What Rocket Referrals does

Rocket Referrals, operating under the trade name ClientCircle since October 2022, is a Des Moines, Iowa-based private SaaS company founded in 2013 that builds marketing automation, CRM, and client engagement software exclusively for the US insurance industry. The platform is structured as a core CRM foundation supplemented by interconnected modules covering sales pipeline management, service request workflows, multi-channel engagement (email, SMS, web chat, direct mail, campaigns), reputation and review management with NPS surveys, interactive analytics dashboards, an insurance agency website builder, and add-ons including handwritten cards, gift cards, and loyalty surveys. The technical architecture centers on deep two-way integrations with the dominant agency management systems — HawkSoft, Applied Epic/TAM, Vertafore AMS360 and QQ Catalyst, AgencyBloc, EZLynx, Xanatek IMS 4, NowCerts, Agency Matrix, and others — enabling automated synchronization of contacts, policies, referrals, tasks, and notes; a Sidecar browser extension embeds ClientCircle views inside HawkSoft, and a Client Connect (formerly Rocket Connect) product provides custom integrations for carriers, aggregators, and management systems.

The company monetizes through monthly subscription tiers priced by contact count and employee count, with additional contacts available at $40 per month per 1,500 contacts and a Pro plan that includes one single-step campaign. An enterprise tier with custom pricing serves insurance carriers, aggregators, and management systems, while paid consulting services staffed by insurance marketing experts provide a high-touch services revenue stream. Go-to-market combines a self-serve product-led sign-up flow at app.rocketreferrals.com with direct enterprise sales for larger organizations, supported by content marketing (blog, resources, webinars) and channel visibility through Trusted Choice, ERIE Insurance, Safeco Insurance, SIAA, and Firstchoice.

Customer evidence skews entirely to small and mid-sized independent insurance agencies (Wood Griffith Insurance, Brundige Insurance, Chris Arnott Agency), and the platform carries SOC 2 and HIPAA compliance with a Business Associate Agreement available for covered entities. Rocket Referrals operates with 11–50 employees, has not disclosed outside funding, and is led by co-founder Carl Maerz alongside founder and CEO Torey Maerz.

Name

Rocket Referrals

Legal name

ClientCircle

Website

https://rocketreferrals.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2013

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Rocket Referrals (ClientCircle) is a Des Moines-based vertical SaaS company that provides CRM, marketing automation, and client engagement software purpose-built for US insurance agencies, integrating directly with major agency management systems.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Insurance CRM and Marketing Automation Software

NAICS

Advertising, Public Relations, and Related Services (5418)

SIC

Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370)

akta.pro primary industry

Customer, Marketing & Sales Consulting (BPAHACAG)

Keywords

• Insurance CRM software
• Insurance marketing automation
• Agency management integration
• Insurance client engagement
• Referral management software

Headquarters

HQ city

Des Moines

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Subscription Recurring Revenue: Subscription-based pricing model with tiered plans based on number of contacts and employees. Additional contacts can be purchased at $40 per month for every 1,500 additional contacts. Pro plan includes one single-step campaign with upgrade options for additional campaigns.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

ClientCircle (formerly Rocket Referrals) is a cloud-based CRM and marketing automation platform purpose-built for insurance agencies. It unifies customizable CRM, sales pipeline management, service workflows, multi-channel client engagement (email, text, web chat, direct mail), reputation management, analytics, and insurance agency website building into a single platform that two-way syncs contact and policy data with major agency management systems.

Product overview

ClientCircle (formerly Rocket Referrals) is a unified marketing automation and CRM platform specifically designed for insurance agencies. The platform operates as a platform-plus-modules architecture, with a core CRM as the foundation supplemented by interconnected modules including Sales tools, Service tools, Engagement (marketing automation), Reputation management, Analytics, Insurance websites, and Consulting services. The platform integrates directly with agency management systems (AMS) including HawkSoft, AgencyBloc, Applied Epic/TAM, EZLynx, Vertafore products, Xanatek IMS 4, and others to sync contact and policy data. Enterprise clients can access Client Connect for custom integrations. The platform also offers Sidecar, a complementary tool that works within HawkSoft to display ClientCircle data.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Insurance CRM Fully customizable customer relationship management system built specifically for insurance professionals to manage prospect and client relationships and book of business marketing activities.
• Sales Tools Customizable sales pipeline builder and opportunity tracking tools that automate follow-ups to convert more prospects into clients for insurance agencies.
• Service Tools Service request management with custom service pipelines designed to streamline insurance workflows and improve team efficiency.
• Engagement (Marketing Automation) Multi-channel marketing automation including email, text, web chat, direct mail, and automated campaigns built specifically for insurance agencies to stay connected with prospects and clients.
• Reputation Management Client feedback and reputation management tools including review collection, referral generation, and loyalty surveys to strengthen retention for insurance agencies.
• Analytics Interactive dashboards and reports tracking insurance sales, retention, and performance metrics with real-time data to support informed agency decisions.
• Insurance Websites High-converting insurance agency website builder with SEO optimization, lead forms, web chat, and content management tools built for the insurance vertical.
• Insurance Marketing Consulting Done-with-you services from ClientCircle's insurance marketing experts to create campaigns, build custom pipelines, write marketing emails, and optimize ClientCircle account settings for insurance agencies.
• Client Connect Enterprise integration tool enabling custom tools for insurance carriers, aggregators, and management systems, including white-label and custom-branded engagement capabilities across downstream agency networks.

Quantifiable outcome

• 4.9 Google rating from customer reviews

Named customers3 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration20 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• HawkSoftcoreTechnology or IntegrationTwo-way integration with HawkSoft agency management system enabling contact and policy data synchronization, referral tracking, task creation, note logging, and Sidecar browser extension for in-AMS access to ClientCircle features.
• Applied Systems (Applied Epic, Applied TAM)coreTechnology or IntegrationIntegration with Applied Epic and Applied TAM agency management systems enabling scheduled report uploads, contact import, and referral tracking through relationship management features.
• Vertafore (AMS360, QQ Catalyst)coreTechnology or IntegrationIntegration with AMS360 and QQ Catalyst enabling contact synchronization, referral tracking through profile questions, policy sub-status triggered automations, and activity/suspense creation.
• AgencyBloccoreTechnology or IntegrationIntegration with AgencyBloc requiring SID and Key authentication, enabling contact import based on agent assignments, individual type/status mapping, and policy type import.
• EZLynxcoreTechnology or IntegrationIntegration with EZLynx enabling scheduled referral report imports with label-based referral tracking and applicant ID matching.
• Trusted ChoiceminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorPartner brand visible on ClientCircle customer logos, indicating membership in the Trusted Choice insurance agency network.
• ERIE InsuranceminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorPartner brand visible on ClientCircle customer logos, indicating ERIE Insurance agency partnerships.
• Safeco InsuranceminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorPartner brand visible on ClientCircle customer logos, indicating Safeco Insurance agency partnerships.
• FirstchoiceminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorPartner brand visible on ClientCircle customer logos.
• SIAAminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorPartner brand visible on ClientCircle customer logos, indicating membership in the Strategic Insurance Agents Association network.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• AgencyBloc: AgencyBloc is a CRM and agency management system built specifically for insurance agencies, with similar vertical specialization, contact/policy sync features, and customer communication tooling. It is also one of ClientCircle's integration partners, underscoring how directly comparable the two platforms are for the same insurance agency buyer.
• InsuredMine: InsuredMine offers an insurance CRM, marketing automation, sales pipeline, and reputation management suite targeting independent insurance agencies. Its product mix (CRM + engagement + reviews + workflows) closely overlaps ClientCircle's core modules.
• Radius360 (formerly Radius Networks / Radius Agency Marketing): Radius360 is a marketing automation and customer engagement platform built for insurance agencies, including referral programs, reviews, and cross-sell campaigns. It competes head-to-head with ClientCircle's Reputation and Engagement modules in the same buyer segment.
• Hatch (by ABG Capital): Hatch is an insurance-specific marketing and client engagement platform with automated birthday cards, referrals, reviews, and social content — directly overlapping ClientCircle's handwritten cards, loyalty surveys, and reputation modules.

Broad incumbents

• EZLynx (Vertafore): EZLynx is a leading insurance agency comparative-rating and management platform owned by Vertafore that increasingly layers in marketing/CRM capabilities and AMS integrations. It competes with ClientCircle both as a standalone product and via its parent Vertafore's broader portfolio (AMS360, QQ Catalyst).
• Applied Systems: Applied Systems is the largest insurance agency management system vendor (Applied Epic, Applied TAM) with growing built-in marketing and engagement features. It is a core integration partner of ClientCircle but also a long-term competitive threat as it expands its native CRM and automation stack.
• HawkSoft: HawkSoft is an insurance agency management system with a growing partner ecosystem (including ClientCircle's Sidecar in-AMS browser extension). It competes indirectly by deepening its own CRM and communication features for the same independent agency buyer.
• HubSpot: HubSpot is a generalist CRM and marketing automation platform that insurance agencies frequently use as a low-friction alternative. Its insurance vertical templates and ease of self-serve sign-up put it in direct competition with ClientCircle's Engagement, Sales, and CRM modules at the SMB end of the market.
• ActiveCampaign: ActiveCampaign is a marketing automation and CRM platform used by many small insurance agencies for email, text, and pipeline automation. It overlaps with ClientCircle's Engagement and Sales tools and is a common lower-cost substitute for insurance-specific platforms.
• Salesforce (Insurance Cloud / Financial Services Cloud): Salesforce is the dominant horizontal CRM with an explicit Financial Services / Insurance Cloud vertical offering aimed at carriers and larger agencies. It competes with ClientCircle primarily at the carrier/aggregator/enterprise end of the market where Salesforce's scale and customization are decisive.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/rocketreferrals
• Facebookfacebook.com/rocketreferrals

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Rocket Referrals