Most renewals that go wrong don’t go wrong at day 5. They go wrong at day 75, when nobody asked the client whether they bought a second building, added a teen driver, or got a letter from their mortgage company. By the time the carrier’s renewal offer lands, there’s no time left to remarket. This guide gives you a fixed outreach schedule, six emails you can paste into your system, and the two guardrails (producer review and texting consent) that keep it from creating E&O problems.
What you need
- An expiration list you trust. Every AMS can produce one. Run it for 120 days out so commercial accounts get extra lead time. If expiration dates or assigned producers are wrong in your AMS, fix that first. The cadence is only as good as the list.
- A way to schedule follow-ups. Suspenses, tasks, activities or workflow steps, depending on your system. You don’t need full automation to start. A dated task per touchpoint is enough.
- Email templates saved in your AMS or email tool, so staff aren’t retyping them and every version has been reviewed once.
- A named producer or account manager on every policy. Unassigned renewals are the ones that slip.
- Texting only if you have consent on file. More on that below.
No add-on is required for the manual version. If you want emails to send on their own, that usually means your AMS’s marketing module or a CRM layer, and plans vary. Check with your vendor.
Step by step
1. Split the book into two tracks
Personal lines and small commercial don’t need the same lead time. A simple split:
- Personal lines and monoline commercial: start at day 60, with an internal check at day 90.
- Commercial packages, anything with payroll or sales exposures, anything you might remarket: start at day 120, with exposure collection by day 90.
If you get 40 renewals a month and 10 are commercial, only those 10 go on the long track. Clients tune out a fourth email about a $900 auto policy.
2. Set the touchpoints
Here’s the schedule I use as a starting point. “Day 90” means 90 days before expiration.
| Day | Who | What |
|---|---|---|
| 120 (commercial) | Account manager | Internal review: claims, loss runs, carrier appetite, remarket yes/no |
| 90 | System or AM | Email 1: “Your renewal is coming up, here’s what we need” |
| 75 | AM | Email 2: reminder if no reply, plus a phone call for commercial |
| 60 | Producer | Remarket decision logged in the AMS |
| 30 | Producer approves, AM sends | Email 3: renewal offer or proposal |
| 21 | AM | Email 4: “Did you get a chance to review?” |
| 10 | AM | Phone call, then Email 5: decision needed |
| 0 to +3 | AM | Email 6: renewed, documents attached, or “your policy has ended” |
Each row becomes a dated task or suspense assigned to a person. Each task should close with a note saying what happened. A task closed with no note tells the next person nothing.
3. Email 1 (day 90): the information request
Subject: Your [policy type] renewal on [expiration date]: 3 quick questions
Hi [first name],
Your [carrier] [policy type] policy renews on [expiration date]. Before we look at renewal pricing, I want to make sure the policy still matches what you have. Could you reply with answers to these three questions?
- Any changes to your [vehicles and drivers / home / payroll, revenue or locations] in the last year?
- Any claims or incidents we might not know about?
- Anything you’d like us to quote, change or add?
If nothing has changed, a one-line “no changes” reply is perfect.
[Name], [Agency], [phone]
Keep the questions specific to the line.
4. Email 2 (day 75): the nudge
Subject: Re: Your [policy type] renewal on [expiration date]
Hi [first name], following up on my note from [date]. A quick “no changes” reply is all I need if nothing is different. If it’s easier, call me at [phone].
5. Email 3 (day 30): the renewal offer
This is the email that carries coverage and price, so it is the one that needs a producer’s sign-off every time. See step 8.
Subject: Your renewal for [policy type]: [carrier], [new premium]
Hi [first name],
Your renewal is ready. Here’s the short version:
- Carrier: [carrier]
- Premium: [new premium] (last term: [prior premium])
- What changed: [one or two lines, e.g. “the carrier raised property rates in your state” or “no coverage changes”]
- [If remarketed:] We also quoted [carrier B] at [premium]. Our recommendation is [option], because [reason].
The full documents are attached. Please reply “approved” or let me know a time to talk by [date 10 days out].
6. Email 4 (day 21) and Email 5 (day 10)
Subject: Re: Your renewal for [policy type]
Hi [first name], checking that you saw the renewal details below. Your policy renews on [expiration date]. Do you have any questions?
Subject: Action needed: [policy type] renews [expiration date]
Hi [first name], I tried calling today. Your policy renews in 10 days. [If payment is needed: To avoid a lapse, the first payment of [amount] is due by [date].] Please reply or call me at [phone] so we can confirm.
Email 5 goes out after the phone call, not instead of it.
7. Email 6 (day 0 to +3): the close
Subject: Your [policy type] is renewed
Hi [first name], your policy with [carrier] is renewed through [new expiration]. Your documents are attached. Thanks for staying with us.
If the client moved the policy elsewhere or let it lapse, send a short, neutral confirmation that the policy has ended and log it. That written record protects you later.
8. Put the E&O guardrails in writing
Two rules:
- Templates get reviewed once. A licensed producer approves the wording of Emails 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6 before they go into the system. After that, staff can send them as-is.
- Anything with coverage, price or a recommendation gets reviewed every time. Email 3, and any reply where you answer a coverage question, needs a producer to look before it goes out. Log who approved it.
Also log every touchpoint in the client’s file, including “no reply.” If a client says they were never told about a coverage change, the log is your answer. Ask your E&O carrier what they want documented.
9. Text messages: only with consent
A text saying “your renewal documents are in your email” is useful. But texting is regulated under the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). The FCC’s 2024 order says replies like “stop,” “quit,” “end,” “revoke,” “opt out,” “cancel” or “unsubscribe” count as revoking consent. It says you must honor those requests within 10 business days. Practical rules:
- Only text clients who have given consent, and record when and how they gave it.
- Keep texts informational: “Your renewal is ready, check your email.” No sales pitch, no cross-sell.
- Make sure your texting tool processes STOP replies automatically.
- Ask your counsel or E&O carrier about the consent wording on your intake forms.
Renewal notices to existing clients are generally treated as “transactional or relationship” messages under the FTC’s CAN-SPAM guidance, so most marketing-email rules don’t apply. A cross-sell paragraph can change that. Keep cross-sell offers in a separate email with an unsubscribe link.
Common mistakes
- Starting at day 30. By then a remarket is a scramble. Information gathering belongs at day 90.
- One cadence for every policy. A $600 renters policy and a $40,000 contractor package need different lead times and different amounts of contact.
- Closing tasks with no note. Nobody can tell whether the client was reached or ignored.
- Letting a CSR send a price change unreviewed. It feels faster until a client says nobody explained the deductible change.
- Texting everyone with a cell number on file. A phone number is not consent.
When it’s worth getting help
The schedule above is simple. The hard part is getting it to run on its own: tasks that create themselves from the expiration list, emails that stop when the client replies, and a weekly report of what’s overdue. If you’d like to see the system-specific versions, start at the insurance automation page. If you’re weighing whether to build it in-house, the cost calculator gives a rough number for the hours your team spends chasing renewals now.