The Insurance Industry Needs a Customer Experience Overhaul

If the COVID-19 pandemic taught me anything, it’s that humanity and empathy need to be the most important part of what we do in insurance. I believe that always putting the customer first will be the not-so-secret to success for insurance companies. Fail to do this, and there will be business implications in the long run.

Doing the right thing and leading with a customer-first mindset can improve brand trust, retention and positively impact the bottom line. Now more than ever before, I ask myself and my peers to think about how the insurance industry, typically powered by a dollars-and-cents mentality, can face its final reckoning — customer relations.

According to a 2020 JD Power Associates survey, customers who experience poor service are actually eight times more likely to shop for new insurance. So, if a positive customer experience is so critical to a successful insurance company’s well-being and business survival, why has it historically been so difficult to implement?

In insurance, whether personal or commercial lines, customers want fast service, affordable prices and a company that’s easy to work with when there are questions, claims and audits. In the past decade alone, there has been a massive wave of insurtech startups that are working to disrupt the slow-to-change industry. Unlike traditional insurers, many of these insurtechs are built with a foundation of technology which allows them to move quicker and invest in other areas of the business, like customer service and user experience.

Change is happening, but it needs to happen quicker. As a business owner who needs insurance for my company, a consumer who needs insurance for myself and my family, and as a commercial insurance entrepreneur, my life is ingrained in better understanding and navigating the industry. Stemming from my experience, here are five best practices that place customers at the heart of the insurance experience:

1. Know your customer. If you understand who you are selling to you can better ensure their needs are met. Everything you develop and every decision that’s made should ultimately be driven by the goal of improving your customer’s experience and meeting their unique needs.
2. See around corners. Think ahead and anticipate their needs. In early 2020, we personally reached out to every single one of our customers to check-in. We asked questions about their business, how it was impacted by COVID, and sought to help them in any way we could. In many instances, we reduced customers’ premiums to a single dollar, enabling them to save money at a critical time and also ensuring they wouldn’t lose coverage.
3. Save them money. Let’s face it, nobody actually wants to buy insurance. In many ways, it’s akin to an expensive tax, so how can your organization take savings from technology upgrades or changes in market conditions and really think like your customer? Imagine getting a call from your bank saying the interest rates on saving accounts have gone up and moving your money won’t cost you anything but will make you more. Customers are only going to become more and more technology and market savvy when shopping around for insurance. Low prices coupled with impeccable customer service will keep your customers satisfied.
4. Make the purchase process simple. Put yourself in the customer’s shoes to understand what is most challenging for them when purchasing your goods or services. At Pie, we regularly survey our customers and our partner agents to identify areas of improvement.
5. Empower your customer support team. Customer support divisions perform better with more autonomy, versus micro-managing. Ensure your customer support team has the right tools, training, and resources to best interact with customers and make decisions. Coaching them about your customer-first beliefs and corporate mantras can help empower them to perform at the best of their ability.

As technology becomes more prolific, customer experience will become the true differentiator. Inspiring loyalty by going the extra mile is probably one of the most straightforward methods to growing and maintaining a successful business. Let’s make sure it doesn’t get lost in the evolution of insurance.

Topics Market