they come in through the form.
- Automated Workflow - Workflows send emails and create internal task assignments for agents to ensure nothing is missed. Download our free Lead Nurturing Email & Workflow Recipes to learn more.
2. Go Mobile
Being a mobile agency means your team can work from anywhere at any time and still have complete, secure access to your agency’s book of business. It’s important for several reasons, but it’s especially important during Open Enrollment season. During AEP/OEP, your team is constantly:
- Helping current clients
- Answering questions/fielding calls and emails
- Pulling quotes and investigating plans
- Courting leads
- Trying to take care of regular tasks along the way
If your agents are tied to their desks or unable to access their book of business on the go, it can be hard to keep the ball rolling.
AgencyBloc’s AMS is a responsive-designed application. Responsive design resizes the layout of a website to fit the proportions of your screen. Whether you’re on a desktop, laptop, tablet, smartphone, or something else, your team can easily access the information they need from any location without hassle.
AgencyBloc Dashboard Analytics on Desktop
AgencyBloc Dashboard Analytics on Mobile
Being mobile-friendly means your team can continue doing what they’re best at—selling and servicing—and ensures they’re not stuck spending time trying to make technology work for them.
3. Implement Workflow Automation for Tasks & Communication
It’s critical to maintain a positive relationship with your clients and prospects. AgencyBloc’s Automated Workflow can help.
Not all conversations and tasks can be automated. But, there are many that can (and should!) be automated. It’s crucial to have technology in place that can help you automate your repetitive tasks.
For example, automate an email campaign that reminds clients and prospects that Open Enrollment season is approaching. Here’s what it could look like:
90-120 days out: Send an email to existing clients letting them know OEP is approaching and that you’d love to set up a time to chat with them about their policy/policies. Use the same approach at 60 days and 30 days (or whatever timeline your agency decides on), altering the message for more urgency. Additionally, set up tasks to be automatically assigned to the agent of record so they reach out as well.
There are a variety of other enrollment-focused communications and processes you can automate, including:
- Policy Renewals
- Lead Nurturing
- New Client Welcome
- New Client Onboarding
- Policy Submission
For more ideas and Open Enrollment email templates, download our free Open Enrollment Email Templates for Insurance Agencies.
How to Start Automating Enrollment Season
These are three options your health and life insurance agency can consider putting into place before Annual Election Period and Open Enrollment season. However, there are certainly more options and ways to streamline your processes and create efficiencies throughout your agency.
To learn more about ways your can prepare your agency for the coming enrollment season, out some of our top Open Enrollment tools:
This blog was originally published on August 21, 2019, and has been most recently updated and republished on August 1, 2023.
Posted
by Allison Babberl
on Tuesday, August 1, 2023
in
Sales Enablement
- insurance automation
- open enrollment
About The Author
Allison is the Content Lead at AgencyBloc. She manages the creation and schedule of all educational content for our BlocTalk and Member communities. Favorite quote: “Conversation is the bedrock of relationships. Without it, our relationships are devoid of substance.” -Maribeth Ku
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