Managing Your Agency’s E&O Exposure Online

Are your clients expecting that you will communicate with them on social media and through text messages? As digital communication methods continue to evolve, people are becoming more depending on technology to interact with service providers. 

The topic of managing errors and omissions concerns while using new methods of communication was discussed at the Midwestern Region Agency Advisory Council meeting this year. To provide resources and guidance in this area, the State Auto team conducted interviews with leading technology experts in the insurance industry and researched tips for managing your E&O exposure in today’s digital environment. 

The bottom line: Agents should evaluate their agency workflow and procedures and plan to evolve along with changing client needs. If implemented successfully, your process will contribute to better customer service in addition to managing your E&O and compliance needs. 

Tips for Managing E&O with Digital Communication

1. Involve your entire team. 

Each member of the agency team shares the responsibility to manage interactions with clients using social and other digital methods of communication, including text messaging and email. 

Create and implement a social media/digital communication policy and make sure everyone on your team understands. Involving a group of employees in creating the policy will help get them to buy-in and get others on board quickly. 

Resource: Creating a Social Web Strategy & Policy for Your Agency (Recorded webinar, Agent’s Council for Technology)

2. Evolve the appropriate workflows. 

Build digital client interactions into your agency’s normal business workflows, so it is consistent across your team but not an “extra” step outside the workflow. Evaluate where you may be able to replace older or inefficient steps with these new steps if possible.  

Each team member should understand when to move a conversation off line and into an email, phone call or other next step in the workflow. 

Resources:

• Agency E&O Considerations when Social Networking (Recorded webinar, Agent’s Council for Technology)
• Agency E&O Considerations when Using Social Media (Article by Sabrena Sally, CPCU) 

3. Capture all interactions, no matter where they originate. 

Recommended steps for capturing email, text, social and other web interactions:

1. When the conversation online gets to a certain level of detail, take it off line. Compare this to face-to-face and other undocumented conversations, such as on the golf course or at a Chamber event. You might say, “I’ll call you when I get back to the office/after the event/when I get home.” In this way, you are moving the conversation to a private time and medium to continue. 

• Ask the person for their email or phone number to continue the conversation if they are a new client.
• For existing clients, tell them you will call them right away to keep talking and then call them. 

2. Capture the conversation to store in your management system with a consistent process for all staff members. This may include:

• When the conversation needs to be moved off line, say “I’ll call you right away to continue.” 
• Take a screenshot/screen capture/picture of the conversation. This can be done with the Print Screen command on a PC, or with the screenshot feature on a smartphone (varies by smartphone; iOS involves pressing both the home button and power button at the same time).
• Save the image (PC) or email the image to yourself (smartphone).
• Attach in your management system and document notes from the conversation as needed. 
• Label the interaction in your management system based on WHAT the conversation was about, not HOW you received it: for example, a text about an endorsement should be labeled “Endorsement”, not “Text message”. 

Resource: “Reality of Texting for Insurance Agencies” (Article by Pat Alexander)

4. Set clear guidelines for content your agency creates and shares. 

Relevant, compelling content is a pillar of an effective digital presence for your agency. 

Wherever you post content – on your website, on Facebook, on a blog – you are responsible for what you publish and can also be held accountable for what your agency team publishes. A producer using his or her personal Facebook page to spread the word about insurance services is a reflection of your agency. 

Because it is so easy to post content to the web, it is more important than ever to take a step back and have guidelines in place. Planning content in advance is useful, but not always realistic in the fast-paced digital world. 

• Ensure your content is accurate, fair and not offensive.   
• Letting your team’s personality shine through can help strengthen connections with your clients. However, never include the personal information of your clients or staff. 
• Keep it general. Imagine you are answering a question from a stranger over the phone (but make sure your tone is still conversational, as your readers may become your best clients someday).  Don’t discuss ongoing litigation and don’t talk about specific coverages or claims. Sharing examples and stories is a compelling way to get a message across, but make sure you are not including any details that would let someone identify the people or businesses in the story.  Don’t give specific advice.
• Include a disclaimer, when possible, that your information is meant to be educational only and that specific needs should be discussed with your agent. This is especially important for blog posts. 
• Remember, things you post online can be seen by people in any state. If something you post is state-specific, be sure to call that out. 

Resource: Getting a Grip: How to manage your independent agency's social media (Recorded webinar, Agent’s Council for Technology)

5.  Consider how E&O exposure applies to all your activities. 

Ask yourself these questions:

• Do you refer your clients to other services in the community, such as wellness centers or tax services? 
• Do you mention competitors in the content you post or ads you place?
• Do you use content from other sources? (Hint: make sure it is a reliable source!)
• Do you collect personally identifiable information? (Of course you do, so make sure it’s protected.)

Resources: Refer to the resources in numbers 1-4 above for more information. 

As you plan to lead your agency into the future, E&O considerations will play an important role.  Take advantage of the resources provided in the four sections above to help you create the best path forward for your agency.  

Questions? Add a comment with your question, and we will track down the answer. 

(The information in this article was compiled from articles and webinars published by the Agent’s Council for Technology and interviews industry experts including Pat Alexander and Rick Morgan.)