If you’re within the insurance industry, you already know why the main topic of improving the customer experience is really important. Although insurance coverage is a complex business not so easily entered by “outsiders,” as technology becomes more intuitive and simplified, barriers that once protected insurance externally competition have started to dissipate. Companies like Google may use targeted partnerships and marketing prowess to supply consumers having a procedure that is quick and painless while offering policies in the right price. This type of business design is especially appealing to Millennials, the biggest consumer base in the U,S. at 75 million strong.
Luckily for insurers, despite a side-by-side comparison of policies in their fingertips, Millennials still want the insurance-buying process to be completed via a person they trust. Less luckily for insurers, there's a perception that insurers use outdated methods of communication, which makes them appear untrustworthy and – dare we are saying it? – incompetent.
Here are several methods to help alleviate this problem:
Know a Consumer’s Common History
Nothing can make an insurer or agent appear higher productivity of touch than neglecting a customer’s history with your company or a past carrier. Simply asking a question that has been answered previously can be the start of a frustrating relationship.
Technology offers methods to engage customers and access databases that record and recall all customer touch points and information gathered thus far. Not taking advantage of these power tools reflects poorly on the brand, especially considering how many current companies today employ similar tactics. How can we expect customers to be loyal to an insurer when there is no knowledge of their previous experiences? For example, if their history features a disputed claim, an agent be forced to pay careful attention on communicating exactly what the policy will definitely cost, what it covers and more importantly what it won’t cover. Showing an intuitive level of care when it comes to a new customer can display that you are up to task of insuring their assets.
Understand Their Journey
Whether researching product offerings, paying bills or submitting claims, customers are on the path that is transactional and rarely linear. As a carrier, broker, agent or customer service representative, you have to adjust your messages based on each customer and supply a way to view a policy that provides structure. Research indicates that customers don't feel confident about their policies and what they cover, counting on the insurer just to walk them through what can be considered a confusing process. Additionally, responsibilities of each individual (insurer and agent) within the internal insurance pipeline must be down on paper and agreed upon, including who's in charge of sending specific customer information to other associates. The last thing you would like is really a floating customer with no idea who to speak with regarding a problem. Probably the most surprising components leading to poor customer communication is a lack of cohesive internal communication within a company.
Through using upgraded core systems, documents like smart forms can strengthen this method. Smart forms have access to all existing data on the customer and can plug it in to the appropriate sections of the form. This enables agents more time to consider their individual customers instead of performing low-level work. Agents for the future will likely take more of an advisory role, leaving the grunt work for that technology available to them.
Additionally, steps are being taken in the life insurance segment to achieve back the trust from Millennials which was lost in the 2008 financial crisis. According to the 2021 Makovsky Wall Street Reputation Study, seven out of 10 Millennials no longer trust financial service firms. One clever illustration of how these insurers intend to understand the Millennial consumers may be the Society of Grownups, a company backed by MassMutual, offering a social learning environment to teach about credit ratings and retirement savings. This kind of out-of-the-box initiative is another method for insurers to begin rebuilding trust using their younger customers.
The Chronilogical age of the Inquisitive Consumer
With the continuing rise from the inquisitive consumer, increasingly more 're going into new policy discussions and purchases using their own research and preconceived notions. In fact, based on a current Ernst & Young survey, 69% of global customers feel that they initiate the purchase of new policies. However, insurance coverage is still an intricate business, meaning agents have a responsibility to locate and dissolve any discrepancies between customer perceptions based on their own research and what the actual policy dictates.
It’s important too to allow for omnichannel communication. This is where delivery can be tailored for each part of the insurance buying process and dedicated to the preferred communication method. In the beginning of the new policy discussion, perhaps customers would rather their interaction to be done over mobile phone or through live email chat, but as they get nearer to signing the policy they might desire a direct line to their agent.
The key ingredient to increasing the consumer experience is simple theoretically but difficult used: to hear each client and her specific needs and enter the discussion in the position of education rather than sales. Millennials gravitate toward a more personal touch that is also transparent and efficient. With the addition of technology and refined internal strategies, insurers might help mitigate a perception issue in insurance and help agents transfer to different roles that are more suitable for that millennial consumer.
