How insurance companies can tailor their CX to grow with their customers

Insurance leaders face the challenge of not only attracting but also retaining customers. With the ease of switching providers thanks to digital onboarding and online rate comparisons, customer experience (CX) becomes a pivotal factor in ensuring customer loyalty and driving business growth. Here’s how insurance companies can enhance their CX strategies to align with and adapt to their customers' evolving needs.

The importance of insurance customer experience (CX)

Insurance customer experience (CX) is more than just providing good customer service; it involves a deep understanding of customer behaviors, preferences, and needs. A vast majority (80%) of customers say the experience a company provides is as important as its product or services. To boost insurance customer retention, it’s essential to deliver a positive experience — especially a positive digital experience.

Today’s insurance customers want digital engagement

COVID-19 accelerated the shift to digital. Offering an exceptional digital experience is no longer an option, it’s a necessity for growth.

A global Accenture study that surveyed nearly 48,000 insurance consumers found that:

• 37% contact their insurer via a mobile app or website at least once a month
• 71% of older consumers (who have been more resistant to digital tools) would like the internet chat/video insurance claim process to replace the traditional in-office claim process
• 48% would prefer to open a new account or product with a new insurer online via desktop or laptop, and another 34% prefer a mobile app or website.

Despite these preferences, a J.D. Power study found that many insurance companies continue to face challenges in providing a smooth digital experience, even though digital channels are increasingly essential for maintaining customer satisfaction. The good news is that the study found when digital experiences did go well, it paid dividends in increased customer satisfaction.

So, how can insurance companies step up their digital offerings?

Enhancing digital engagement in insurance

With the digital transformation in insurance, companies have unprecedented opportunities to enhance engagement and streamline the customer journey. Here are some ways to leverage technology like Guided CX to improve insurance customer experience and overall customer satisfaction:

• Digital Onboarding: Simplify the onboarding process with user-friendly digital tools that reduce paperwork and make it easy for new customers to sign up. Imagine signing up for a new product and having an agent walk you through each step through a co-browsing session, where they can see your screen, help you fill out forms, and answer any questions that come up along the way.
• Rate Comparison Tools: Implement intuitive tools that allow customers to easily compare different coverage options and prices, empowering them to make informed decisions.

• Seamless Online Claims Process: Most insurance consumers prefer online claims, but only 7% trust a chatbot when doing so. The process is complex and the documentation grows explosively. Joining your customer in their browser or app, viewing what they are seeing, guiding them as they navigate, and helping them complete uploads, entries, submissions, and approvals, can have a dramatic impact on the experience.

• Regular Digital Communication: Keeping customers in the loop with text messages and mobile app status updates is a simple way to significantly improve the experience.
• Proactive Customer Interaction: Anticipating customer needs and reaching out at the right moments can help meet and exceed customer expectations.

One important truth to keep in mind is that especially in this digital era, human interaction is what it takes to preserve and drive customer loyalty.

Read: Online insurance assistance: 3 critical moments requiring human guidance

Proactive customer interaction in insurance

Anticipating customer needs is crucial in delivering a high-value insurance customer experience. Identify moments of friction during interactions with your website or app. These moments, such as during applications and claims filing, are opportunities to introduce co-browsing or video calls to provide personalized guidance, making the experience both personal and reassuring.

Imagine a customer browsing your website’s page on umbrella insurance. A pop-up chat could offer instant connection with a CX professional who can explain the benefits via a video call, making the experience both personal and informative.

Strategies for effective upselling and cross-selling

Understanding the digital customer journey can also present opportunities for upselling and cross-selling.  

Upselling: offering more or better coverage

• Personalization: Use data analytics to understand individual customer risk profiles and suggest appropriate coverage upgrades.
• Timely Communication: Reach out at strategic times, such as after a major life event or at the renewal phase, when customers are more likely to consider additional coverage.

Cross-selling: promoting additional products

• Integrated Offers: Bundle different types of insurance products, like home and auto or health and life, to offer convenience and better rates.
• Targeted Marketing: Segment customers based on their lifestyles, life stages, and existing policies to tailor marketing efforts for additional products.

Tailoring CX to grow with customers is not just about responding to their needs but anticipating them, delivering value through personalized interactions, and using technology to enhance the overall experience. By focusing on these strategies, insurance companies can not only retain customers but also attract new ones, ultimately driving their growth in a competitive landscape.

Explore Glance for insurance to learn more about how you create real human connections in your digital space to guide customers through new and complex processes, increase adoption, and improve customer satisfaction.