3 ways to stop your customers from jumping ship during sign-up

Thanks to dramatic changes in technology, customers have come to expect instant, digital experiences for every service in their lives — from ordering a ride to being approved for a mortgage. This shift in expectations hasn’t spared the insurance industry, where despite the introduction of digital touchpoints, a seamless and fully digital underwriting process is elusive.

Much of the progress so far has been through partnerships with InsurTech companies that can help create better digital processes, like forms that auto-populate information and simplified consent authorizations.

However, there are still gaps in the underwriting process, and too often clunky apps, out-dated web portals and inefficient customer service persist. Any of these experiences can cause customers to abandon the process in favor of something easier before the policy is bound. In insurance, where the wellbeing of valuable property like a vehicle or home is concerned, customers want every assurance that the company protecting their property is equipped with the very best tools and processes to do so.

Here are three digital interventions insurers can make to their onboarding process to improve close rates and brand loyalty.

Related: 5 roadblocks to delivering an amazing customer experience

1. Offer smarter eForms

Customers are using a wider variety of devices, and it’s important that forms load and work properly to meet customers where they are. When you force a potential customer to download documents, you risk losing a large percentage simply due to the device they’re using. But smart, mobile-friendly forms make it easy for customers to complete applications quickly. Additionally, these forms should use smart logic to eliminate unnecessary customer inputs, like a form that deletes a series of questions if they are irrelevant to a customer’s specific situation.

Another example of this are tools that auto-fill forms based on information the customer has already provided. If an image of a drivers license is uploaded, for example, optical character recognition technology can digitize the customer’s birthdate, age, address and other data from the physical ID and pre-fill it into other documents, requiring the customer to just fill in a few gaps and provide their signature to complete.

This is an area where personal property insurer Lemonade has excelled. Their forms are simple, have minimal questions and artificial intelligence offers customers choices for each question, providing customers with quotes on homeowners insurance in less than two minutes. It’s now the standard for mainstream carriers to compete with this model, and eForms make that possible.

2. Simplify document collection

Underwriting a new policy requires an insurer to collect documents and proof that the prospective customer actually owns the property they are looking to insure. Auto policies, for example, require proof of ownership of a vehicle — documents which some customers may have inevitably misplaced or do not have immediate access to. The same goes for a property like an engagement ring — items like these might have paperwork that hasn’t been touched in years.

Insurers need to create a process that allows users to provide these documents seamlessly. The days of asking customers to scan — or even worse, fax — documents are long gone. Requirements like these are a fast-track to customers abandoning the process. Instead, insurers should invest in developing technology — or better, partner with providers that already offer it — that allows customers to use their smartphones to upload these documents. Even better, they should offer smart tools that help customers access ownership documents like vehicle deeds or services that can digitally appraise an item in order to make the process as easy as possible.

3. Enable real-time collaboration with customer service 

One of the biggest misconceptions about younger generations is that they do not want interactions with real people as part of their customer experiences. A Google study found 61% of mobile users call a business when they’re in the purchase phase of the buying cycle and a majority of respondents (57%) would call instead of reach out online because they’re looking to talk to a real person. And in the financial services industry, more complex issues can arise that require a person versus a bot. Bain & Company’s annual customer loyalty study found insurers who provide digital-only paths have fewer loyal customers. Having multi-channel communication is key to building brand loyalty and customer satisfaction. Solutions that enable real-time communication with an agent while still filling out the application online provides better transparency and call resolution rates for agents, and a better experience for customers.

What customers experience on a daily basis when they call an Uber or sign into Netflix is also what they expect of their insurer. Policy sales or underwriting are the first time a customer interacts with your brand, and more customer interactions in insurance improve overall loyalty. A good first impression in the onboarding experience will carry through in the customers’ every interaction to follow.

Related: 5 reasons insurance clients switch brokers

Jake Levant (info@lightico.com) is the vice president of marketing at Lightico. The views expressed here are the author’s own.