Is your digital transformation B2C enough?
Review the steps need to ‘consumerize’ the insurance customer experience for better direct-to-policyholder engagement.
Insurance companies are determined to digitally transform, especially given the rise of insurtech companies. But despite the strides made, many insurance companies are disappointed by the return on investment they’ve realized. Many in charge of innovation and technology procurement are asking themselves if digitization can really help them reach their business goals.
But at the end of the day, it’s not technology that will bring insurance companies results. It’s the right kind of technology. And up until now, traditional insurers have been using technology that might be suitable in a B2B context, but isn’t designed for today’s impatient, on-the-go consumers. But what makes B2C-style technology different? And how can insurance companies make the shift to “consumerize” their customer experience?
The problem with repurposing B2B for B2C
Many B2C companies, such as Amazon, Spotify, Uber and the like were created from the ground up for a consumer audience. As a result, they are by nature intuitive, seamless and “sticky.” The experiences they enable for customers aren’t merely digital; they’re delightful.
On the other hand, insurance companies didn’t start off digital. That matters. While most insurers have evolved beyond fax machines and snail mail to facilitate customer transactions, they still haven’t reached the level of digitization seen in the B2C world.
Consumers have made it clear that their insurance companies are missing opportunities to interact with them on their preferred channels. A recent survey found that 71% of insurance customers have struggled to connect with their insurers to ask questions or modify their coverage. And nearly the same proportion (69%) expect the companies they interact with to provide digital service.
Insurers often embrace robotic process automation (RPA) as part of their digital transformation efforts. But the investment goes primarily to modernizing the backend aspects of insurance sales and claims journeys. For example, RPA may enable insurers to automate underwriting, but policyholders still need to complete cumbersome first-notice-of-loss (FNOL) forms. Typically, we see that insurance companies emphasize technological solutions to backend inefficiencies, while the customer experience remains fragmented.
When insurers do consider digitizing the customer-facing experience, they tend not to go far enough. Insurers have largely traded in their fax machines for email communication with customers, but in the B2C world, that’s already old hat — customers feel most at ease with their smartphone. They order car rides, play music and check their bank balance on their phone — so why shouldn’t they be able to easily buy insurance products, make modifications to their plan and submit claims from their handheld devices?
Imagine a customer who just experienced flooding in his home. He’s stressed, he worried and then he’s asked to fill out a PDF FNOL and send it to his insurer by email. The problem is his computer got damaged. He tries to fill out the PDF from his phone, but it’s hard to see and cumbersome to fill out. He’s frustrated — this time at his insurance company.
At the time of an incident, which is really a time of need, customers need to feel they can count on their insurance company. The best way for insurers to show their customers support is to make the claims process as effortless as possible.
Digital half-measures, while acceptable in the world of business-to-business (B2B) interactions where everyone has access to a desktop computer, isn’t going to cut it for today’s policyholders.
What’s needed to consumerize insurance companies?
Focusing on digitizing the operational backend side of the insurance business isn’t enough. And neither is relying on legacy digital tools such as email and PDFs. Both closing insurance policy sales and enabling insurance claims requires taking a mobile-friendly approach.
This means that insurance companies need to design a smooth and coherent customer journey, from beginning to end. An insurance sales journey should begin and end on the customer’s channel of choice, which is often their cell phone. Filling out the application form, submitting ID for verification, and setting up automatic payments can and should be doable from one channel. An insurance claims journey should also begin and end on the customer’s preferred digital channel — from the FNOL to submitting supporting evidence to receiving status updates.
Here are a few ways to ensure insurance companies act as the efficient, customer-first B2C organizations:
1. Automate the frontend
Adopting RPA is important, but not enough on its own. An automated digital workflow ensures that all steps of the insurance customer journey are digital and frictionless. For example, when a customer completes their mobile FNOL, they should automatically be requested to send supporting video and photo evidence. This prevents agents from chasing customers for further information and details later on and allows everything to be completed in one digital session.
2. Prioritize security
Modern security measures such as one-time passwords (OTP), instant ID verification, third-party certifications and advanced threat detection should be harnessed to protect the organization and reassure policyholders that their data is safe.
3. Empower agents
Insurance sales and claims agents are more relaxed and confident when they have customer-facing technology in their arsenal. Agents should be there to help guide customers through tasks — not chase them for messy paperwork and signatures. When policyholders can complete insurance tasks in one place, at one time, agents don’t need to worry about dropping the ball.
4. Go mobile
Especially during sensitive and potentially stressful times, customers shouldn’t be scrambling to access computers, scanners and printers. They should be able to easily take care of their insurance tasks from the comfort of their smartphone.
5. Stay compliant
Compliance and efficiency shouldn’t be at odds — and if they are, a dearth of appropriate technology is to blame. Customer-facing insurance technology can actually promote compliance by making it easier for agents to securely collect and store customer data. Digitizing agent scripts makes it easier for auditors to do their jobs and ensure standard practices.
The bottom line
By adopting an end-to-end automated journey for insurance customers, insurers can create seamless consumer experiences that mirror those of beloved brands such as Amazon and Netflix.
Zviki Ben Ishay is the co-founder and CEO of Lightico, a SaaS platform for customer interactions that digitally transforms millions of connections between businesses and their customers. With over 20 years of experience in customer experience, call center technology and service, Ishay has developed a keen understanding of what businesses can and need to do in order to provide better service through digital and remote means to the benefit of both businesses and their customers.
The opinions expressed here are the author’s own.
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