Keeping your client database organized is like dusting your house. It’s easy to forget to do it, and after a while, you might not even see the problems anymore. However, if you neglect it for a long time, you’ll start to notice that the errors and inconsistencies that you have are impacting your business. These dustballs will start to drift across your business day, causing chaos as they go. How can you keep your databases clean and accurate?
Scrubbing Your Databases
Customer information changes every year. People move, change phone numbers, and change email addresses. How can you clean out your databases when data is always changing?
- Find duplicate people. Perhaps you have someone who’s registered for your newsletter with one email address but several phone numbers. Merging this information gives you a more complete picture of your client.
- Track auto replies and bounce-backs, and remove people whose information isn’t working. If that person is a valued current or past client, try to connect so that you can keep that person on your list.
- Consider removing people who are inactive. If they aren’t clients and they haven’t engaged with your content at all, emailing them or otherwise marketing to them isn’t building your brand; it’s just using up energy that you could spend on other motivated clients.
- Add drop-down menus so that people have limited choices when it comes to adding their information. That way, you don’t end up with typos or multiple spellings for the same place in your database. This helps you target your materials more accurately.
- Have a way to cross-check information during your client interactions. For example, when people renew their insurance, you can check their email address so that you have the right email for marketing purposes.
Consider the Information You Really Need
Sometimes, cleaning involves adding some strategic elements to make marketing easier in the future as well. As you clean out your databases, consider the types of information that are truly valuable. What kind of information do you need to market to your insurance clients?
- How do they like to communicate?
- What’s coming up in their lives – retirement, new baby, teen driver?
- Where do their current interests lie? What pages have they visited on your website, and to what have they responded?
This kind of information goes beyond basic information about addresses and phone numbers, but it’s the information that will give you stronger marketing insight.
Use Your Database to Add Value
Duct Tape Marketing asks a simple question: “What if you look at database building as a service you provided for your customers?”
This question is revolutionary. Building a clean database isn’t just for your marketing purposes; it’s there so that you can provide products and services that are the best fit for your clients. You have a client relationship, and the database is the bridge that allows you to connect.
- If you know that someone loves to communicate by text messages, you can remind them of appointments via text.
- If you know that a family has older children, you can generate marketing offers for auto insurance targeted at families with teens.
While you’re aiming to sell your products, you’re also aiming for accurate interpersonal connections that underlie those sales. Mis-aiming your marketing doesn’t do you or your clients any good.
At American Agents Alliance, we want to make sure that you are ready to excel in the insurance field. That’s why we have resources to help you network, find employees for your insurance jobs, and find E&O insurance. Contact us today about the many ways that we can support your insurance business.
