How Today’s Claims Departments Can Deliver Loyalty-Boosting Customer Experiences

It’s easy to see why effective claims management is critical to the success of insurance companies. By playing a crucial role in determining how much insurers pay out, claims adjusters have a major impact on incurred losses. Meanwhile, how quickly and efficiently they work has a major impact on loss adjustment expenses.

But claims management also plays a crucial role in determining customer satisfaction and loyalty. From the insured customer’s perspective, the claims process is the moment of truth – a make-or-break point at which they are particularly dependent on their insurers. How they are treated at this critical point can make the difference between whether they’ll stay or switch insurance providers – and whether or not they’ll recommend their insurer to others.

To make the claims experience as positive as possible for their customers, insurers need to combine digital technology with personal service and a customer-centric organizational culture. And that’s more important today than ever before – especially considering that customer acquisition expenses have risen in recent years, and an estimated 87% of policyholders believe that the claims experience impacts their decision to remain with an insurer. Meanwhile, we can see that today’s insured customers have higher expectations than in the past, especially in light of the seamless and personalized online customer journeys offered by their banks, retailers, and other organizations.

To help insurers deliver a claims experience that will meet and even exceed customers’ expectations – and will boost customer retention – this post will explore the key factors making for a positive claims experience, as well as tips for offering that kind of experience efficiently.

How automation and integration can improve the customer’s claims experience

Today’s claims organizations need to tap into the power of automation and AI in order to improve their customer experience, while also making their claims management more efficient and reliable. Automating aspects of their claims management can help these companies prevent a variety of human errors, expedite claims processing, and detect potentially fraudulent activity.

In addition to automation, delivering a seamless customer experience requires insurance companies to rely on APIs and integrations with third-party platforms.

While enhancing the claims experience for customers, both automation and integrations with third-party platforms can increase efficiency and reduce expenses for claims organizations (and for insurance companies more broadly). By streamlining processes, these capabilities can save claims adjusters and other employees significant work time, helping them maximize their productivity. This can also give them additional time to focus on delivering a transparent, sympathetic, and generally positive customer experience.

How many of a typical claim’s organizations routine processes can be automated? In 2020, McKinsey estimated that by 2030, a majority of current claims processes “could be replaced by automation.” Today, the claim-related processes that can be performed automatically include:

• Pre-population of policy data during first notice of loss (FNOL)
• Assignment of claims to adjusters
• Coverage opening
• Reserve setting
• Documentation of both incoming and outgoing communications
• Digital payments
• Generation of status reports and communication alerts

The importance of omnichannel communication for a seamless customer experience

When a customer urgently needs to submit a claim, it’s important for them to be able to contact their insurer, easily and conveniently, via the channel of their choice. No matter how they reach out, all their data should be instantly available, so they don’t have to begin a tedious process of filling out forms from scratch.

The key to making that happen is omnichannel communication. When insurance providers truly deliver omnichannel communication, the customer experience is seamless across all touchpoints in their life cycle, regardless of channel – including mobile apps, websites, social media, live chats, follow-up emails, phone calls, and (if relevant) in-person assistance.

Most importantly, omnichannel communication benefits both the customer and the insurer. For the insurer, the efficiencies that omnichannel communication offer help reduce costs and make it easier for claims adjusters to excel at their jobs. For the customer, omnichannel communication means greater ease of use, less time wasted, and increased transparency, for an improved overall experience. Plus, providing customers with the necessary information via digital channels offers them both convenience and a sense of control, even as some customers still prefer to speak to a human representative.

Automation can also help insurance companies to make their omnichannel communication as seamless and efficient as possible. For example, a can offer a claims adjuster the option of sending pre-written messages to their insured customers, helping them maximize their efficiency while communicating with customers effectively.

How data-driven claims intelligence can help claims adjusters focus on the customer

The power of data-driven claims intelligence is that it can help claims adjusters to handle claims accurately and reliably, while also working quickly and efficiently. Specifically, machine learning algorithms can automatically analyze claims data and provide adjusters with just-in-time guidance, streamlined processes, and more.

The result: faster service – a win for the customer – and lower operating costs – a win for the insurer. Meanwhile, both the customer and the insurer benefit from the increased accuracy and reliability that just-in-time guidance and other data-driven insights can offer.

Plus, by streamlining claims management through data-driven insights and just-in-time guidance, claims organizations of all types can help free up their adjusters to focus more on delivering a sympathetic and friendly customer experience. This way, when insurance companies increase their efficiency, they can make sure that customers receive the full benefit of that improvement.

Being there for customers in their moment of need

Today, it’s critical for claims organizations to deliver a positive customer experience. To retain customers, insurers must deliver what those customers want and need when dealing with claims: a simple, quick, transparent, convenient, and user-friendly process.

Achieving this goal efficiently depends on a combination of technology, customer service, and company culture. Technological developments such as AI and data modeling have created new opportunities for claims organizations to improve both their processes and the customer experiences they offer. And an insurer offering a variety of digital services has a competitive advantage over providers slow to invest in the future.

In this environment, data-driven innovation in claims management is as beneficial to insurers as it is to their insured customers. By combining innovation with customer-centricity, claims departments can boost customer loyalty – while also increasing their efficiency, reducing their loss adjustment expenses, and improving their overall profitability.

How can Five Sigma help you deliver a world-class claims experience to your customers efficiently? To see for yourself, request a demo of our data-driven, cloud-based claims management solution.