Is your client retention strategy ready for today’s unique market challenges?

The personal lines insurance market isn’t getting any easier. The U.S. is facing rising underwriting demands, there are new regulations constantly coming into effect, and agencies are dealing with talent shortages. 

Unsurprisingly, these pressures are stretching teams thin, making it harder to maintain a proactive and personalized standard of client service. “We’re seeing leaders and owners of businesses that have a staff shortage get involved in some of the lower level [tasks],” explains Stefan Rolfe, director of insurance at Impact Recruitment. “They’re getting tied up in that area, when they should be managing the wider teams, bringing in new business or doing their job function as a higher leader, owner or upper management.”

Unfortunately, traditional renewal strategies are no longer working, and it’s high time agencies across the country rethink their approach to this critical stage of personal lines insurance. Sure, outsourcing renewal reviews to a staffing agency might help agents do more, but it certainly doesn’t help them do better. And pulling in senior talent to fill this gap is costly and unsustainable. 

What’s missing is intelligent support that can keep pace with growing demand, the kind of support that doesn’t rely on high-value employees performing rote administrative tasks.

The good news? Advances in AI are delivering exactly that, and agencies across the country are starting to rethink and implement a new and improved way of renewing policies and retaining clients.

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Traditional renewal strategies need modernizing, and fast

When it comes to personal lines renewals, traditional strategies like hiring more agents to address demand, spending time to upskill existing employees or outsourcing renewal reviews to staffing agencies can no longer keep pace.

Many agencies have tried to modernize these strategies by layering on simple SaaS solutions to existing manual workflows. Email marketing platforms like Mailchimp, for example, have promised efficiency during renewal outreach. However, they seldom deliver on their objectives and instead of eliminating tedious work, they simply give agents new ways to handle the same repetitive tasks. This leaves agents having to still manually compare coverages, review policies line by line and manage constant back-and-forth client communication.

Talent outsourcing has become another common approach to lighten the load. But, while it might reduce day-to-day administration for agents, it comes with trade-offs. First and foremost, the additional expense that comes with staffing-up puts many agencies into the red. What’s more, third-party vendors often lack the expertise or client familiarity required to provide agents (and therefore clients) with any real value during renewal conversations. 

And clients notice. When renewal conversations feel rushed or generic, or when agents fail to adequately prepare, it erodes trust. Why? Because instead of feeling like their agent has their best interest at heart, clients feel like just another policy in the system, which makes them more likely to shop around, and much more likely to question the value of their agent relationship. And given that 80 percent of customers expect a seamless quoting process and 88 percent want clear and concise coverage options, offering a personalized client experience should be top priority.

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So, what’s the solution? Artificial intelligence meets the “agent brain”

More automation isn’t necessarily the answer. Quite simply, agents don’t need more tools that check boxes faster. Rather, they need technology that understands the complexity of the work they do, and that can scale up alongside them as demand grows. 

That’s where AI-powered renewal intelligence comes into play. It’s about equipping the agent with the insights they need to tailor recommendations, build trust and deepen client relationships.

We’re already seeing how generative AI is transforming industries like financial services. In banking, AI is now handling complex tasks such as tax return preparation and fraud detection, significantly improving efficiency and accuracy. Legal teams are also benefiting from AI-powered tools that streamline the review and analysis of documents, speed up contract negotiations, and reduce operational risk.

AI tools are supporting financial advisors and helping them stay one step ahead, and the same is happening right now in personal lines insurance.

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What does that mean for insurance agencies?

It’s important to note that renewal intelligence isn’t about replacing agents. Instead, it’s about giving them a powerful digital partner, one that handles the repetitive, time-consuming work so they can focus on revenue-generating initiatives that contribute to growth. 

By weaving renewal intelligence into daily workflows, agencies can position themselves at the forefront of innovation and client service in the insurance industry. For example, renewals become faster, smarter and more consistent. Clients get a more personalized experience without delays or oversights. And agents are freed up to do the high-value work that sets them apart in a crowded, competitive market.

Most importantly, though, renewal intelligence is allowing insurance leaders to do exactly what Stefan Rolfe described above; it’s allowing them to “bring in new business or do their job function as a higher leader, owner or upper management.” And, as Canadian P&C brokerage McFarland Rowlands discovered, renewal intelligence is delivering ROI within only a matter of months: 

“Usually, it takes multiple years to see a return on investment from new technology but our team is already experiencing that within months. That’s truly remarkable.”
- Christa O'Neil, COO at McFarlan Rowlands

Adjacent to leadership and bottom line benefits, AI is also positively impacting frontline teams, too. In one customer survey we ran, 100 percent of agents stated they believe the use of AI-powered renewal reviews will allow them to improve client retention.

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So, how can your agency get started?

Adopting AI-powered renewal intelligence doesn’t mean overhauling your entire renewal strategy. Oftentimes, the most effective approach to any kind of modernization is to start small and move at an incremental pace.

Begin by pinpointing the areas in your renewal process that are the most manual and time-consuming. For many agencies, that’s policy reviews, coverage comparisons or routine client communications. These are the tasks that bog agents down and take them away from higher-value conversations. Then, look for a solution that integrates with your existing systems and complements your workflows, rather than one that forces a complete change. 

Finally, take a phased rollout to AI adoption to reduce risk and drive trust within your team. Agents get to experience the benefits of AI firsthand, without feeling like they’re being replaced or sidelined. And over time, these incremental improvements add up to meaningful gains not only in your bottom-line efficiency and profitability, but also with agent work-life balance and, indirectly, ongoing talent retention.

To learn more about how Quandri is helping clients modernize traditional renewal strategies and achieve a more intelligent approach to personal lines renewals, book a demo with us today.