Learn ChatGPT: Write Killer Insurance Renewal Emails

Sales representatives—like insurance agents—generally spend only 28% of their time selling policies. The rest of their time is spent managing a variety of other tasks needed to run, grow, and maintain their businesses, like filing paperwork, meeting continuing education requirements, and answering emails.

And one of those tasks? Writing policy renewal emails.

Policy renewal emails are important for retaining clients and earning residual commissions. But they can also be extremely time-consuming. Luckily, there's a tool that can help you dramatically cut down on time spent writing insurance policy renewal emails—and that's ChatGPT.

ChatGPT can help you write high-quality insurance policy renewal emails at a fraction of the time (and energy!) it would take to write them from scratch—but only if you know how to use it.

Let's take a look at everything you need to know about how to use ChatGPT to write killer insurance policy renewal emails, from how to write effective ChatGPT prompts to general best practices for navigating the platform.

What Is ChatGPT?

ChatGPT is an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot created by the research lab OpenAI. The platform uses natural language processing to generate human-like conversations with users based on information it's been trained on (from existing articles, books, news stories, and research).  

It responds to prompts (which are queries, commands, or instructions given to the tool) in order to have conversations, answer questions, or assist users with certain tasks, like replying to emails, creating sales scripts, or solving complex math equations.

Currently, there are two versions of ChatGPT available: a free version, GPT-3.5 and a premium version, GPT-4, which costs $20 per month and enhances the AI tool with access to more recent data, plugins, and fewer limitations. 

Whichever version you choose can be used to help insurance agents in a variety of ways, including:

• Detect fraud: ChatGPT can be trained to detect fraudulent language and behavior to prevent the possibility—and reduce the $308.6 billion impact—of costly fraudulent claims.
• Streamline workflows: The OpenAI API (application programming interface, a way to connect multiple applications) allows ChatGPT to integrate with many of your existing processes and systems, streamlining and automating your workflow.
• Compile training information: Insurance agents can feed resources and educational materials into ChatGPT to transform it into a knowledge base you can use to train new agents—or to quickly reference relevant information yourself. They can even use it to provide highly-personalized analytics data that can improve sales performance.
• Create written content: Copywriting—written marketing content like newsletters or cold emails—can be an effective tool for driving traffic to your agency website and converting leads into clients. Insurance agents can use ChatGPT to generate engaging and personalized content—like blog posts, emails, and newsletters—to share with prospects and policyholders. And with effective prompts (more on that later!), you can leverage ChatGPT to write killer insurance policy renewal emails that help you retain clients—and even recommend better or more personalized coverage.

How Do I Use GPT in Gmail?

Gmail doesn't have any built-in functionality for adding ChatGPT. However, you can use third-party ChatGPT Chrome extensions like GMPlus or Google Workspace add-ons like GPT for Gmail to add this functionality to your inbox. 

Other services, like Zapier, allow users to install plugins that can add automation to Gmail, letting you automatically send out emails (which is especially helpful for cold email campaigns!).

Insurance Policy Renewal Email Prompt for ChatGPT

Soon we'll go over all the details for writing an effective prompt but if you want to skip the instructions, take a look at this prompt and tweak it to your needs.

Quick Start ChatGPT Tutorial for Beginners

The best way to use ChatGPT to write effective insurance policy renewal emails is through a process called "prompt engineering."

Prompt engineering is the process of providing ChatGPT with a prompt—a request, question, or instruction—that generates your desired outcome (in this case, a policy renewal email). And because it's a process, there are certain steps you'll need to take in order to get the end result you're looking for.

So, what are those steps?

1. Open ChatGPT

Though you can write a prompt anywhere, you need to input it into ChatGPT for the tool to generate a response. If you haven't already, create an account on the OpenAI website and choose your preferred version of ChatGPT. 

While the free version of ChatGPT has some limitations—which we'll dive into later—if you're just going to be using it to draft policy renewal emails, it should do the trick.

After registering or signing into your account, you should be presented with a textbox prompting you to "Send a message." If you don't see the textbox, just click "New chat" in the left-side menu. This textbox is where you'll input your prompt.

2. Introduce Yourself and Your Agency

When you're starting the prompt process, ChatGPT doesn't know who you are. As such, you'll want to begin writing your prompt by introducing yourself and your insurance agency. Giving the tool this information helps ChatGPT write an email that accurately reflects who you are and the agency you represent.

Example: My name is Harrison Risk. I'm an insurance agent with ABC Insurance.

3. Explain What You Want to Do

After introducing yourself, give ChatGPT instructions for what you want to do. The key here is to be as specific as possible; as a language model, ChatGPT can understand tone and context, but it still needs specific instructions for what you want it to do. 

In other words, the tool understands what an insurance policy renewal email is but might not include specific details you want to be included if you don't directly instruct it to do so.

The specific information you include will depend on what you want in your final email, but some key elements to consider include:

• When the current policy term ends, and a new one begins
• Any changes to the policy, like an increase in premiums
• An option to review the current policy to see if it still meets the client's needs
• Information on how to update the policy to accommodate changes in the client's needs and preferences
• News about discounts or savings that might be available to the client
• How to get in touch to schedule a policy review before the current term expires

Example: I want to generate an insurance policy renewal email to let clients know that their policy is due for renewal at the end of September 2023 and inform them that their monthly premium will increase by 15%.

4. Define Your Intended Voice and Recipients

ChatGPT can write emails in a variety of styles, tones, and voices. For it to generate an effective insurance policy renewal email, you need to tell ChatGPT a little about how you want your email written—and who will ultimately be reading it.

You can be as general or specific as you'd like. For example, you might want to instruct ChatGPT to use a friendly and conversational tone—and leave it at that—for a generalized renewal email. On the other hand, you might want to specify the types of clients you plan on contacting in addition to the type of tone you want to use.

When defining your email's voice and tone, make sure to ask ChatGPT for a voice and tone that's similar to how you interact with clients yourself. For example, if you typically use a casual and conversational tone when meeting with clients, include that in your ChatGPT email prompt; if you default to a dry and formal style, include that instead. You could even ask ChatGPT to write your email in the style of your favorite celebrity—like Simon Cowell (if you're going for sarcastic) or Jimmy Fallon (if your ideal style is more approachable and funny).

Example: I want to generate an insurance policy renewal email to let my commercial insurance clients (plumbers, builders, electricians, and other contractors) know that their policy is due for renewal at the end of September 2023 and inform them that their monthly premium will increase by 15% using a conversational but friendly tone.

5. Introduce a Call-to-Action

The reason you're sending an insurance policy renewal email is that you want your clients to renew (and, in some cases, change or upgrade) their policies. As such, it should include a clear direction on how to do so.

This means writing a prompt that includes instructions for ChatGPT to add a call-to-action (CTA) to your renewal email. CTAs can vary depending on what choice or choices you'd like your clients to make (like contacting you to schedule a policy review, discussing personalized coverage suggestions, or letting them ask questions about the renewal), so include specific options in your prompt.

Example: Include a call-to-action that lets clients contact me by phone or email to schedule an appointment to discuss their policy and insurance needs, suggested coverage options, or questions about renewal. Also, include a call-to-action that includes a link for them to renew their policy through my website's customer portal.

6. Add Placeholders to Help You Personalize the Email

By using ChatGPT, you can generate highly customizable policy renewal email templates. But in a world where 50% of insurance customers rank personalization as a high priority when communicating with insurers, you need to make sure your emails are both engaging and feel personal. This means instructing ChatGPT to write a killer insurance policy renewal email with personalization in mind.

How? By telling ChatGPT to include placeholders in its response, resulting in bracketed terms that you can easily replace with a client's name and business; that way, you can easily personalize each email before hitting "Send."

Example: Include placeholders so I can personalize the email for each client.

7. Generate or Regenerate a Response

Once you've completed your prompt and entered it in the text box, generate a response by clicking "send message." ChatGPT will start producing a line-by-line response based on the instructions you included in the prompt, allowing you to watch the response (in this case, your policy renewal email) develop in real-time.

But the initial response isn't necessarily the final draft. Give the response a read (or two). If it doesn't sound right—or if you just want to see what another variation can look like—click "regenerate response." This will produce another draft based on the same prompt—generally with some variations in structure and word use.

Rinse and repeat this process as many times as you'd like. Depending on the results, you might want to tweak your prompt to improve your final email. For example, if the tone of the draft is too dry, change the prompt to specify a more light-hearted or friendly style.

8. Check for Accuracy and Make Edits

After generating a response you're happy with, it's extremely important to review the copy for accuracy and make any necessary edits before sending it out to your clients. 

Generally, ChatGPT produces grammatically correct copy, but it's not 100% fail-proof—so make sure to look for and correct any grammar errors. 

If you want to be extra safe, consider running the copy through an editing application like ProWritingAid or Grammarly. 

And don't hesitate to make any stylistic changes when and where they make sense. If a word seems too formal (or casual), swap it out for a better fit.

9. Save Your Finalized Copy

After you've reviewed and edited your email template, make sure to copy the text and save it to a place where it will be easily accessible (for example, as a Google Doc or as a "Draft" in your email client.) 

From there, you can use it as your template for sending your insurance policy renewal emails. Just make sure to replace any placeholders with the names of your intended recipients, as well as your own name, agency, and contact information if and where necessary.

Bonus: Generate a Compelling Subject Line

An email subject line can encourage a recipient to open your email—or delete it altogether. In fact, 47% of email recipients open an email based on the subject line alone. And when you're sending something as important as a policy renewal email, you need your clients to open it and learn about the changes to their coverage.

Before you send out your insurance policy renewal emails, use ChatGPT to generate enticing subject lines that will grab your clients' attention and compel them to open your email.

Example: Write an engaging, concise, and personalized email subject line for an insurance policy renewal email for a long-term client in the construction industry.

Best Practices for Using ChatGPT to Write Emails

It can take some trial and error to perfect your prompt-writing skills. That said, there are a few general dos and don'ts you'll want to keep in mind when using ChatGPT to ensure you get the results you're looking for, including:

Do

• Write concise prompts: The maximum total number of characters (letters, numbers, spaces, and symbols) allowed in a ChatGPT prompt and response is 4,096—and you'll want to use those characters wisely. Be clear, concise, and direct with your instructions and avoid including any irrelevant text or words to prevent the tool from getting confused.
• Understand its limitations: Because ChatGPT's knowledge is limited to 2021 data, you can't rely on it for up-to-date information. However, you can overcome this limitation by including relevant data—like recent regulatory changes—in your prompt. Additionally, the premium version of ChatGPT offers additional functionality; while both versions have access to semi-recent data, ChatGPT-4 (through a ChatGPT Plus subscription) can access recent data via plugins. GPT-4 can also understand context better, helping it craft deeper and higher-quality responses that can improve the engagement and relatability of your emails.
• Give ChatGPT information to work with: Unless you're using a custom plugin to feed your agency's proprietary data, the tool isn't familiar with your insurance products or processes; it can only work off the information it's fed through the prompt. When using ChatGPT to write a policy renewal email, be specific and include all of the details you want included (like a recommendation to purchase a business owners policy or workers' comp policy).

Don't

• Forget to proofread: Though ChatGPT is a tool that's not prone to human errors (like typos or missed punctuation), it can include the wrong variation of words or misuse industry terms. Before you finalize a ChatGPT response—including any emails—proofread it to make sure it makes sense and is worded correctly.
• Skip fact-checking: As mentioned, ChatGPT's knowledge is limited to 2021 data—which can result in it using incorrect or outdated information. It also doesn't cite any information it references. And because ChatGPT might not always understand the context behind certain data points, it might misrepresent them—which could lead to you giving your clients bad advice or information. That's why it's so important to fact-check every data point—even those you initially included in your prompt—to make sure ChatGPT is accurately using the information.
• Forget to personalize: There's nothing less personal than receiving an email in which the sender forgot to replace a placeholder, beginning it with something along the lines of "Dear [Client]." ChatGPT is capable of adding these placeholders on your behalf, but it's up to you to input your clients' names and information before you send off their renewal emails.

Boost Your Productivity with ChatGPT

As an insurance agent, prospecting for leads and servicing your clients are your highest priorities. 

And part of these responsibilities means contacting clients to let them know when their policies renew, what changes to expect, and how they can make sure they have the proper coverage—all with the added bonus of driving your revenue. 

ChatGPT can help streamline your process of writing insurance policy renewal emails, saving you time and energy and letting you focus more of your efforts on finding and servicing your clients.

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