6 Steps to Increase Customer Engagement in the Insurance Industry
Providing a first-rate customer experience (CX) is critical in the insurance industry. In KUBRA's 2022 Insured Billing and Payment Report, 46% of insureds say CX is a significant factor when choosing an insurer, but only 18% rate their online experience as excellent. Clearly, there's room for improvement. But what can insurers do to create a better experience?
A good place to start is understanding what policyholders and members need to have an excellent experience. Here's what insureds cite as their top four challenges:
- Little or no communication from the insurer
- Concerns over data security
- Slow payment processing
- A lack of digital options
Insurers can improve CX and increase engagement by addressing these issues directly. This blog covers six ways to overcome these challenges and increase customer engagement in the insurance industry.
1. Understand Your Insureds
Improving engagement begins with understanding your insureds, from their communication preferences and the types of messages they like to receive, to their demographics and shopping habits. Data analytics solutions can give you insight into customer behaviors, allowing you to better customize your outreach to policyholders and members.
For example, many people prefer to handle statements and payments digitally — 43% want email statements — but 26% of insureds still want mailed statements, and 15% prefer to do everything on a mobile app. When you reach out to people using their preferred method, they are more likely to respond favorably and engage. Providing multiple communication options and allowing policyholders and members to choose how you communicate with them is key to creating a better experience.
2. Add Personalization
Once you understand your policyholders and members, you can tailor product offerings and messages to meet their needs better. Instead of sending generic messages, create a personal experience with customized communications across channels. For example, greet people by name in emails, chat messages, and on the phone.
If individualizing communications isn't possible, analytics can still help you segment your audience so each group receives tailored, relevant messages. You might determine which people own a motorcycle so you can target them specifically with offers for motorcycle insurance rather than sending those messages to everyone, regardless of whether they actually have a motorcycle.
3. Enhance Your Digital Presence
Making sure insureds have many ways to reach you is also essential. For many insurers, this means enhancing their digital presence. In addition to a phone number and mailing address, your organization should also have an email address and a website where people can easily find answers to common questions. Consider adding a self-service portal to your website or creating a mobile app where policyholders and members can manage claims, view statements, and pay bills.
Online or mobile payment options are important to 81% of insureds. Additionally, 70% of people pay with a credit or debit card, which is much easier and more secure to do digitally than over the phone. When people can pay instantly online or in an app, you'll get more on-time payments and have happier policyholders and members.
4. Increase Self-Service Options
Many insureds want self-service options that are quick and easy to use. Self-service portals are now a common part of an insurer's website. These portals allow policyholders and members to view, update, or change their policies as well as submit new claims, manage existing claims and disbursements, and pay their premiums. Allowing people to handle these tasks independently is more efficient and convenient.
At the same time, mobile apps are becoming more popular. When it comes to payments, claims, and disbursements, 1 in 3 insureds prefer to use an app. An app makes it easier for insureds to submit claims promptly since most people carry their smartphones everywhere. Waiting in a long phone queue or until they can get to a computer to file a claim can easily lead to frustration, forgotten details, and an overall poor experience. Conversely, making it easier for people to manage certain tasks immediately with a mobile app can lead to better customer experiences.
5. Improve Communication
While many people like having the option of doing things themselves, they also want to be able to get ahold of a live person when necessary. Nearly half of insureds prefer traditional phone channels when interacting with a rep directly. Again, a lack of communication is insurers' most significant challenge, so you want to make sure your service and support team is staffed appropriately and receives frequent training.
Chat and email options are also essential for the other half who prefer digital channels. Providing live chat and using automated chat tools can allow you to help more policyholders and members more efficiently. If you have social media accounts, be prepared to engage with insureds through those messaging channels as well.
6. Modernize the Insurance Payment Process
Modernizing your processes — especially the payment process — helps improve customer experiences by increasing efficiency. A multichannel chat tool can help insureds with specific tasks like paying a bill, which frees up your human agents to handle more complicated issues. KUBRA EZ-PAY Natural Language Interactive Voice Response (IVR) allows policyholders and members to use automated text or voice channels to complete various billing-related tasks.
Updated processes can also improve data security. While insureds are willing to share their information for personalized communications and offers, they also want to know their data is protected. However, most people don't believe their information is secure — only one-third of insureds say they trust their insurers to keep their data safe. Digitizing payment and disbursement processes minimizes human error, decreases fraud, and reduces the risk of losing checks in the mail.
Choose KUBRA for Better Customer Engagement
When you want to improve engagement, choosing the right billing, payment, and communications software can make all the difference. KUBRA is your one-stop shop for customer experience solutions for the insurance industry. With our platform, you can increase policyholder and member satisfaction, reduce costs, and improve compliance.
To learn more, request a demo or contact us today! Experience Better with KUBRA.