Since its very inception, CRM software has come a long way. Today, the CRM software for insurance agents comes highly sophisticated with robust capabilities to help you manage your entire business processes online.
To help get you started on the right foot, here are 6 best free CRM software for insurance agents that will help you build your small business into something big.
FreeCRM.com
One of the most popular tools, FreeCRM.com allows agents to update contact information, track leads, and keep track of customer service issues. The program also offers an automated sales process which agents can follow to increase their conversion rates. As the business grows, you can upgrade to a low-cost Professional account.
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Reflect CRM Software
This free software doesn’t offer all the features you may want, but it does allow agents to store items, notes, and to-do lists specific to each customer or lead. Agents can also customize reports. This is one of the few types of customer relationship management software that is compatible with both Mac and PC.
Salesforce
Salesforce isn’t exactly free, but at plans starting with $5.00 per agent per month, it is certainly quite affordable, even on a tight budget. The software makes it easy to keep track of existing accounts, contacts, leads, tasks that need to be completed and events. It is compatible with Microsoft Outlook and Google applications. It also allows agents to customize reports. As your agency grows and acquires more agents, Salesforce offers several options for upgrading your account.
Good customer relationship management is at the heart of any successful insurance company. Don’t let hit-or-miss follow-up keep your agency from growing and expanding. Use free or low-cost software to manage your existing clients and insurance leads and make sure that the people who turn to your agency for help get the follow-up they deserve.
Freshsales: Best Overall & Best User Experience
Overall Score: 4.67 OUT OF 5 i
What We Like
- Free option for unlimited users
- Mobile app
- Visual pipeline
What’s Missing
- Weekend customer support
- Built-in policy features
- Limited customization capabilities on the free plan
Freshsales Pricing at a Glance*
- Free Forever Startup Plan: For unlimited users
- Growth: Starts at $15 per user, per month
- Pro: $39 per user, per month
- Enterprise: $69 per user, per month
*Based on annual billing. Monthly subscriptions are also available at slightly higher rates.
Freshsales, a product of the Freshsales software suite, is a great option for use as an insurance CRM. It’s especially well-suited for those who want to track customer engagements and stay on top of interactions and tasks. Freshsales also has a Free Forever plan, so you may be able to use it at no cost if you don’t need additional features.
Freshsales Features
Freshsales functionality is based on the premise that personalized conversations can help you gain exponentially more leads and conversions. Get up and running in minutes with the tools you need to build a complete 360° view of your customers’ journey, personalize customer experiences, and automate lead scoring, pipeline management, and forecasting.
Freshsales sales pipeline (Source: Freshsales)
Freshsales has a variety of features relevant to the insurance industry, including:
- Ability to monitor customer behaviors, such as receiving alerts when a prospect interacts with your website, pricing page, or emails
- Tools for importing email conversions as contacts, and prioritizing leads based on lifecycle stage and interactions with your content
- Allows you to set and monitor sales goals on a daily, weekly, or quarterly basis
- Built-in telephony features logs calls, voicemails, and messages from interactions with your customers
Read our full Freshsales review to explore how this software helps small businesses track deals, engage prospects, and grow revenue.
PandaDoc
Wrangling contracts, documents, and reports is a top priority for any agent working with dozens of clients per day.
That’s where tools such as a PandaDoc can come in handy. Their app not only comes with a variety of pre-built templates for insurance agents, but also allows for quick and easy e-signatures for agents working remotely or on the go.
Having all of your contracts and agreements in one place is a massive time-saver that lets you focus on actually doing business.
According to PandaDoc themselves, users can increase their close rates by 28% with the help of their solutions. Meanwhile, a recent case study2 conducted with one of their insurance agency clients resulted in 800+% productivity and a 30-second contract close time. How’s that for speed?
Zoho CRM: Best for Seamless Customer Communication
Overall Score: 4.65 OUT OF 5 i
What We Like
- Free plan
- Mobile app
- Variety of integrations
What’s Missing
- Limited customer support hours
- Intuitive interface
- Ease of use
Zoho CRM Pricing at a Glance*
- Free: Supports up to three users
- Standard: $14 per user, per month
- Professional: $23 per user, per month
- Enterprise: $40 per user, per month
- Ultimate: $52 per user, per month
- Free trial: 15 days
*Based on annual billing. Monthly subscriptions are also available at slightly higher rates.
Zoho CRM is a popular insurance CRM and offers affordable pricing as well as a wide range of plans and features for teams of all sizes. Among its standout features are third-party integrations and automations that make it easy for you to stay on top of deals and keep in touch with prospects and clients.
Zoho CRM Features
Zoho often makes our “best of” lists due to their competitive pricing, reporting capabilities, technical support, user-friendly mobile app, and popularity. While the Zoho CRM interface may not be as intuitive as Freshsales or HubSpot CRM, there are some noteworthy features that make it one of the best CRMs for insurance agents.
Zoho CRM insurance sector tutorial (Source: Zoho CRM)
These features are:
- Pipeline automations so you don’t miss policy renewals or a chance to engage customers and prospects on birthdays or holidays
- Custom insurance sector modules to aid with policy management
- Claim assignment rules to give customers a single point of contact
- Seamless communication with customers and prospects through built-in channels and third-party integrations such as phone, email, live chat, text messaging (SMS), WhatsApp, Apple Business Chat, and more
Discover how this software empowers teams to efficiently manage their sales, marketing, and customer service functions in one platform in our Zoho CRM review.
CamScanner
Although most of us are dealing exclusively with digital documents these days, there are still instances where in-person paperwork is necessary.
The ever-so-popular CamScanner is the perfect tool for processing documents and converting them to PDFs for your digital records.
Its cloud storage and in-app editing features let you quickly share contracts with your clients and colleagues. This means no more playing the waiting game when collecting signatures.
Google Workspace
The tools bundled in Google Workspace represent some of the best apps for insurance agents that are totally free to use. This includes collaborative tools such as Google Docs, Sheets, and Drive.
Based on Google’s own insurance agency case study3, here are some real-world applications of Google Workspace for insurance agents:
- Sharing documents such as policy renewals and cancellations internally via Drive
- Managing meetings and agency scheduling via Calendar
- Going back and forth to edit collaborative documents via Docs
Oh, and Google Workspace’s low learning curve and free apps are a nice added bonus for insurance agents on a budget.
ScanBizCards
Let’s assume that business cards will still be around before the industry goes back to something resembling “normal.”
Tools like ScanBizCards are awesome for insurance agents looking to reduce clutter and keep a record of folks they’ve met face-to-face.
Not only does the app allow you to convert business cards from physical to digital formats but also sync that information with your CRM (if you’re using one).
Insureio: Best for Integrated Marketing Tools
Overall Score: 4.27 OUT OF 5 i
What We Like
- Designed for insurance industry
- Direct quotes from insurance carriers
- Marketing tools and templates
What’s Missing
- Mobile app
- Free plan
- Limited customer service; no live chat support
Insureio Pricing at a Glance*
- Basic: $25 per month
- Marketing: $50 per month
- Agency Management: $50 per month
- Marketing & Agency Management: $75 per month
*Based on annual billing. Monthly subscriptions are also available at slightly higher rates.
What separates Insureio from other CRMs is that it is an industry-specific CRM designed for the insurance industry. The platform functions similarly to other CRMs, but is tailored specifically to help insurance agents and companies get leads, nurture them, convert them into policy holders, and foster customer retention with renewals, upsells, and cross-sells.
Insureio Features
Because it’s a ready-to-use CRM solution for insurance professionals, Insureio is an excellent option for both insurance agents and companies. Instead of spending time customizing its tools for use, you can use their prebuilt marketing templates and quote widget to start capturing leads and nurturing prospect and customer relationships right away.
Insureio quoting process (Source: Insureio)
Some of our favorite features include:
- Tracks customer interactions and leads for relationship-building and keeps tabs on tasks and policies, such as renewals
- Automates sales and lead nurture campaigns to cater to each stage of the sales lifecycle
- Speeds up tedious tasks such as policy renewal and delivery
- Financial calculators allow you to help clients glean insights and make plans for specific financial situations
HubSpot CRM: Best Free Insurance CRM
Overall Score: 4.15 OUT OF 5 i
What We Like
- Free plan for unlimited users
- Email tracking and templates
- Intuitive, easy-to-use interface
What’s Missing
- Affordably priced plans for larger teams
- Limited reporting features
- Limited support on the free plan
HubSpot Pricing at a Glance*
- Free: For unlimited users (limitation on features)
- HubSpot for Startups: Ranges from $40 to $89 per month
- HubSpot Marketing: Ranges from $45 to $320 per month
- HubSpot Sales: Ranges from $45 to $1,200 per month
*Based on annual billing. Monthly subscriptions are also available at slightly higher rates.
HubSpot is an industry leader best known for their robust CRM software and marketing suite, which includes powerful tools like website chatbots, email marketing, campaign tracking, and website lead capture forms. Although pricing can be high for some of their premium tiers, you can get started using their CRM at no cost, even for an unlimited number of users.
HubSpot CRM Features
HubSpot prides itself on being good not only for the sales department and business, but for the customer as well. As a best-in-class sales and marketing support platform, it offers one of the most comprehensive CRM solutions available to insurance agencies. They also provide users with an extensive library, including educational courses and certifications, e-books and guides, and Inbound Methodology.
HubSpot CRM contacts features (Source: HubSpot.com)
Some of the most helpful HubSpot features include:
- Email templates, snippets, and tracking so you can email prospects and customers and see when they open an email, click on a link, or interact with content you sent them
- Visual pipelines help you track new business and see which prospects are in each sales lifecycle
- Ticketing, surveys, and canned responses to help you track and improve customer experiences
- Integrates with a broad range of third-party apps and software and has a developer platform for creating custom apps and websites
Learn more about how this software helps sales teams manage leads, track conversations, and collaborate more in our HubSpot CRM review.
Campaign Monitor
Email is among the most important insurance marketing tools in your arsenal.
Policy updates. Upsell opportunities. Personal check-ins.
And that only scratches the surface. With email, you’re able to reach your clients and prospects around the clock and in their inboxes, where they’re often hanging out anyway.
Task automation tools like Campaign Monitor can do the heavy lifting when it comes to email marketing. For example, their platform allows you to create workflows and generate automated follow-ups to prospects. You can also use the platform to manage your email newsletters and analyze who’s actually engaging with your messages.
As highlighted by their own insurance marketing examples4, email allows you to build relationships with clients—without having to chase them down one by one.
AMS and CRM apps for insurance agents
For the second half of our list, we’ll break down the best insurance agency management software (AMS) and customer relationship management (CRM) tools. Both types of tools can be really helpful for insurance agents.
In short, AMS tools are specifically designed for insurance agencies and typically include features related to tracking commissions and boosting productivity agency-wide. On the other hand, CRM is a more general piece of software that agents can use to keep track of their individual client history, interactions, and contracts.
These types of apps allow you to manage your client relationships in a single platform rather than bounce between your inbox and spreadsheets. By having a better pulse on your business, you can significantly increase your renewal rate5 — and generate more business over time.
ZohoCRM
ZohoCRM offers a free account for up to three users. Agents can use their accounts to manage insurance leads, keep current with existing accounts, access contact information and find sales opportunities. The program also allows agents to compile basic reports.
AgencyBloc
Designed for life and health insurance agencies, AgencyBloc provides an all-in-one solution for organizations to process commissions and automate sales. The platform allows you to keep track of client relationships as well as the activity of individual agents.
The platform also lets you create automations and alerts so that you never have to second-guess your next step to get compensated. For example, you can see when renewal due dates are approaching. Features like commission projections and detailed analytics can give you a better sense of the health of your business at any given time:
NextAgency
Also tailored for life and health insurance agencies, NextAgency represents a comprehensive suite of tools to manage client relationships.
For example, the platform’s built-in CRM puts your client history front and center. From previous calls and emails to documents and beyond, everything you need to know about your client is up to date and consolidated.
A major selling point of NextAgency is its slew of integrations with insurance agency marketing tools like Google Drive and Mailchimp. You can quickly sync the platform with your communications or email platform without missing a beat.
Another notable benefit of using a platform like NextAgency is the ability to clearly track commissions and prevent lapses in client contracts.
Applied Epic
Applied Epic gives agents greater visibility across their entire book of business. The tool lets you access and automate policies with insurers to guarantee that your company’s information is always correct.
Applied Epic emphasizes pipelines, giving you a bird’s-eye view of your insurance sales goals and whether or not they’re being met. You can likewise see your current opportunities and upcoming activities to help you prioritize your schedule. Like many of the best apps for insurance agents, Applied Epic integrates with file sharing and SMS tools.
Conlusion
CRM is the central nerve-center of any successful business. It organizes your entire workflow, allowing your team to handle your database in an efficient way. For us, the insurance agents, the implementation of CRM or Customer Relationship Management software can even boost or take our business to next level.