Bundle insurance to save customers money and grow your business

Everyone loves to save money where they can, particularly when it comes to purchasing insurance. For insurance agents and agency owners, offering to bundle insurance is an easy way to provide savings to customers while also increasing sales.

What does it mean to bundle insurance?

This term describes when an agent is able to group together multiple types of insurance policies—home, vehicle or life—generally at a reduced rate. This makes buying multiple types of insurance policies from the same insurance agent an advantage for customers in both cost and convenience, as managing all policies in one place is less complicated.

How can bundling expand your insurance business?

Offering bundled insurance is the perfect cross-selling opportunity for an insurance agent. If a customer is buying their home and car insurance, they're more likely to add to that bundle when they purchase other insurable property, such as a boat, motorcycle or additional car.

For an insurance agent, creating a one-stop-shop relationship can create customer loyalty, expand your customer base and increase your revenue streams. After all, an existing customer is less likely to buy additional lines of insurance from another agency if they know your agency can add to their policy.

In addition, insurance carriers are interested in long-term growth and relationships, so they're often willing to offer discounted rates for bundled insurance packages—allowing you to pass on the savings to your customers.

What types of insurance can be bundled?

Just about any insurance policy can be bundled. An agent could start with bundling the basics, such as home, property, car and life insurance. From there, consider adding other types of insurance, including motorcycle, boat, RV, travel and even pet insurance. For example, if you're an insurance agent specializing in health insurance, consider offering vision and dental or critical illness policies as well.

Just make sure whatever policies you offer in the bundle can also be purchased separately. Customers don't like feeling pressured into buying a bundle insurance policy, and they appreciate the flexibility to choose.

What are best practices to bundle insurance?

When it comes to successful insurance bundling, here are some best practices to consider.

• Start by informing the insurance carriers you currently work with that you're interested in offering bundled policies. You might have to work with multiple insurance carriers to ensure you can offer a variety of insurance products and that the carriers have adequate network providers in your region.
• Update your website, social media and marketing materials to reflect the types of bundles you're now offering.
• Invest in a client portal or mobile app that allows clients to pay bills, review their insurance information and add coverage easily.
• Take advantage of your customer relationship management, or CRM, or agency management system to identify gaps in coverage and cross-selling opportunities. For example, if you set a filter in your CRM to list any auto insurance customers with children turning 16, you could offer those customers additional driver coverage.
• Consider purchasing data analytics tools that can analyze public records and third-party databases to identify new bundle opportunities. With data analytics, you can tell if a customer's home is in a FEMA-designated flood zone and offer a flood insurance quote, or search Department of Motor Vehicles records for any customers who have recently registered a new vehicle.

By offering a multi-policy insurance package at a good rate with a smooth and convenient customer experience, insurance agents can use bundling to grow their business and make their customers happy.