Policy renewal reminders for staff and clients
How Achekam's Insurance pack reminds staff 60, 30 and 7 days before a policy renews, and can tell the client 30 days ahead, by e-mail and in-app.
By Achekam · · 4 min read · For Insurance businesses in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya
Launching soon. The Industry CRM add-on described in this article is launching soon. This article describes it as it will work at launch.
Renewals are where brokers quietly lose clients. A policy rolls over on the insurer's terms, the premium goes up, nobody from the brokerage calls, and the client decides they may as well deal with the insurer directly, or with someone else who did call. Most of those losses are not about price. They are about a broker who seemed to forget. Harvard Business Review's refresher on customer churn explains what the churn rate measures and why keeping customers costs less than winning new ones.
The fix is to know about every renewal early enough to do something useful with it. Achekam's Industry CRM, with the Insurance pack, reminds your staff in good time and can tell the client too. This article explains the reminder schedule, how to switch the client notice on, and what to do at each point, for brokers in South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya.
When your staff are reminded
The Insurance pack reminds staff of a policy renewal 60, 30 and 7 days before the renewal date.
Each reminder is a prompt for a different kind of work. A sensible way to use them:
| Reminder | What to do |
|---|---|
| 60 days before | Review the policy. Has anything changed for the client: a new car, a renovation, a new dependant? Ask the client for any updates. |
| 30 days before | The insurer's renewal terms should be in. Compare them with last year, decide whether to look at alternatives, and talk to the client. |
| 7 days before | Confirm the client's instruction in writing, whether to renew as is, change cover or move insurer. |
The reminders depend on the renewal date being right. That date is recorded when the policy is placed, from the insurer's own documents, so a renewal reminder is only as accurate as that entry.
The notice the client receives
The pack can also tell the client 30 days before the policy renews. Many clients have no idea when their policies renew until the debit order changes. A short notice from their broker, a month ahead, tells them two things: their renewal is coming, and their broker is paying attention.
Time the client notice to land after your own 60-day review, not instead of it. If you have already spoken to the client, the notice is a reminder of a conversation. If you have not, it may prompt the client to call you, which is better than not hearing from them at all.
E-mail and in-app only
Industry CRM reminders go by e-mail and appear in the app. There is no SMS or WhatsApp.
For staff, the in-app reminder and e-mail are enough, provided someone reads them. For clients, the notice reaches only those with a correct e-mail address on their record. Check e-mail addresses when policies are placed and again at each renewal. A client whose address has bounced will not get the notice, and will not know they missed it.
If some clients only respond to a phone call or a message, note it on their record and make the call yourself when your 30-day staff reminder comes round.
Switching the client notice on
Each customer reminder in the Industry CRM stays off until a workspace administrator switches it on. Once on, each is sent at most once, and the number sent in a day is limited by a daily cap.
Before switching on the renewal notice:
- decide who in the office answers clients who reply to it;
- make sure renewal dates on your live policies are correct;
- check client e-mail addresses on the policies renewing soonest;
- tell your staff the notice is going out, so a client's call does not catch anyone by surprise.
The daily cap means a brokerage with many policies renewing in the same week will not flood its clients, or its own phones, all at once.
Moving a policy to Up for renewal
In the Insurance pack, a policy moves from In force to Up for renewal as part of its stages. Use the reminders as your cue. When the 60-day reminder arrives and you start the review, move the policy to Up for renewal so the whole office can see it is in progress. When the renewal is settled, update the record so it reflects what was agreed.
Looking at the Up for renewal stage each Monday gives a quick picture of the month ahead: how many renewals are in progress and whether any are stuck. The stages themselves are explained in following a policy from needs analysis to renewal.
One renewal, start to finish
Take a client with household and motor cover renewing together. At 60 days, the staff reminder arrives; the broker moves the policy to Up for renewal and e-mails the client to ask whether anything has changed. The client mentions a new alarm system and a teenage driver added to the car. At 30 days, the insurer's renewal terms are in, and the client's own notice from the brokerage arrives the same week. The broker compares the terms with last year's, takes the changes into account and calls the client with a recommendation. At 7 days, the reminder prompts the broker to confirm the client's instruction in writing and pass it to the insurer. Nothing depended on anyone's memory.
When something goes wrong
Renewals occasionally produce bookkeeping errors, such as a renewal commission posted to the wrong period. Correcting a journal posted to the wrong account explains the fix. And if renewal season means more staff time and commission to pay, payroll in a small brokerage covers who may approve the pay run.
Check the renewal dates on policies renewing in the next two months, correct any that are wrong, and decide whether to switch on the client notice. The next renewal then becomes a planned conversation rather than a surprise.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
