How can insurers improve their products’ visibility and accessibility? In this short blog, I highlight a key call to action from the benchmark Global Consumer Insurance Insights Survey 2023.
Insurers who continue to place priority on optimizing customer experiences while maximizing access to insurance products through digital channels are gaining traction in new and existing markets.
Duck Creek partnered with Research in Finance for our 2023 Global Consumer Insurance Insights White Paper, in which we present direct insights from over 2,000 insurance policyholders on their preferences when it comes to insurance comparison and purchase habits.
The numbers back this up, optimizing experience while maximizing product access through digital channels, and highlight why this is key to success for insurers too.
The Need to Improve Product Visibility & Accessibility
86% of policyholders say they feel there is a good range of choice available when scanning for products. But in a competitive space, how can insurers improve their products’ visibility and accessibility?
This is particularly relevant when you consider, for instance, that 75% of consumers want to know about other products throughout their research and purchasing journey, and 62% are either unaware of embedded insurance or unsure what it is. This is just one example of how an innovation could be connected with consumer demand, and insurers must maximize accessibility to new products and services across channels in order to match consumer demand.
Calling for Humanized Experiences in the Insurance Industry
Another strong thread throughout the 2023 survey is the desire for humanized customer experiences, regardless of the channel a policyholder uses. An almost-even spread of policyholders surveyed said they either preferred to use only digital channels (18%) or speak to real people (14%). Most sat somewhere in the middle. Younger groups prefer online services, whether exclusively or in combination with humanized experiences, across all of the regions we included in the survey, except for France, where almost a quarter of consumers only want to deal with a human during this process.
To achieve the balance that customers seek, insurers can explore the use of cloud-based, digital customer service software integrated with their core insurance systems. Capabilities such as screen sharing, co-browsing, digital audio/video, and chat allow insurers to provide humanized contextual help that is convenient and helpful to the consumer.
Being on a modern platform with API connectivity available to serve the full customer journey – from quote and bind to Claim payment – is essential to ensure carrier success in delivering optimized customer experiences.
For insurers focused on delivering and enhancing the online experience, SaaS-based distribution management systems that integrate secure apps for agents and brokers will help insurers scale agency distribution channels to add reach and maximize operational efficiency as consumers journey through online policy research and purchase. It is also clear that consistency of look and feel between an insurer’s web pages and mobile app interfaces will increase consumer confidence in an insurer and its products.
