Digital Insurance Clients – how to satisfy them?
Insurance is the world where all roads lead to the customer. When you create the offer of policy you think about the client. When you create your external and internal process you also have to think about clients in the first place. This is the key to satisfy them and win market shares. So take a look deeper at the data about today’s customers and their behaviors.
Insurance customers behaviors
According to statista.com, almost 57% of people in the world are classified as internet users. In developed countries in Europe and North America the internet penetration rate reaches almost 90%, where almost 40% of users generate web traffic via mobile devices. In Asia this rate of mobile web traffic users equals 60%. Moreover 70% of internet users are also social media users.
This widespread presence of new technologies impacts on customers behaviors and bring a new type of digital clients, who are constantly connected to the Internet. Thanks to easy access, they are well informed and sensitive to market inputs. As social network users, they are willing to share information and experiences. Digital insurance customers expect very quick access, so they are self-directed and want to perform the quotation by themselves. Those significant changes of customer’s behavior towards the digitalization are visible also in insurance industry. It does not mean that all customers become digital one. For insurance market it means that digital channels supplement traditional one. The biggest group of clients is a hybrid one, who prefers communication in both the online and offline channels, so the role of intermediaries is still dominant.
What motivate the customers and distributors?
When we want to recognize the customers’ behaviors, the most important question is what motivates them to select the insurer and purchase the policy from them. That seems to be obvious, it is always about the price. But are you sure, that in the future the price will also be the tie-breaker? The changing customers’ behavior can also have an impact on purchasing factors for new type of customers. The new demanding client will expect services which will be easier to reach and faster, offer, that better suited to their personal needs and simple, understandable products. The same elements are expected by distributors, who check firstly the quality of insurance products and speed of processes ahead of the level of commission, when they are selecting the insurance company which they want to cooperate with.
This expectations from clients and distributors like agents and brokers needs to be addressed by insurers who want to win markets shares in a digital era. The digitalization which is defined by Gartner analytical company as “shifting the fundamental business model to support electronic channels, content and transactions, while continuing to support traditional practices that cannot be ignored” is a way to achieve this goals. Thanks to digital tools we can ensure automated and optimized processes which will be faster and more accessible. The critical factor is to enhance User Experience which have to be provided during the insurance customer journey. User Experience is not just a friendly interface of application or software, it is all impressions and feelings which clients have when they contact the insurer.
Rethink insurance customer journey
To capture value from existing client base as well as to attract new clients, the insurers should rethink the customer journey. The key is to define current insurance customer journey and redesign it to resolve the customers pain points and leverage the moments which can delight the customer. But it is not the end of work, because digitalization is not a project which can be done once and for all. It is a continuous work on monitoring, collecting the feedback and constantly improving the customer experiences. It can be achieved thanks to better customer understanding, which is possible when we provide to the agents and brokers digital tools with features like a 360 degree customer view. Based on the up-to-date data about customer gathered on one screen, the distributor will be better prepared to cooperate with the client and provide them individual service. Based on a needs analysis, the agent and broker will be able to create tailor-made offer which can be easily modified. The covers should be added or removed according to client needs and the sum insured needs to be editable in line with the calculation of future expenses.
Start from the customers.
Any business strategy should start from the customers, their behaviors and expectations. This is the source of digital transformation and should set the direction of changes. The automation and optimization of processes, to create insurance customer journey with great User experience, are necessary to delight customers. Digital insurance tools like front-office platform dedicated to both end-clients, as well as to agents and brokers will give the opportunity to provide high quality of service and ensure better experiences. This road must lead to customer satisfaction.
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