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These days, many insurance agents may want to do more to increase their reach in their local areas but aren't quite sure how to do it. Fortunately, it appears as though agents have the option to get a little more involved in the market through digital strategies that many may currently be lacking.

In general, statistics show that insurance companies or agents can use digital options as a means of significantly improving their bottom lines in a number of ways, and also make themselves a little more responsive to the needs of policyholders, according to a report from the Harvard Business Review. For instance, digitizing data can reduce costs for companies by as much as 65 percent, and improve conversion rates by more than 20 percent. That's great news for insurers themselves, but there might be even more benefit to customers, as the turnaround on insurance processes can be improved by as much as 90 percent, which in turn might engender greater satisfaction and ensure repeat business.

Despite this, though, recent polls suggest that relatively few companies in the property and casualty insurance field seem to actually be getting into the digital realm at all, the report said. Today, about two in five still have not developed a clear digital strategy when it comes to helping customers make decisions about the kind of coverage they need, and only about half of companies have budgeted for plans to develop digital goals in the long-term. Instead, roughly four out of five have really concentrated their digital efforts on either marketing or sales, or both, suggesting that they want more focus on simply getting people to sign up for coverage.

What do the companies doing it right do well?
Of course, the insurers that are lagging with regard to meeting customers' expectations on digital grounds might want to take some cues from the ones that are doing well, the report said. For instance, half of all communications from these companies to consumers are extremely personalized, and the vast majority of employees who work on the digital side have significant experience in the field, as well as more training from the insurers in particular.

Insurance agents may want to do more to find out from customers and clients what they want from the policy providers in terms of digital options for finding the most affordable and best comprehensive coverage available to them. The more they can do to boost business in this way, the better off they may be down the road.

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