6 Best Insurance CRM Software for 2018

An insurance customer relationship management (CRM) tool helps agents and brokers manage policies and renewables, prioritize leads and connect to prospects. We examined 20 general and insurance-specific programs, comparing price and functionality and identified the top six. We also compared document handling and phone integration to determine the best overall and who each one was right for.

Some CRMs provide industry-specific functionality like integrating with insurance carrier quoting tools or access to regulatory forms, but comes at a high premium. A general-use CRM like Zoho can be customized to fit insurance processes and includes document handling, custom forms, quote and invoicing tools making it a great lower cost alternative. Plus, it’s free for three users.

Top 6 CRMs for Insurance Agents 2018

How We Evaluated CRMs for Insurance Agents

A CRM software for an insurance business can help agents manage their contacts and most also include a mechanism for deal or activity tracking. In addition, a good CRM for insurance includes web-to-lead forms, phone integration, file storage, workflow sequences and features like click-to-call. These additional tools can improve productivity, manage policies and renewables and help agents prioritize leads.

The criteria we used to evaluate the best CRM for Insurance Agents include:

• Price: We compared each program’s monthly per-user fee as well as any add-on costs that resulted in additional functionality
• Contact management: We compared how easy it is to create, edit and search for contacts as well as how each tool worked with email, phones calls and other tasks
• Phone dialers and call management: We considered how each tool integrated with voice over internet protocol (VoIP), logged or recorded calls and whether it included tools like a built-in phone dialer
• Policy management: We looked into how each tool tracked policies in process, what data related to the policy was viewable at a glance, how documents were maintained and how each tool helped prioritize follow-up activities
• Workflow automation: We reviewed each tool’s methodology regarding lead and policy follow-up tasks as well as other process automation
• Reporting tools: We examined what data is available to help agents and agency managers monitor their teams’ performance as well as their pipelines better
• System integrations: We reviewed each tool integrations with regulatory updates and cloud-based, third-party programs
• Customization: We reviewed how each program handles customizations like contact fields, opportunity fields and sales processes
• Customer satisfaction: We read through extensive product reviews and compared technical support offerings

Based on this criteria, we have determined that Insure.io is the overall best CRM for insurance agents. Insure.io provides agents, brokers and agencies with a tool that speeds up their sales process, reduces reliance on paperwork and can integrate with some of the best insurance lead sources. Therefore, it provides a great value for the cost.

“My CRM essentially runs my business. Leads that come in off my websites feed into my CRM automatically. An automated email is sent to the client notifying them that I will be calling them. Then, my CRM automatically serves up the next lead for me to call. It’s called queue-based calling and determines which lead I need to call next. It also sends automated emails and texts and reminds me to call for policy reviews. My CRM has not hindered me at all, but rather has made me much more efficient.”

— Chris Abrams, Owner, Abrams Insurance Solutions, Inc.

However, many of its best features can only be found in its higher-priced tiers, and its integrations may not suit all types of insurance businesses. Zoho CRM is a low-cost and versatile CRM program that can help you manage your sales processes, documents, policies, phone calls, contacts and other daily tasks within a single tool. Best of all, it is free for three users.

Best Overall Insurance CRM: Insure.io

Insure.io is an insurance CRM focused on serving agents and agencies in the life insurance industry. The tool gives users the ability to see contact and policy information at a glance but also gives them the ability to reduce paperwork through tools like e-application and e-signatures. Insure.io is best for agents in the life insurance industry who are looking to manage their contacts and reduce their reliance on printed paperwork.

Insure.io Pricing

Insure.io offers a free 30-day trial and tiered pricing for its insurance CRM solution which cost between $25 and $50 per month. The $50 CRM plan can also be combined with Insure.io’s marketing tool for $75. Plans include e-application and policy specific quoters, which may require additional subscription to third-party services.

Insure.io Tiered Features

Basic

The Basic plan includes at a glance policy history, sales forecasting, a built-in dialer and text messaging as well as integrated health screening tools and state-specific policy and service forms. It features quoters for life, simplified issue, final expense, no exam and annuities. The basic plan also offers application fulfillment service, connecting you to more than 30 carriers with e-ticket drop off and electronic signature and costs $25 per month.

The basic plan, however, does not include team views or automatic lead assignment and routing. Therefore, the plan is best for individual agents who want to reduce paperwork by taking advantage of e-delivery tools.

Agency Management

The Agency Management plan includes all the same benefits as the basic plan. It also includes tools for teams such as agent recruiting templates, hierarchy management, agent brand assignment and automated lead routing for $50 per month. However, the Agency Management plan doesn’t, include more robust mass email marketing automation.

The Agency Management plan is, therefore, best for managing teams who would like to reduce paperwork. It is also best for teams that are using another tool, such as MailChimp for their mass email marketing campaigns or don’t use mass email as part of their marketing strategy.

Marketing and Agency Management

The Marketing and Agency Management plan combines the features of the Agency plan with Insure.io’s stand-alone marketing tool. In addition to team management, e-applications and e-signature handling, the plan also allows teams to create mass marketing email campaigns. In addition, the tool also allows agencies to create personalized, marketing-focused landing pages.

Insure.io’s Marketing plan costs $25 on its own, bringing the cost of the combination of the Marketing and Agency Management plans to $75 per month. It is best for teams who want to reduce their physical paperwork, automate their processes and include mass email as part of their marketing strategy.

What Insure.io Is Missing

Insure.io is a life insurance-centric product and therefore many lack built-in quoting tools that are more specific to other types of insurance. It also may lack integrations such as e-applications for other insurance types for the same reason. As a result, agents and brokers serving other insurance industries should consider Radiusbob or more general purpose CRMs like Zoho or Freshsales.

What Users Are Saying About Insure.io

There aren’t many independent user reviews of Insure.io. However, the company was previously known as DataRaptor and was a finalist in 2017 for the Life Insurance Direct Marketing Association Innovation Award. This award is given to companies whose products or technologies have been deemed to be a positive disruption in the industry.

Best Insurance CRM for Commission and Overrides: Radiusbob

Radiusbob is a CRM for insurance agents as well as a VoIP and call center solution with a price starting at $34 per month. It includes click-to-call, auto preview dialer, can track errors & omissions (E&O) licenses and manage commissions and overrides. Its integrations with products like Benepath, Ninja Quoter and HealthPlanOne make it a good option for life or health insurance agents with variable commission rates.

Radiusbob Pricing

Radiusbob offers two types of pricing structures to choose from: lead and contact management or lead and contact management with voice over IP. Without VoIP, Radiusbob costs between $34 and $292 for one to 10 users respectively. With VoIP, Radiusbob costs between $78 and $732 per month.

Radiusbob Tiered Pricing For CRM With VoIP

Radiusbob Features

Radiusbob plans allow you to manage an unlimited number of leads and clients, provide email marketing functionality as well as help you manage carriers, commissions and renewals and can be customized to suit your business. It also offers integration with insurance-friendly, third-party applications.

Specific Radiusbob features include the following:

Lead Management and Document Handling

Radiusbob can assign leads to agents automatically and helps manage both leads as well as clients. Documents can be stored directly in the tool and agents can schedule follow tasks. Reminders and alerts can then be triggered within the tool or sent as email reminders.

Carrier Management

Multiple carriers can be added at a single time. You can then add notes, addresses and carrier contacts. Once added, you can add documents to specific carriers as well as their products and group them by category for easier access.

Radiusbob Carrier Management

Commission Management

Radiusbob gives you the ability to track commission as well as renewals within a specific policy. While the single-person agent plan does not include the ability to manage split commissions, users who sign up for a multi-user plan like the customer service representative (CSR) or agency plan have the ability to assign downline agencies to policies, ensuring that all commissions are tracked accurately.

Communications Hub and Phone Dialer

Radiusbob gives you the option of including VoIP add-on giving you the ability to make and receive calls directly within the tool. This add-on also gives users an auto-preview dialer, local and toll-free numbers and call routing. You can also send text messages, individual emails or mass marketing emails directly from the tool. Refer to our article comparing VoIP and landline phone systems you can refer to if unsure about what option is best for you.

Integrations

Radiusbob works with a number of third-party applications designed specifically for insurance professionals. These applications include Ninja Quoter, which is a term life insurance quoter as well as CSG Actuarial, which offers customized resources such as customized actuarial consulting. Leads can also be reported directly into Radiusbob from HealthPlanOne and Benepath.

What Radiusbob Is Missing

Radiusbob does not include the one-page e-application or insurance specific e-sign capabilities of Insure.io or integration with GetAccept general e-sign tool like Freshsales does. Radiusbob also does not include email tracking or opt-out email list management, although it does include email campaigns as one of its features.

What Users Think About Radiusbob

Users of Radiusbob love its integration with lead providers and that it integrates with Gmail and Outlook. They say the tool is great for predictive marketing but complained that customer service can be slow to respond to questions.

Best On-premise Insurance CRM with Internet Phone: Bitrix24

Bitrix24 is a CRM that is free for 12 users and includes contact management, telephone dialing without VoIP equipment, document handling and records management. It is also an on-premise as well as a private, cloud-hosted version, giving your data added protection. Bitrix24 is a good solution for insurance companies that want a CRM with flexible and robust telephone features or the more control of their client records data with a private or in-house server.

Bitrix24 Pricing

Bitrix24’s tiered pricing ranges from free for up to 12 users to $199 per month for unlimited users. The on-premise solution costs a one-time fee of $1,490 for 12 users, $2,990 for 50 to 500 users or $24,990 for unlimited users. Telephony and edition upgrades are additional fees with the on-premise solution.

Britrix24’s calling rates are as follows:

• United States calling rates start at $0.015 per minute.
• Canada calling rates start at $0.01 per minute
• Mexico calling rates start at $0.01 per minute
• Local number rental costs $4.00 – $11 per month
• Toll-free number rental costs $6.00 per month
• Session initiation protocol (SIP) connector costs $49.00 per month
• Automatic call transcription costs $0.05 per minute

Britrix24 Private Cloud-hosting Tiered Features

Free

The Free private cloud plan includes lead and contact management, unlimited web forms, document search and storage, integrated email accounts, sales team management, scheduling and social integration. It also includes CRM phone dialing, phone call transfer and call logging for up to 12 users. Unlike other CRMs, you don’t need any special IP-telephony equipment. Calls can be placed from the Bitrix24 portal anywhere there’s a reliable internet connection.

The Free plan, however, does not include automatic dialing or call quality evaluation. This makes the plan best for individuals or teams of less than 12 users who want a tool that can manage their clients, documents and activities like phone calls and don’t need to automate their calls or review recorded calls for quality assurance.

Plus

The Plus plan costs $39 per month for and includes the same contact management functionality as the free plan but also includes unlimited access to a document builder, which can be used to create forms and templates. The Plus plan also includes CRM record conversion tracking and change history as well as bulk voice and text messaging and client ratings for up to 24 users.

However, the Plus plan does not include features like backup restore, document lock, sales targets or recurring invoices. The Plus plan is best for larger teams or teams who utilize bulk messages as part of their sales and marketing efforts.

Standard

The Standard plan builds on the Plus plan’s contact management and communication functionality while providing additional protection like document lock, which prevents documents from being edited without permission or backup restore. The Standard plan also gives managers the ability to set sales targets or set custom telephone permissions but does not include custom automation rules.

Bitrix24 workflow automation

The Standard costs $99 per month for up to 50 users making it a best for large teams. This plan is also best for teams wanting stronger role-based permissions, document protection or hierarchical teams that want more managerial tools.

Professional

The Professional plan costs $199 per month and includes everything in the Standard plan but removes the limit on document storage. It also offers work reports and time management tools as well as tools to help manage meetings and briefings.

This plan is best for teams of any size who want to be able to not only manage their clients, paperwork and tasks inside their CRM tool but also want to be able to track working hours or time spent on an individual project. This plan is also best for teams who want a tool that can help manage meetings, briefings or other events that regularly take place in the company.

Bitrix24 Company Performance Dashboard

Bitrix24 On-premise Hosting Tiered Features

Bitrix24 CRM

Bitrix24’s on-premise CRM plan includes features like contact and lead management, document management with document locking, recurring deals and task management with checklists and Gantt charts. The product costs $1,490 for a one-time download and installation and supports up to 12 users and its SIP connector works with all popular SIP phones. You can learn more about the difference between VoIP and SIP phones in our article on Hosted PBX vs. SIP services.

This version of the software, however, does not support external users, nor does it include a helpdesk or ticketing feature. This makes it best for teams of 12 or less who do not utilize sub-agents or teams that do not need a product to automate the claims process.

Business

The Business version of the on-premise software costs $2,990 for a one-time download and supports 50 to 500 intranet users. This version of the software includes the same contact, lead, task and document management functionality of the lower-tiered CRM product but also supports external users and helpdesk ticketing.

The Business plan does not support multiple divisions. Therefore, it is best for large teams or teams that utilize external agents or sub-agents and those who would like to manage their claims process better by a tool like a helpdesk or ticketing process.

Enterprise

The Enterprise plan costs $24,990 for a one-time purchase, which supports more than 1,000 users. It includes all the features and benefits of the Business edition, but also supports multiple divisions and provides customizable web clusters.

The Enterprise plan is, therefore, best for companies who want a single tool, which is powerful enough to manage multiple division and can afford a significant upfront cost. Businesses that like these features but prefer a more affordable monthly payment should consider either Bitrix24’s cloud-hosted plan or a product like Zoho.

What Bitrix24 Is Missing

Bitrix24 has features that can help manage clients, documents, phone calls and track activities. However, the tool is not specifically designed for the insurance industry like Insure.io or Radiusbob. As a result, it lacks integration with insurance specific tools like carrier specific e-applications or quoters.

What Users Are Saying About Bitrix24

Users of Bitrix24 are complimentary of its all-in-one solution for social media, chat, telephone and email communication, although they complain that the product can be slow and may be too feature-rich for smaller companies. However, they say that the customer support is very responsive. You can read more reviews on our Bitrix24 Review page.

Best Insurance CRM for Queue-based Calling: VanillaSoft

VanillaSoft is a CRM with a focus on giving teams the tools to support a highly automated customer service experience. VanillaSoft includes queue-based technology to focus your activities on the next best lead automatically and uses cadence automation in call, email and text messages. VanillaSoft is, therefore, best for agencies and agents with a stable sales process wanting to make as many calls as possible.

VanillaSoft Pricing

VanillaSoft’s costs $80 per month per user with additional add-on features for such as automated dial, for $30 per user per month and VoIP for $33 per user per month. You can also add on call recording for $30 per user per month or smart caller ID for $2 per area code per month.

The features of VanillaSoft’s add-ons include:

• Automated dialing: This add-on costs $30 per user per month and works with your existing phone line to giving your team access to progressive dialing
• Call recording: This add-on costs $30 per user per month and gives you the ability to monitor and record calls for training and continuous quality control
• VoIP: This add-on costs $33 per user per month and includes unlimited dialing within the U.S. and Canada, prerecorded and screen pops; test your VoIP speed to determine how many VoIP can be supported by your bandwidth without affecting call quality
• SmartCaller ID: This add-on costs $2 per area code per month and gives your business a local identity in all your calling markets

VanillaSoft Features

VanillaSoft’s CRM solution gives users the ability to manage their leads, set appointments and create web-to-lead forms that can be embedded into a company’s website. It also offers logical branch scripting, real-time activity dashboards and customized web reporting in addition to team-based and multilevel selling.

Scripting

VanillaSoft’s most compelling feature is its logical-branch scripting that helps agents and sales representatives adapt to changes in a conversation with a client. The tool helps you build out potential responses and objections a prospect might have at any given stage of the process. Your reps can then see information that can help them handle changes in the conversation while staying on script. This increases prospect engagement and helps them close more leads.

Auto and Progressive Dialing

VanillaSoft’s auto-dialing software helps to speed up the flow of communication. Users can choose to either use progressive or preview auto-dialing. Progressive dialing will dial the next number based on lead priority automatically following a completed call while preview dialing presents users with a quick summary of the contact’s information before making the call.

Lead and Sales Tracking

VanillaSoft includes a call-activity dashboard, which can give agents a view of their activity on a single screen. Data can also be filtered and segmented for more targeted sales and marketing campaigns. VanillaSoft also gives you the ability to create custom fields and offers lead scoring to help you better manage your leads. Our article on Call Center Metrics can give you additional insight as to what data is best for tracking your team’s performance.

Workflow Automation and Integration

VanillaSoft includes web-to-lead forms that work with your website. New web leads are routed to the front of the call queue automatically, making sure you or your team is focused on the most interested clients. Even when there are no incoming web leads, VanillaSoft still provides queue-based lead management and lead routing to help agents connect with the most promising leads.

What VanillaSoft Is Missing

VanillaSoft does not offer document control or document handling like Bitrix24 or Zoho offers. It also does not have insurance specific integrations. Therefore, VanillaSoft is best for agencies or agents who manage tasks like quotes, invoices or manage their policies through another tool, customer service representatives or for call centers serving the insurance industry.

What Users Are Saying About VanillaSoft

VanillaSoft users say the customer support is excellent and the logical-branching tool is great for businesses with highly customized sales processes. Users say the tool’s functionality could be improved if it allowed you to specify best time of day for a call or if you could log call notes while the call is still in process rather than only when the call has been terminated. Otherwise, the tool is highly recommended.

Best Insurance CRM With Forms & Document Management: Zoho

Zoho is a full-featured CRM with powerful built-in functionality and an ever-expanding menu of third-party integrations. It offers contact management, web form builders, document control and social media engagement with deal management as well as phone logging. Zoho is best for Insurance companies wanting to create their own custom forms and better communicate with prospects.

Zoho Pricing

Zoho offers a free plan for up to three users which includes contact and opportunity management. Additional functionality and customization are offered through its paid plans, which range between $12 per user per month and $20 per user per month.

Zoho’s Tiered Features

Zoho’s Free plan supports up to three users and includes lead and contact management. It also has more unique activity tracking features such as phone logging and social media connections and can track up to 5,000 website visitors per month. The Free plan, however, lacks the ability to route leads to specific users, create custom fields or manage orders.

Therefore the Free plan is best for teams of three or less who want to be able to create web contact as well as web-to-lead forms and don’t need custom fields. It is also best for teams who manage their quotes and invoicing through another accounting tool.

Standard

The Standard plan costs $12 per user per month and allows users to add up to 10 custom fields and create up to 100 custom reports which can then be scheduled and delivered to users daily. Like the Free plan, the Standard plan integrates with Twitter, Facebook and Google+. It also allows you to send bulk emails, tracks even more website visitor interactions and provides sales forecasting as well as email delivery insights.

The Standard plan is, therefore, best for sales teams who want more insights into a lead’s behavior as well as being able to track phone, email or social media communications. The Standard plan is also a good fit for groups of more than three sales team members.

Professional

The Professional plan offers similar price book and order management functionality as found in Salesforce but costs only $20 per user per month, making it a much more affordable alternative. The Professional plan includes access to Zoho’s proprietary SalesSignals functionality which automates lead scoring and helps you prioritize lead follow-up better. It also lets you add up to 150 custom fields per module.

Its custom field offering and conditional follow-up rules that can be tied to CRM field updates make it a great alternative for teams looking for a tool with a high degree of workflow automation. The Professional plan is also best for those who would like to capture leads directly from social media.

What Zoho Is Missing

Zoho has a number of great bonus features like mobile readiness built-in card scanner as well as third-party integrations like Google Apps, Google AdWords and DocuSign. While the tool does not have a built-in module for handling renewals, claims and endorsements, it does integrate with insurance broker-centric Kava, which can fill in some of those gaps.

What User’s Think About Zoho

Zoho users report the tool makes it easy to customize, track prospects and set future tasks. They say data is easy to import from existing CRMs, making the switch over less painful. However, they do say that technical support could be improved. Fixes and new features are slow to roll out and the user interface could be easier to navigate. For more user reviews, you can visit our Zoho Review page.

Best Insurance CRM for Deal Flow Management: Freshsales

Freshsales is a fully featured CRM offering contact management as well as flexible lead and opportunity tracking, letting you customize it to your needs. Its web-to-lead forms, built-in dialer and deal tracking features are free to use for an unlimited number of users. Therefore, Freshsales is a superb choice for businesses wanting an inexpensive insurance CRM to manage contacts and deal flow.

Freshsales Pricing

Freshsales has a free forever plan giving unlimited users contact management capability. Additional functionality including deal management as well as advanced analytics are available in its paid plans, which range from $12 per user per month to $49 per user per month, which are a savings compared to many of the other products we compared.

Freshsales Tiered Features

The Sprout plan is Freshsales’ free entry-level plan and provides the basic contact management functionality you would expect in a CRM. It also offers rules-based scoring to help you prioritize lead follow-up and web-to-lead capture forms that can help speed up the data entry process better.

However, the Sprout plan lacks many of the more robust opportunity management features and email tools found in the paid plans. For this reason, the Sprout plan is best for business looking for an affordable tool for managing their client and contact relationship details and little else.

Blossom

The Blossom plan cost $12 per user per month, which is still significantly less other tools. In addition to helping you manage your contact relationships, the Blossom plan offers opportunity management, bulk emails with templates and email tracking. It also lets you dial contacts and log your phone call activities without leaving the tool.

The Blossom plan does not include team management functionality as is found in the next tiers of plans. Therefore, the Blossom plan is best for individuals or highly independent sales teams who want to track their calls or send mass emails.

Garden

The Garden plan provides the team management functionality the Blossom plan lacks for $25 per user per month. This plan also automates the lead process by allowing lead assignment and routing. The Garden plan does not, however, does not allow you to create custom sales activities as you can do with the Estate plan, nor does it provide time-based workflows or include a dashboard.

For this reason, the Garden plan is best for sales teams who do not need advanced customization. It is also best for those who are disciplined when it comes to setting manual workflow reminders.

Estate

The Estate plan includes dashboards as part of its reporting features, but extends the tool’s contact relationship management and lead scoring functionality to include a contact’s activities on your website. This is a feature not found in any of Freshsales’ lower-tiered plans.

The Estate plan costs $49 per user per month, which is still more affordable many insurance industry-specific tools. This makes it a good fit for sales teams who want to utilize their website better as part of their lead prioritization strategy.

What Freshsales Is Missing

Freshsales lacks the ability to issue quotes or invoices directly out of the tool or invoicing. Nor does it include pricing books, which Zoho offers which could be used to manage carrier products. It does, however, integrate with Freshdesk, GetAccept, Google Apps and Segment, which can be used to overcome some of these gaps.

What User’s Think About Freshsales

Freshsales users like the deals page and how Freshsales displays the entire sales process. They praise the customer service for technical support and how easy it is to customize the CRM. However, they give the tool lower marks for the quality of the standard reports and have complained the service can slow depending on internet connection. You can read more in-depth reviews on our Freshsales Review page.

The Bottom Line

Insure.io is a great CRM for insurance agents, brokers and agencies. It helps teams reduce their reliance on paperwork, can help them better manage their contacts and integrates with some of the best insurance lead sources. Insure.io is an especially good choice for those in the life insurance industry.

However, it is not the lowest cost CRM available in the market. For those who are looking for a more affordable option or those that might be better served by a tool with fewer niche integrations should consider a tool like Zoho. Zoho CRM is a low-cost and versatile CRM program that can help you manage your sales processes, policies, phone calls, contacts and other daily tasks within a single tool. Best of all, it is free for three users.

Visit Zoho