Insurance Digital Transformation: Building Omnichannel Customer Experience Journeys
Recently, Doxim’s CRO, Michael Hennessy sat down with insurance leaders to discuss the state of customer experience (CX) in the industry, and the transformative process the insurance industry is undergoing. The conversation centered on the challenges insurance companies are facing in improving CX, and the practical steps they are taking to prioritize customer journeys for transformation.
Here are some of the insights our panelists shared with us, as they discussed three hot topics around the changing landscape of insurance.
Experience the insurance CX roundtable discussion in depth
1) Overcoming challenges to build a better customer experience in insurance
Our expert panel agreed that there were several challenges which they were working to overcome as they build an exceptional digital experience for their customers.
In particular, they highlighted the following:
Consistency of data/ consistency of access to that data. In an omnichannel world, offering consistent data access in the right format can be a challenge for insurance companies. Whether it’s a CSR assisting a customer over the phone, or a customer accessing a self-serve portal, the end user needs access to the right information, in a format they can work with. When a company has a variety of back-office systems, offering access across channels can be a challenge.
Ensuring that all parties involved in a customer experience understand what should happen and where to go next. Because insurance companies are large and geographically dispersed, keeping everyone informed and working through a customer journey in a timely fashion can be a challenge.
Offering next best action personalization to customers while adhering to regulatory requirements. Integrating modern channels, like social media interaction, into a CX strategy can be challenging in a highly regulated industry, but customers increasingly expect to interact with their insurers through the channels they use for other parts of their digital lives.
2) Seamlessly moving customers from paper to digital experiences
The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated digital transformation in insurance, as it has elsewhere. Our industry experts shared the following methods and best practices around moving customers to digital-first interactions:
Check your assumptions at the door when it comes to customer experience. For example, one of our panelists noted, the belief that senior citizens prefer paper has been challenged by circumstances around COVID-19. Seniors were wary of in-person interaction, wanted to handle financial tasks remotely and so they picked up digital services quickly.
Instead, create consumer panels with different ages and profiles, and work through pain points and interactions one by one. For each interaction, consumers can be asked how they would prefer to reach a resolution (check info on a consumer portal, get a text, receive a paper statement, reach out to the call center, etc.) These insights then inform what functions each channel, like the customer portal, need to support.
Consider incentive programs like sweepstakes contests, for those moving from paper to digital. These gamification approaches generate lots of movement and excitement, and our panelists note that they can pay back tenfold. Use lots of communication across all channels to build digital momentum.
Prioritize and document ROI for each CX investment to get buy-in. Define KPIs up front, so you can track the success of your campaigns. Our roundtable participants noted that not only adoption targets, but also metrics such as how successful a customer service call was, help gain a holistic perspective of how your CX investments are performing.
Continuously refine CX initiatives. In a time of rapidly changing customer expectations, our experts advised an evergreen process of evaluating the base assumptions around any CX initiatives. Ask yourself – does the business case we selected up front really make sense, are people responding to the changes we made in the manner we expected, how can we fine-tune the initiative for better results?
3) Balancing customer communications between regulatory requirements and marketing messages
For insurance providers, the creation of customer communications is always a balancing act between providing all necessary regulatory information, and creating a communication that is appealing to read, and simple to understand.
Here are a few ways that our panel balances these imperatives:
Put yourself in the shoes of the customer. The first step our panelists take when designing a communication is asking their teams if they genuinely understand the messaging that’s going out the door. They note that if work isn’t done up front to improve readability, the regulatory and legal messaging is so dense that it can cause call center spikes, as consumers request clarification, and CSRs can also struggle to explain the messaging. To avoid this, a concerted effort is required to simplify the messaging and mitigate the jargon.
A/B test new messaging to ensure it works. Our panelists ensure that a cross-functional team, including ethnographers, linguists, designers, and employees work together with customers to really dig down into messaging and how to make it understandable. By testing a variety of approaches, they arrive at the best possible customer communication.
Understand that you provide two types of communications, and segment them in terms of budget and ROI. By maintaining a separate budget for regulatory communication like lapse notices, rate notices, and change of address forms, you acknowledge that your KPI for some communications isn’t ROI, just full compliance with regulations.
Marketing and non-regulatory communications can then be addressed separately. For example, one panelist notes that, if your insurance company shares annual financial statements (which may not get read), rather than sending a booklet you could consider reducing costs by sending them a letter or an email inviting them to review your financial statements on the website. These cost-saving opportunities, and opportunities to market your services, can come into focus when you differentiate between your communication types and the goals you have for each.
The world of insurance is changing fast
All the members of our insurance CX roundtable agree that the insurance industry is changing fast. These changes present challenges, as companies want to incorporate modern omnichannel customer experiences, but are contending with complex back-office systems and stringent regulations that can restrict innovation. But, as our panelists demonstrated with their real-life success stories, these challenges can be overcome with the right combination of technology, talent, and strategy.
Doxim’s CCM Platform can help your insurance company reach its CX goals
Investing in a reliable customer communications management (CCM) platform is an essential part of providing the kind of omnichannel experience that insurance customers now expect. It helps provide a great customer experience, and builds engaged relationships, which in turn results in customers for life and a competitive advantage in the current marketplace.
Doxim’s experienced consultants and omnichannel CCM platform can support your CCM needs in several ways:
- Build trust with insurance customers via communication (via print, PDF, HTML, email, text, and online interactive experiences).
- Generate and deliver insurance policies, bills, statements, and any other customer documents via print and digital channels through a single provider.
- Leverage interactive video to drive personalized digital customer experiences, such as interactive statements, bills, policies, or reports, that offer visual engagement and real-time interactivity
- Store documents securely online and enable customers to self-serve.
- Encourage customers and brokers to adopt digital communication channels.
- Gather and utilize customer data to continually improve the personalization of communications.
