For insurance agents and brokers, 2023 was a year of transformation. New technologies and customer priorities have changed the way they interact with and service their insureds, and spreading natural disaster risk driven by climate change has changed the kinds of risks insurers are willing to take on and how they're underwritten. The hard market is unlikely to undergo any drastic change as the calendar flips, but with these challenges also come opportunities for agencies. The adoption of artificial intelligence expands by the day, with many agencies choosing to embrace these technologies to better assess risk and serve their customers. Studies have shown a great deal of customers still want the option to communicate with a human when purchasing policies or filing claims. However, most also value a streamlined process that allows them to handle their insurance business online or via mobile apps. Agents and brokers must learn to balance the need for customer relationships with providing user-friendly digital service to keep up with their competitors. According to a December 2023 Insurance Intelligence Report from J.D. Power, some of the trends agents and brokers should expect to see in 2024 include:

• Customers are breaking away from bundling their homeowners and auto policies in an attempt to save money. This continues a trend seen in 2023 in which 66% of customers who had been with their insurer less than a year bundled their home and auto insurance, down from 76% in 2022.
• Insurers will work to shift customer focus from the cost of premiums to the value they provide to their customers. This will include the formation of strategic partnerships between insurers and other vendors in order to offer their customers more.
• Carriers will continue to adopt digital channels and services in order to make claims operations more efficient and cost-effective.
• As premiums have increased, customer loyalty to insurers has slipped, but insurers will find an opportunity to increase their customer base and retention by empowering their insureds with information to help them truly understand their coverage.

In the above slideshow, we'll explore these insights from J.D. Power, as well as predictions for what's to come for insurance agents and brokers in 2024.

Related:

• Outlook 2024: For independent agents, it's not business as usual
• As premiums rise, a majority of Americans are reviewing insurance policies to find savings
• As AI advances, so should our investment in human touch