New Research from Smart Communications Details Key Trends in Insurance Customer Experience Including
95 Percent of Insurance Executives Say the Claims Experience is the Key to Customer Loyalty and Trust
London and New York – Tuesday, April 12, 2022 – Smart CommunicationsTM, a leading technology company focused on helping businesses engage in more meaningful customer conversations, today announced the release of the 2022 Hyper-Personalization in Insurance Claims Study. Based on results from an Insurance Innovators survey of 150 senior insurance executives from the U.S. and U.K., the study developed in collaboration with Salesforce delved into the most pressing issues, concerns and trends that exist in today’s P&C claims and insurance marketplace.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has completely changed the way the insurance industry operates, particularly when it comes to the claims experience,” said James Brown, CEO, Smart Communications. “From technology use to personalization, the claims experience is in the midst of one of the most disruptive periods it has ever experienced. This research aims to shine a light on the biggest factors shaping the claims experience today, the impact of customer conversations on overall CX and what insurers need to keep in mind as they look to build long-lasting trust with their customers.”
“The priorities of financial service institutions have shifted considerably over the past twelve months. In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, organizations have understandably moved to implement new technologies. However, the key of digital transformation should be to transform the customer experience, not to compromise it,” said John Kelleher, Head of Financial Service for Salesforce UKI. “As businesses seek to recover and return to growth, capability to enhance their customer service, helping clients to reach their full potential, and willingness to invest in intelligence will be key determinants of success.”
Below is an overview of the study’s key findings:
Executives View Claims Experience as Make or Break for Customer Success
Ninety-five percent of respondents said that the claims experience is where insurers have the greatest opportunity to win loyalty but also the greatest risk of losing it. Moreover, 96% of respondents believe that hyper-personalized communication is the key to offering better claims efficiency and quality of claimant experience.
Insurers Are Not Using Data Properly in Claims
Ninety-five percent of insurers also felt their organizations were not using the data they already had on-hand as well as they could be when it comes to personalizing the claims experience. In addition, only 73% say they use data from third-party sources to increase claims success only “moderately,” while only 37% say they use data from connected devices in a “significant” way.
Insurers Say the Claims Experience Needs Greater Transparency
Per the study’s findings, 92% of insurers believe greater transparency around the claims process would help to build customer trust. And with that in mind, 71% have said that they plan to make full customer communications histories available through a client portal within the next two years.
AI Use in Claims Set to Boom in Next Two Years
According to the research results, only about 20% of respondents currently use AI to tackle key claims personalization tasks such as determining when to update customers on policy information, channel orchestration, content sentiment, among other things. However, this number will surge to 65% within the next two years.
Efficiency, Speed and Reducing Customer Effort Dominate Claims Priorities in 2022
When asked what the biggest priorities were for 2022 in terms of claims experience, increasing efficiency (89%), reducing settlement times (74%), and reducing customer effort (74%) were the top three goals most insurers were looking to accomplish in the claims space this year.
“By and large, the insurance industry has done an admirable job of embracing widespread digital transformation initiatives. The time has come now, however, to evolve from digital-centric experiences to ones that are also entirely customer-centric,” said Brown. “ By adopting frictionless processes such as personalized forms and two-way conversations, insurers will see improved customer satisfaction and increased trust that will have long term effects on their claims experience and business operations.”
Download the 2022 Hyper-Personalization in Claims Infographic for the full study.
About Salesforce:
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About Smart Communications
Smart Communications is a leading technology company focused on helping businesses engage in more meaningful customer conversations. Its Conversation Cloud™ platform uniquely delivers personalized, omnichannel conversations across the entire customer experience, empowering companies to succeed in today’s digital-focused, customer-driven world while also simplifying processes and operating more efficiently. Smart Communications is headquartered in the UK and serves more than 650 customers from offices located across North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific. Smart Communications’ Conversation Cloud platform includes the enterprise-scale customer communications management (CCM) power of SmartCOMMTM, forms transformation capabilities made possible by SmartIQTM and the trade documentation expertise of SmartDXTM. In 2021, the company acquired Assentis, a leading European software solutions provider specializing in customer communications management (CCM) with a focus on the financial services industry. To learn more, visit smartcommunications.com