Insurer customer service: meeting the demands of the coming generation

Over the past few years, a new kind of insurance customer has emerged, one who is accustomed to the convenience and speed of the digital world. It’s no surprise, then, that insurers are laser-focused on customer experience (CX) and even further focused on the most critical aspect of CX: claims management.

What does this mean for insurers? To get the answers, Ricoh commissioned a survey, conducted online by The Harris Poll among 1,900 Americans with home/auto insurance. The survey revealed that:

The customer experience hinges upon claims management

• Nearly 1 in 3 Americans who filed a home or auto insurance claim within the last 5 years (31%) rate their claim filing experience as fair/poor/terrible.
• In addition, younger adults ages 18-44 who filed a home/auto insurance claim within the last 5 years were more likely than those ages 55+ to describe the experience as terrible, poor, or fair (34% vs. 21%).
• The top reason those who filed a home/auto insurance claim in the past 5 years and describe their most recent claim experience as terrible, poor, or fair is the claim filing process being too long (38%).

What does this tell us? That, insurers, while maintaining a customer service staff that meets high customer expectations, must continue to focus on enhancing their digital CX, particularly as it pertains to the online processing of claims.

Insurers must continue to focus on a fast, efficient, online claims filing process.

Customer service in insurance is more important than products

Just how important is customer service? According to our survey, "good customer service" is critical to earning and keeping a customer's loyalty.

In fact, customer service is even more important to Americans than whether or not their insurance provider offers the products and services they want.

In our survey, 54% of Americans who have home/auto insurance cited “good customer service” as a top reason they stay with their provider, while only 42% cited “products they need/want” as a top reason.

Customer service and communication

Our survey also provided insights, shown below, into preferred methods of communication. We learned that Americans 55+ prefer to speak with a live representative when in need of assistance while younger insurers prefer an online experience.

In conclusion…

We know through our survey that the claims filing experience is critical to remaining competitive. We also know that good customer service tops the list of reasons Americans with home/auto insurance stay with their current insurance provider. It makes perfect sense that in addition to maintain a well-trained and responsive customer service staff, insurers must continue to enhance their claims management processes in order to attract and retain customers — especially younger adults. After all, these individuals represent the coming generation of insurance customers, a growing market, and the future of insurance industry businesses.