During the first wave of mass access to new communication technology in the mid-1990s, the phrase “high-tech, high-touch” was born. It was an attempt to highlight the importance of compensating for increasingly faceless, data-centric channels with as much humanity as possible. We've been struggling with that equation ever since.

Time has fostered familiarity, social media platforms have amplified convenience, and in some ways it might feel as though our technology has become more humanized. Digital channel communication has indeed gotten more casual and colloquial. But informality is not the same as real human connection.

Technology is a poor substitute for actual person-to-person communication when it comes to building rapport. (Photo: iStock) 

The science of humanity

Why does an emphasis on humanity matter so much when it comes to more efficient, more effective claims handling?

Despite our tendency to believe that agreements are achieved mainly based on logical factors like settlement amounts, 21st century neuroscience has proven that emotional factors are massively more important. When it comes to influence, persuasion, and decision-making — even for the most calculated and commercial business decisions — the emotional centers of the brain are what drive all other cognitive functions. It's not optional. It's science.

It turns out that the human connection aspects of a business transaction — establishing rapport and orienting to personality styles, for example — amount to much more than etiquette compliance or social finesse. These skills can literally make or break an agreement. More so, even, than getting the right number on a check.

So how does digital channel communication play into this priority? According to research, not well.

In a study of negotiation at Columbia University, management professor Michael Morris found that negotiators who communicated exclusively by email exchanged three times as much information. Sounds good. But they also built less rapport, which led to increased tensions, and actually lowered the average economic value of the resulting agreements. Those who negotiated by email in Morris's study trusted each other less, and were not as interested in working together again.

“Rapport creates a buffer of positive regard,” said Morris, “and when it's not there, negotiation becomes brittle, and vulnerable to falling apart.”

Misinterpretation

The digital channel lacks a whole range of “human cues” like facial expression and tone of voice. That makes it difficult for recipients to decode meaning accurately. This is compounded, researchers say, by the speed, volume, and immediacy of digital communication creating an urgency that pressures us to think and write quickly — which can lead to carelessness or unintended consequences.

Management scholar Kristin Byron of Syracuse University suggests that one of the most common of these unintended consequences, misinterpretation, tends to come in only two forms: neutral or negative.

Think about the implications of that:  If our message is in any way unclear, jumbled or vague, the best we can possibly hope for is a neutral emotional response. It may be negative, but it will rarely be positive.

Related: Time to talk: Let's prevent communication breakdowns

Meaning is in people, not words, and now there is overwhelming science proving the near impossibility of successfully building agreement without the additional signaling factors offered by phone or face time.

We've all been subjected to the miscues created by emails and texts. Tone, nuance, intention and meaning — virtually everything related to successfully engaging the emotional brain — gets lost in digital communication. If we lose the emotional brain, we've lost the ability to influence, persuade and negotiate successfully.

Read on for six ways adjusters can improve their digital communication with policyholders.

Offering policyholders multiple communication channels can help offset the digital divide. (Photo: Shutterstock) 

Antidotes for the digital dilemma

To fully understand communication between claimants and adjusters, it's important to know how communication signals are interpreted, and how those interpretations can change depending on what channel we're using.

Digital channels like email and texts contain not only the fewest signal categories, but also miss the ones that are most important according to research for successful negotiation and agreement building. This presents some real challenges in a time when more and more customers prefer the convenience of digital.

What can adjusters do?

• Recognize the limitations of digital. Greater speed, volume and convenience of information exchange is of little benefit to more efficient or successful negotiations.
• Make genuine human connection a settlement priority, and recognize that this cannot be achieved through electronic messaging alone. Building trust, getting cooperation, persuasion and negotiation requires phone time or face time.
• Choose face-to-face meetings or phone time whenever possible.
• Don't seek to establish rapport, activate “friendship triggers” or build trust by email or messaging. It doesn't work.
• Negotiate directly whenever possible, limiting the use of digital channels to confirmations, follow-ups and scheduling.
• If you must communicate electronically, overcompensate with niceties, friendship triggers, and “humanizing messages.” Work those emojis!

Russell P. Granger is CEO of Rising Tide Partners (formerly Insurance Learning Systems), a consulting and training firm specializing in customer communication.