Today’s insurance customers expect the kind of efficiency and immediacy they experience when dealing with online banks and retailers. Having recognized the importance of customer experience (CX), these sectors are successfully leveraging customer communication management to retain customers, drive engagement, and build loyalty.
Insurers, however, have a legacy to contend with -in many cases there is no direct relationship with the policyholder. This creates the customer relationship gap in insurance. Let’s take a closer look at all the factors responsible for this gap:
Customer Relationship Is Held By A Broker Or Intermediary
The purchase or renewal of an insurance policy is often facilitated by a third-party agent, broker, or online consolidator. There’s a risk in this business model, in that it places a third party between the insurer and their customer.
With little to no control over customer touchpoints and the associated communications, insurers find themselves in the restricted position of having no direct relationship with their policyholders.
Insurance Lagged Other Industries In Focusing On Customer Experience
Traditional insurers were slow to move away from the old-school focus on products, risk, and ratings. Providing a great customer experience requires technology investment and change management, and some insurance providers are still in the process of moving away from a product-centric mindset.
It’s critical that companies put the customer at the centre of the organization, but without an existing relationship, this is even more challenging.
Opportunities To Engage With Customers Are Few
The only guaranteed interaction between an insurance provider and a policyholder is the bill or annual policy renewal. When these touchpoints are managed by the broker or via self-service on a portal, the insurer is left with little to no opportunities to connect and engage with the customer.
Where there is no interaction, there is no engagement and that means carriers are severely limited when it comes to building healthy, loyal relationships.
Highly Competitive Offerings From Big Tech, Digital Attackers And Insurtech Companies
Innovation from large tech platforms like Amazon and Apple has exposed consumers to the kind of customer experience that can be achieved through digital technologies, and this is setting high service expectations in other sectors like insurance.
There are many competitors, including new entrants, digital attackers and Insurtech companies, that have aligned their business models with evolving customer expectations. These competitors offer online services and fully digital processes, lowering the hassle of moving providers, and increasing traditional carriers’ risk of customer churn.
Investment In Technologies That Enhance Customer Experience Is Growing
The insurance sector is one of the largest investors in technology for the purpose of optimizing business processes. One report estimates that global IT spending in the insurance segment will reach 126 billion USD worldwide in 2022. A large portion of this investment (27.9 billion USD) is in technologies relating to the optimization and improvement of customer experience.
Clearly, companies that are not investing in customer experience are going to fall further behind.
How Customer Communications Management (CCM) In Insurance Can Help Bridge The Customer Relationship Gap
Customer communications that are timely, personalised and relevant, are a key component of bridging the customer relationship gap. Successful relationships require a strategic approach that is supported by a customer communication management platform and the expertise to guide an optimal implementation and execute the right strategy.
Customer communications management in insurance plays a vital role in enhancing customer experience.
Building relationships requires customer communication management technology and expertise
Doxim’s strategic consulting and advisory services assist insurance providers to review customer journeys, map communication touchpoints across print and digital, and identify gaps that detract from the customer experience.
Doxim’s CCM platform supports customer communication goals within a secure and compliant CCM framework. With Doxim’s CCM platform and expertise, insurers can:
- Consolidate all your print and digital communications with one vendor, at one predictable price.
- Engage with insurance customers and brokers 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.
- Store documents securely online and make them available to multiple interfaces including customer self-serve.
- Gather and utilize customer data to continually improve communications.
- Encourage customers and brokers to adopt digital communication channels.
