11 July 2025

Too Many Questions, Not Enough Personalization: The Case for Smart Insurance Quoting

Insurance agents working with traditional quoting systems are familiar with long, rigid, and often repetitive forms that need them to ask every customer the exact same list of questions. You slowly plow through a list of 50+ questions (or more!), half of which don’t even apply, and can even feel like data-harvesting to the customer, rather than a means to find a great insurance match. Inefficient insurance quoting is a time sink for everyone involved.

Not only does this create friction with customers, it can cause a potential customer to abandon the entire process, especially if the questioning seems intrusive and irrelevant to meeting their needs. If your quoting isn’t efficient or personalized, you can lose momentum and sales with it. With the right smart quoting software, however, insurance quoting efficiency needn’t be a pipe dream.

Why Outdated Quoting Systems Cause Operational and Customer Friction

In 2025, the average cart abandonment rate for online shopping sites hit 70%. Now, bear in mind many of these are “fun” shopping trips, where the buyer feels a tangible connection to the product and a “use” they can see and feel – something often lacking when shopping for practical products like insurance.

Data also suggests that the insurance industry is an overachiever in this field, with abandonment rates over 84%. Regrettably, the insurance industry has been slow to adapt to modern customer expectations, and the quoting process is a major bottleneck in this evolution. There’s a pressing need to speed up insurance quotes without sacrificing accuracy. Several factors contribute to this lack of change, however:

Manual, Redundant Data Entry and Rigid Workflows

Legacy quoting platforms operate on the idea that every question is equally relevant to every customer and must be answered. They lack the intelligence to recognize when information is irrelevant. This traps agents in linear workflows that can’t adapt to the customer’s real needs. It’s a killer of insurance quoting efficiency. It also wastes valuable time and damages the customer’s first impression of the agency.

Every Customer is the Same (When They’re Not)

Likewise, these traditional systems have no intelligence in how they shape follow-up questions. If, say, a customer wants basic liability coverage, why would the agent need to ask questions about comprehensive deductibles? Smart insurance quoting software, on the other hand, skips this irrelevant data collection and shapes the following questions based on the earlier data, without missing out on critical information that’s relevant to the quote.

Time Consuming for Agents, Overwhelming for Customers

Redundant questions and rigid workflows like this come with inefficiency built in. Agents are trapped spending excessive time on admin tasks that are often redundant. Meanwhile, customers have been overwhelmed by irrelevant questions, creating a poor impression and friction.

Higher Drop-Off and Lower Bind Rates

Importantly, research shows that 35%-50% of sales go to the first vendor that responds. Those goodwill-sapping redundant questions and lengthy quote cycles can derail the entire sales process. Poor insurance quoting efficiency directly impacts your bottom line through increased drop-off rates and lower quote-to-bind ratios. And the more impersonal and endless quoting feels, the more prospects will drop out of their applications mid-process.

The Power of Smart, Personalized Insurance Quoting

Obviously, questions are important to finding your customer the right solution. Speeding up insurance quotes without sacrificing accuracy doesn’t mean eliminating questions. It’s about asking the right questions at the right time. Smart quoting software shifts the agent from rigid processes that treat every customer’s needs as identical to intelligent, adaptive conversations tailored to the specific customer right in front of you.

Adaptive Forms Reduce Time and Improve Accuracy

Adaptive insurance quote tools use intelligent logic, only showing relevant questions based on the previously received responses. With this dynamic approach, unnecessary steps can be eliminated without missing critical information. For example, customers in low-risk areas have flood- or wildfire-related questions eliminated.

This targeted approach isn’t just a time-saver, although that’s a major help. It also improves accuracy. With the agent, platform, and customer focused on only relevant information, agents can make sure they are asking the questions that truly matter for pricing and coverage.

Personalization Matters in a Competitive Landscape

81% of customers want personalized experiences. If the quoting process feels generic, it shows that the agent or agency is behind the times. Insurance software that personalizes the quoting experience, on the other hand, shows professionalism and that you value the customer’s time while making efforts to understand their unique needs.

Insurance Quoting Efficiency Impacts Customer Experience and Close Rate

Insurance quoting efficiency and sales success go hand in hand. When customers have smooth, personalized quoting experiences, they’re more likely to trust your agency and complete applications rather than abandoning them. Efficient quoting lets agents focus on this crucial relationship-building rather than getting mired in administrative tasks, shifting the whole selling process from transactional to consultative, and improving close rates.

Bolt Helps Deliver Smarter, Faster Quoting

At bolt, we understand that insurance quoting efficiency isn’t just about speed. It’s about creating intelligent, adaptive experiences that work for both the customer and the agent.

That’s why we launched the Dynamic Quoting Questionnaire. Instead of static questions, forms now adapt in real time based on prior responses. With a fast insurance quoting platform that eliminates irrelevant queries while maintaining thoroughness, everyone wins. The Dynamic Quoting Questionnaire gives you:

Real-Time Filtering: Adaptive insurance quote tools and dynamic question filtering for insurance agents recognize patterns and eliminate irrelevant sections automatically based on customer inputs for a cleaner, smoother process.
Carrier Appetite Filtering: The Dynamic Quoting Questionnaire also identifies which carriers on the platform are likely to accept the risk, adjusting accordingly. This means agents aren’t collecting unnecessary information aimed at carriers who won’t quote the risk anyway.
Third-Party Auto-Fill: The process is further streamlined by populating known information automatically, such as driving records, property details, and other publicly available data. Not only does this cut down on customer input, but it also helps increase accuracy and detect untrue information.

Together, these features dramatically improve the quoting experience. Agents can complete quotes in less time, while customers have an improved experience with fewer unnecessary steps. This insurance quoting efficiency translates into direct business results and higher conversions.

Results That Matter for Agents

The benefits of smart quoting software aren’t just theoretical. Agents using bolt’s platform report tangible results.

Time Saved: On average, agents save 15-20 minutes per quote when using adaptive insurance quote tools. For agents handling even 10 quotes a week, that saves hours, and can reach triple digits annually.
Fewer Abandonments: With that comes reduced application abandonment. Customers feel engaged, rather than overwhelmed, which makes them more likely to complete the process. Agencies see 30-40% fewer abandoned applications after implementing smart quoting software.
Improved Productivity and Relationships: Fast insurance quoting platform technology lets agents do more without sacrificing service quality. Improved customer experiences, meanwhile, strengthen existing relationships from quote to bind and beyond.

Your Guide to Insurance Quoting Efficiency: Quick Tips

Insurance quoting efficiency is simpler to action than you may think, especially with bolt’s smart quoting software on your side.

Start by analyzing how to speed up insurance quotes without sacrificing accuracy. Time yourself completing a typical quote and identify which questions are truly necessary. Look for redundancies and opportunities to gather information more efficiently. You’ll be surprised by what you find.

Next, look for adaptive insurance quote tools like bolt’s Dynamic Quoting Questionnaire. The key is adjusting based on customer responses, rather than forcing the same rigid process on everyone. Evaluate solutions based on their ability to personalize experiences while maintaining accuracy.

At bolt, we believe insurance quoting efficiency should enhance, not replace, the agent-customer relationship. The goal is to remove administrative friction without losing the personal touch that makes independent agencies so valuable to customers. If you’re ready to eliminate the friction in your quoting process, it’s time to discover how bolt delivers smarter, faster quotes. Reach out to our team today.