The 2020 hurricane season's impact on P&C insurance claims
It's more important now than ever for P&C insurers to effectively communicate with their customers and appropriately respond to the influx of claims.
Delivering an exceptional customer experience is always a priority for insurance companies. But this is even more critical during this particularly rough, record-setting hurricane season of 2020.
It’s more important now than ever for P&C insurers to effectively communicate with their customers and appropriately respond to the influx of claims while complying with new safety guidelines that come with COVID-19.
This particularly active hurricane season — in the midst of COVID-19 — makes customer-centric, digital-first conversations between insurers and their customers more important than ever. In order to achieve this, insurers need to rapidly accelerate their digital transformation initiatives and provide customers with a great experience even without in-person interactions.
Don’t wait for the storm to communicate
If property and casualty insurers do not already have a customer communications strategy in place well before a major weather event occurs, it is too late. Without proper communication, policyholders can find themselves confused about what kind of damage is protected by their insurer and what the claims process will entail, especially today, given all the changes that have come with COVID-19.
Insurance companies must regularly check in with policyholders in hurricane-prone regions to ensure they have a clear understanding of what their policy covers, what the claims process will entail if they need to file and how they can update their policy if needed, among other things.
While it’s important for insurers to effectively communicate with policyholders around the time of a storm, they shouldn’t wait until these moments to begin an ongoing conversation. Regular communications should start at the very moment a customer adopts a policy from their P&C insurer. With a relationship already established, the customer will have a better understanding of the claims process and feel they’re taken care of before, during, and after a storm passes through their area.
Deliver a seamless, multichannel customer experience
An active hurricane season requires a dedicated strategy that collects information in a way that is seamless and mobile-friendly while ensuring policies and procedures are clear.
And the subsequent communications should be personalized, relevant, interactive and delivered via the customers’ preferred channel, whether that be via email, SMS messages or even a customer portal.
Not only will this keep customers informed and improve customer satisfaction, but it will also create internal efficiencies like streamlined workflow processes and reduce incomplete and NIGO forms that slow response times.
Advanced communications are a must
These storms can create catastrophic property damage, so filing a claim is an emotional process and magnifies the need for an exceptional customer experience.
Also, considering the need for potential on-site visits to survey damage, policyholders must be aware of all safety precautions related to the surveyor’s visit. A mobile solution, where surveyors can forgo collecting handwritten information by imputing data directly into an application, will speed the response time critically required during a devastating and vulnerable time.
The timeliness with which communications are delivered becomes particularly important but speed should not hinder a consistent experience. It is important for insurers to maintain a complete history of the conversations they are having with their customers so that each interaction picks up where the previous one left off–even if those interactions are happening via multiple channels, which they should be.
James Brown is CEO of Smart Communications, a customer conversations management platform provider. Connect with him on LinkedIn.
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