How insurers can transform customer experience across multiple channels
Millennials in particular are accustomed to this level of personalized service. They know what they want from their shopping experience and their apps create a seamless journey between physical and digital worlds. The insurance industry cannot ignore these new customer demands.
Customers expect rich channel coverage
We're no longer operating in a single, or even multi-channel, world. Instead, we're shifting to a model where customers, of all ages, expect to move fluidly within and between channels for quotes, transactions, service enquiries and claims. Adopting an Omni-Channel strategy is rapidly becoming non-negotiable.
How do you create remarkable customer journeys through all your touchpoints?
Let's look at Oliver's experience with his insurance company as an example.
Oliver's a 32-year old sales manager living in Utrecht. Although it's a cycle-friendly city, Oliver owns a car. That's partly for practical reasons because he drives to see clients across the Netherlands. But, also because he just loves his car!
When Oliver needs to contact his insurer, he doesn't think in terms of separate channels. For example, if he wants to renew his car insurance, he jumps online because that's convenient and efficient. At other times, if he's unsure about something, he might seek the support of an agent at the contact center by phone, email or chatbot.
Great customer experience starts with unified customer communications
Customers like Oliver expect their insurance company to blend these different channels into a single, engaging customer experience. But, too often, boundaries between different channels cause communication breakdowns. The result is that essential customer data and insight is not always available across all digital channels, contact centers, brokers and sales teams.
But, it doesn't have to be that way. For example, Generali, one of the world's biggest Life and Property & Casualty (P&C) insurance companies, implemented VeriPark's VeriChannel, a unified Omni-Channel delivery solution alongside the VeriTouch Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform. The solution delivered unified customer communications and seamless, consistent customer journeys across multiple touchpoints.
Insurers need to make every customer interaction count
Sadly, for Oliver, he currently has a bigger problem than simply renewing his insurance. He's badly damaged his car reversing out of a city car park. Thankfully, he's unhurt but his beloved car certainly isn't.
Many customers only contact their insurance provider when they're already feeling stressed or upset. Maybe, like Oliver, they've been involved in a traffic accident, or perhaps their roof is leaking or their much-loved pet is poorly. Whatever the situation, they're looking for speed, accuracy and a caring approach.
Oliver contacts with the insurer's contact center. He's still upset about his car (and a bit embarrassed) and the last thing he wants is to feel compelled to re-tell his distressing story multiple times at each interaction with his insurer. Thankfully, the contact center agent Sanneke has it all under control.
She has the VeriTouch Contact Center Module on her desktop, so she can manage all enquiries, claims and transactions on one screen. It also means that Oliver can seamlessly switch between channels throughout his claims process, depending on what's convenient for him at the time.
Oliver was delighted to have a named contact to call
The personal touch is hugely important in the insurance sector. In fact, research suggests that despite the increasing popularity of digital channels, around 85% of customers want to talk to a broker or agent at some point in the relationship lifecycle. This is often the case during difficult times or in delicate situations.
By implementing the Remote Advisor module of VeriTouch, insurers can give every customer a named agent at the contact center when they need someone to turn to. As we see in Oliver's claim scenario, agent Sanneke becomes his remote advisor in time and and whenever Oliver calls she will be there to help him with his enquiries.
For Generali, this was a critical element to building trust and strong customer relationships and loyalty. Their agents were able to greet callers as individuals. They also had a better insight into their customers' problems and were able to deliver a higher level of personal service.
Serve, solve and sell all in one place
VeriPark's unified front-end 360-degree View of the Customer feature transforms insurance customer service. For example, when Oliver wants a new insurance quote he can go through the online data collection, validation and risk assessment process, or he can contact Sanneke who has everything she needs on a single screen. Oliver can also switch seamlessly between the two if he needs help or status updates at any time.
The process with VeriPark is fast and efficient. As Generali has found it can generate offers in just one minute and create policies in three minutes. Agents can also answer queries and process claims quickly. The Service Request and Complaints Management module captures data and automates workflows to ensure a personalized response. Generali has seen this superior service boost customer loyalty and reduce churn.
Because agents have a complete customer history, they have more informed, personalized conversations and build stronger customer relationships. They can also create relevant cross-selling and up-selling offers based on consolidated and up-to-date customer data. In just one year, Generali's combined contact center and online platform converted quotes into 80,000 policy sales.
For a tech-savvy customer like Oliver, digital platforms are great for convenient and efficient transactions. But, when he needed help, he was relieved to have Sanneke on the end of the phone at the contact center. The insurance landscape has changed and now's the time to harness Omni-Channel technology to transform your customer experience and offer the Olivers of this world the level of service they want and expect.
