Applied Marketing Automation by Applied Systems

Summary

Independent agencies have a significant amount of information about their clients sitting inside the management system. The challenge is turning that information into useful communication without requiring employees to manually build lists, create content, and send one-off emails. 

Applied Marketing Automation connects directly with Applied Epic to help agencies use that data for targeted marketing and client communication. Agencies can segment audiences, use insurance-specific content, schedule campaigns, send individual messages, manage subscriptions, and track engagement without maintaining a separate marketing database. 

Why should agencies care? Relevant communication can support retention, cross-selling, prospect nurturing, and the agency's advisory role—but only when the right client receives the right information. A generic newsletter sent to the entire database doesn't take advantage of what the agency already knows about its clients. 

What stood out during our review is the connection between Epic activity data and communication. Applied Marketing Automation is most compelling when an agency uses the information already captured through everyday agency workflows to determine who should receive a particular message. 

Key Features:

• Direct Applied Epic integration 
• P&C and Benefits content library 
• Contact and targeted-list management 
• One-time and recurring email campaigns 
• Epic activity-based audience segmentation 
• Subscription and opt-in management 
• Campaign reporting and engagement analytics 
• Content Assist for AI-assisted email drafting 

Best fit for:

• Applied Epic agencies wanting marketing activity connected directly to their AMS 
• Agencies with useful Epic data that isn't currently being leveraged for targeted client communication 
• Agencies without dedicated resources to continually produce insurance-specific content 
• P&C and Benefits agencies looking to automate recurring client and prospect campaigns 
• Agencies prepared to use segmentation and engagement data to make communications more relevant over time 

May not be ideal for:

• Agencies that don't use Applied Epic 
• Agencies with significant data-quality issues that would prevent useful segmentation 
• Organizations already operating a sophisticated marketing platform with effective AMS integration 
• Agencies looking for automation to replace the need for an actual client communication strategy 

Deeper Dive

The Problem Being Solved: Agencies frequently struggle with two sides of marketing: data and content. 

The AMS contains valuable information about clients, policies, activities, and relationships, but turning that data into targeted marketing often means exporting lists or maintaining information in another system. 

At the same time, consistently creating useful insurance content requires time and expertise that many agencies don't have dedicated resources to provide. 

Applied Marketing Automation addresses both problems within the Epic environment. 

Agencies can use Epic information to determine the audience and then use professionally developed P&C and Benefits content—or their own content—to communicate with that audience. 

The result is a marketing workflow that starts with information the agency is already collecting. 

Why It Matters to Agencies: Insurance agencies have many legitimate reasons to communicate beyond renewal notices and sales messages. 

A commercial client may need information about an emerging risk. Homeowners in a storm-prone area may benefit from preparedness content. Benefits clients may need information about regulatory changes. A particular Epic activity may indicate that a group of clients would benefit from a specific follow-up. 

The ability to segment audiences using Epic data helps make those communications more relevant. 

That matters because the goal shouldn't simply be sending more email. It should be using agency data to create useful reasons to stay in front of clients and prospects. 

There is also an efficiency benefit. When contact information, subscription preferences, audience criteria, content, campaigns, and reporting are connected, employees spend less time moving information between the AMS and a separate marketing platform.

What Stood Out to Us: What stood out during our review is the increasing depth of the Epic connection. 

Applied has expanded the fields agencies can use when building marketing lists to include Epic Activity Status, Activity Code Description, Activity Description, and additional activity information. That gives agencies an opportunity to base communication on what's actually happening in the client relationship rather than relying only on broad demographic or policy categories. 

The content library remains another meaningful differentiator. Applied provides thousands of insurance-specific resources across P&C and Benefits and regularly adds and updates content. For agencies without dedicated content teams, that can remove one of the biggest barriers to communicating consistently. 

Content Assist adds another option for situations where the agency needs original material. It can help draft insurance-focused emails based on the desired subject, length, and formality, with an employee providing final approval. 

We see the combination as more important than any one feature: Epic provides the context, the content library provides the material, and automation provides the consistency.

Final Thoughts

We came away seeing Applied Marketing Automation's strongest differentiator as its relationship with Applied Epic. There are many email and marketing automation platforms available, but fewer can use the agency's management system data this directly while also providing insurance-specific P&C and Benefits content. 

The newer activity-based segmentation makes that connection more useful, while the content library addresses the practical reality that many agencies don't have someone available to continually create relevant insurance material. Content Assist can further reduce drafting time without removing the agency from the approval process. 

For an agency principal already using Applied Epic, Applied Marketing Automation is worth further evaluation if your agency has good client data but isn't consistently turning that information into relevant communication. We would start by identifying several specific campaigns you want to automate—renewal support, cross-sell opportunities, risk education, Benefits communication, prospect nurturing, or another defined use case. If Epic contains the data needed to identify those audiences, the business case becomes much easier to evaluate. 

* Unbiased review based upon information and insights available at the time of publication.