Author: Nancy Germond
Texting your clients, whether a quick update about a new vehicle addition or a client-wide text reminding your clients about the need to review their property values, can add client insight and help you prevent allegations of professional negligence. However, in the words of our errors & omissions (E&O) claims specialists, “If it's not in the file, it didn't happen." They can't best defend your agency if communications you know you had with your clients don't find their way into your final work product.
Let's discuss a few ways your agents and customer service representatives can manage their text messages.
From Text to File – The Critical Importance of Retaining Text Messages
Mallory Cornell, Vice President of Independent Insurance Agents of Wisconsin and a Swiss Re auditor, has this to say about texting best practices. “The best practice that I've experienced for agency texting has been utilization of agency management systems' (AMS) capabilities."
Most major AMS systems have an add-on, at a cost, which connects a phone number directly to the client's file. When the client texts the number, the system documents the conversations and responds to them from an agent's desktop. This helps to avoid losing a text message among other cell phone messages, Cornell says.
“It's important that the agent's cell phone number, if it changes, is current in the AMS," Cornell recommends.
What about agencies without an AMS or that don't want to pay for the upgrade? “I recommend always sending a follow up email for material conversations, just the way one would do for a phone call conversation. A simple email with an unalterable date and time stamp is great documentation and reiterates the conversation for the client. Win-win!" Cornell says.
Best Practices in Text Messaging
Mary LaPorte, an insurance consultant and agency auditor, shares her thoughts on best texting practices.
Embrace the technology, LaPorte recommends. “Most systems today will allow you to set it up so that incoming text messages come into the employee's Outlook and can be replied to in Outlook, but the recipient receives the message as a text." This system tool can help preserve conversations, which is so important when faced with any E&O issues.
While texting is informal, LaPorte recommends that agents reply in full sentences and use proper punctuation. Recall that these can be part of a legal exhibit where the agent's professionalism will be on full display.
Another LaPorte suggestion is that agents and customer service reps do not give out personal cell phone numbers. “Most agencies now have digital phone systems that route office calls to employees' personal cell phones. That is fine since they are texting to an office number, not a personal number."
Don't forget to treat text messages like any other correspondence. Some agents used screenshots of texts, which they then forwarded to their CSR or themselves to attach to the agency file. Discontinue this practice if you can use technology to improve storage of text messages, LaPorte recommends.
Stephen Smelley, founder of Goldfinch Consulting in Portland, Oregon, offers his advice on texting. “One of the hallmarks of creating a great client experience is communicating through the medium and in the manner that the client or prospect prefers." This “place of truth" is “…your agency management system (AMS), where the agency stores all other client communication."
A word of warning from Smelley. “There are systems that you can use to originate and respond to texts through company equipment, but it won't stop most individuals from texting to a personal number if they have access to that number. Having consistent processes in place to capture and transmit those communications timely and attach to the AMS … will go a long way toward improving both client experience and protecting your agency from potential E&O claims."
Regulatory Overview
The Federal Communication Commission (FCC) works to monitor unwanted commercial email messages sent from mobile phones. They offer a reference guide to how to file a complaint if, for example, your agency accidentally misdirects a text to the wrong phone number, or if your client has not opted in to text messages. The FCC interprets the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) to cover most text messages.
Even if you have an existing business relationship with that business owner, you are not exempt from this regulation.
Big “I" Member Resources on Texting
The Big “I" Agents Council for Technology (ACT) offers an informative bulletin with resources to help manage your text messaging exposures and comply with TCPA regulations.
There are important implications regarding opt-ins for customers who prefer to text. From the bulletin, here is some information from ACT on opt-in for texting.
Why Does an Agency Need Clients to Opt-In to Text Messaging and Need to Provide Text Messaging Terms and Conditions?
An agency may ask why it needs clients to opt-in to text messaging and needs text messaging terms and conditions, particularly if the agency communicates via text only with existing or prospective clients or only when initiated by the client or prospective client.
The short answer is that the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC") has broadly interpreted the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA") to regulate nearly all text messaging (aka, short message service or SMS). The FCC's interpretation of the TCPA appears to cover all commercial text messages even if the texter sends to one person rather than sent to multiple recipients. Instead, it appears that using a platform that allows for bulk messaging, which nearly all do, triggers the TCPA's regulations even if the texter does not use the bulk messaging function.
Additionally, unlike the rules for some other commercial communications, the FCC has ordered that an existing business relationship does not provide an exemption to the TCPA requirements of obtaining prior express written consent before sending commercial text messages. Therefore, even if an agency does not have any current plans to text with a particular client, the Big “I" strongly recommends that an agency require its clients to sign (or decline to sign) an opt-in form at the beginning of the relationship, and ideally, each year thereafter.
In Conclusion
Text messaging or short messaging service (SMS) communication is here to stay. SMS is simply one way text messages originate. Many heavy users of text prefer text messaging over a phone call. However, one missing text can open the door to an errors and omissions claim lodged against your agency.
In addition, regulatory challenges can be difficult for agencies to handle, so ensure you're following best practices for opt-in permissions for texts as outlined on the ACT documents hyperlinked above.
Last Updated: December 2, 2022