How to Improve Customer Experience in the Insurance Industry

Author: Simon Black | Date: 15/11/2022

Retaining customers is a crucial aspect of the customer experience in the insurance industry. According to Salesforce Research, if the service they receive is satisfactory over 78% of customers will continue to do business with a company, even when mistakes occur.¹

As a result, insurance companies need to meet customer expectations and provide exceptional levels of support if they want to ensure customer retention, loyalty and long-term success.

In today’s blog, we’re going to look at the steps and procedures you can implement to improve the customer experience in the insurance industry. Let’s dive in.

Suggested reading: Learn about improving the efficiency of your entire contact centre in our free eBook — Your Contact Centre Could Operate Better… A Lot Better

Adopt an omnichannel approach

Over 35% of customers expect to be able to connect with the same customer service representative on any channel they choose.² However, that’s not always feasible, which means ensuring a high-quality user experience across phone calls, live chats and social media is vital.

Due to this level of demand, insurance contact centres are increasingly required to implement an omnichannel approach which requires:

Identifying the channels insurance customers want to use the most
Deploying agents across social media channels and live chats
Utilising cloud-based software to facilitate seamless claims management

An omnichannel approach to customer service needs to be implemented carefully, so insurance contact centres need to consider that:

Agents need to be able to navigate various channels seamlessly while handling complex insurance claims
Customers should be able to get the same level of quality across each platform

Failure in either one of these areas is likely to result in a fragmented experience. This will ultimately lead to a decrease in overall customer satisfaction and significantly increase customer churn.

Better understand your customers

In insurance, customer service agents will interact with customers for various reasons, such as:

Comparing the insurance products and services you offer with a competitors
Making updates to existing claims
Adding family members to existing policies
Getting answers concerning their claim settlement from financial services

Therefore, the two most important things for the customer are being heard and getting answers to their questions. When insurance companies take the time to understand customers and their unique needs, they can start to develop personalised customer service experiences.

The best way to do this is with software that utilises data and analytics from past customer claims across various channels to obtain actionable insights that inform processes moving forward.

By utilising this software, contact centres can better understand customer sentiment in real time, facilitating bespoke conversations that meet customer demand and help to ensure a seamless claims-handling experience, regardless of the complexity of the query.

Deploy tools and training

Training and resources are crucial components to providing insurance customers with an exceptional experience. A carefully constructed training program can provide agents with the expertise they need to meet the rigorous demands of insurance customer service.

By deploying software that analyses customer-agent interactions, contact centre managers can pinpoint where agents need support during the claims process. As a result, follow-up training can be tailored to the specific needs of each agent, helping to ensure they provide a consistent experience.

Contact centres can also support agents by ensuring that they have access to the tools they need to meet consumer demand. For example, cutting-edge scripting tools that present agents with the information they need exactly when they need it are now available. This software can help insurance contact centres:

Reduce training time by 70%
Improve employee retention by 25%
Reduce call handling times by 30%

Reduce the time it takes to make simple script changes by as much as 99%. Book Your Demo Today.

Identify and track key metrics

Benchmarking performance is another way of improving insurance customer service outcomes. This should come in the form of key performance indicators (KPIs), including:

Average wait time
Average handle time

Measuring average handle time (AHT) allows managers to understand how long agents are taking to resolve claims. If it emerges that agents are taking longer than expected, team leaders can intervene to make improvements with additional training or resources.

The most important KPI for insurance contact centres is first call resolution (FCR) — the ability to resolve queries without the need for follow-ups, ensuring a seamless experience that breeds loyalty. Due to the complex nature of insurance customer service, providing FCR on a consistent basis can be a major differentiator. As a result, contact centres are working to ensure they can resolve as many queries on first contact as possible.

The most effective way of improving FCR in insurance is with technology, including:

Speech analytics software that enables contact centres to analyse every query agents deal with, making it easier to understand demands and identify where improvements can be made.
Call scripting tools that guide agents to deliver the right information at the right time.

Technology is also allowing the insurance industry to benefit from an emerging contact centre trend known as Next Best Action (NBA). This encompasses the use of Conversational ai in insurance, machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) to guide agents to deliver resolutions based on the customers’ needs in real-time — ensuring high levels of FCR.

Additional reading: You can learn more about increasing FCR in the insurance industry in our recent blog post — Improving First Call Resolution in Insurance

Deploy cutting-edge technology

Software and technology are invaluable tools for contact centres operating in the insurance industry. The right tech can streamline productivity and provide agents with the resources they need, helping to simplify training processes and deliver a top-of-the-line experience every time.

Contact centres can now utilise a range of solutions that help increase inefficiencies and enhance the customer experience. This includes:

Speech, voice, and text analysis: Software can automatically capture every call, social media message, and email to help agents understand the needs of their customers. This makes it possible to gain a deeper understanding of their needs without having to filter through each conversation manually.
Reporting and dashboards: With a reporting dashboard, you can obtain actionable insights concerning customer needs and behaviour. This data guides agents to make the best decisions during customer interactions and gives them the peace of mind they need to tackle challenges head-on.
Dynamic script development: With the help of scripting software, agents can benefit from insights and prompts that ultimately help them drive conversations to a successful resolution.

Enhance insurance customer service with Awaken

Providing customers with high-quality customer service that helps you gain a competitive advantage in insurance requires cutting-edge software. That means working with contact centre technology providers like Awaken.

We’re here to help insurance companies take the customer journey seriously. We work with insurers to provide great customer experiences using a combination of data analytics, AI and ML.

If you want to see for yourself how Awaken can help you provide a consistently excellent claims experience and increase customer loyalty in the process, book a demo with us today.