As insurance businesses continue to weigh the push to digitalize functions from top to bottom with the demand to humanize their work for policyholders, one concept continues to surface: Customer experience (CX). The term is so prevalent in the insurance-technology space in 2021 that Watermark Consulting recently conducted a survey to explore how important customer experience in insurance is to an insurer's bottom line. Study results are being released in conjunction with Watermark Consulting Founder Jon Picoult's forthcoming book, "From Impressed to Obsessed: 12 Principles for Turning Customers and Employees into Lifelong Fans" (McGraw-Hill). According to Picoult's research, insurance businesses reap notable benefits from paying close attention to their customer experience while those that ignore this facet of their business are likely to suffer financially. "Admired auto insurance brands with strong consumer feedback ratings enjoyed an average total shareholder return that was nearly 215 points higher than firms with weaker ratings," Watermark Consulting said in a press release. "For home insurers leading in customer experience, the performance advantage was even greater, reaching nearly 320 points." Picoult added that over time, insurers with positive customer experience ratings enjoy significantly higher shareholder returns. Other rewards that insurers reap when they cater to customer-experience demands include increased loyalty, stronger referral business and the ability to set more competitive rates. "Many insurance companies excel in frustrating their clients, whether it's from a complicated purchase process, unclear coverage parameters, inexplicable premium increases, or just plain poor service," Picoult said. "Our study reveals that insurers eventually pay a price for subjecting policyholders to such indignities." The slideshow above illustrates five tenets of a great insurance-customer experience in 2021 from Watermark Consulting's Customer Experience ROI Study. See also: |

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