Understanding the consumer experience is more than a point in time
Claims executives have it tough. You need to exceed customer expectations throughout a stressful experience that involves multiple touch points and multiple business partners. To do this well requires tremendous collaboration with both internal and external resources. And, according to industry research, there’s room for improvement if the goal is customer loyalty and retention.
A loyalty and engagement study published by McKinsey in April 2013 shows that companies could use more focus when it comes to the ‘customer journey’, or all of the different points of interaction throughout a consumer’s experience with your company.¹ According to the research, many customers may give you high ratings for your efforts during an interaction, or ‘moment of truth’, but they still often find a company’s ability to meet their needs over the entire course of their relationship lacking or frustrating.²
Separate research from Bain & Company in August 2014 looked at customer loyalty and the challenges and opportunities surrounding customer acquisition and retention for property and casualty carriers.³ The premise is that most carriers are good at winning new customers or keeping the ones they have, but few do both well, which negatively impacts loyalty and decreases the lifetime value of individual customers.⁴
These are important studies as Trans Union notes that the shopping rates for auto insurance were down 3 percent in the 12 months ending February 2014 when compared to a year earlier.⁵ This decrease may seem slight, but combined with broader trends of younger consumers forgoing car ownership and more people moving to urban centers where public transportation and car-sharing services are readily available, and the new customer pool becomes tight, making every new or retained customer more important than ever.
So, when it comes to P&C insurance, and auto claims in particular, how each consumer touch point is handled is critically important to customer loyalty and retention. Read on to see how you might improve or advance your key claims milestones.
Key areas for meaningful collaboration
As we think about improving the claims experience as a way to drive overall satisfaction, there are several key areas that can impact the overall customer experience.
Setting the Right Tone at FNOL
Each claim is unique and there are multiple decision points that must be made at FNOL when assessing the most effective channel to handle that claim. Managing these variables across hundreds or thousands of employees can be cumbersome, but it doesn’t have to be. For example, carriers that use predictive analytics, using data collected at first notice, gain insight into the best inspection channel – for the customer and the business. While the customer will always have the final say in where she would like the vehicle repaired, using the most effective options for vehicle appraisal using staff, drive-ins, independent appraisers, direct repair or out of network repairers can be easy to accommodate.
Today’s consumer may want choice in how their claim is handled and how (and where) their vehicle is repaired. Streamlining the use of out of network repairers can accommodate those customers. Using this channel used to be one of the most difficult to manage administratively, however new technology exists that makes it seamless for insurers to connect. As for the repairer, the ability to work with carriers outside of DRP relationships generates potential new opportunities while reducing unnecessary phone calls and improving cycle time. It’s a win-win-win for the insurer, repairer, and most importantly the customer.
Keeping Customers Informed, Satisfied
Studies have shown that keeping the customer informed is essential in driving overall satisfaction with the claim process. Consumers want more visibility throughout the process – on the right device and at the right time. Fortunately, many repairers are using automated status updates as a means to communicate repair status to your shared. As repairs progress, keeping the customer informed of the status of the repair builds trust, but also has a direct impact on overall satisfaction and cycle time.
With status updates provided via SMS (text message) or email, repairers are able to provide transparency to your policyholder, thereby providing a significantly improved customer experience. For example, by sending an update as soon as the customer has dropped off his vehicle, proactively thanking him for his business and reassuring them of their choice in repairers, the customer’s trust in that repairer starts on the right foot. And that positive experience is transferred back to the insurer.
But what happens when we see something going wrong? Maybe the customer is asking why he hasn’t heard from anyone or isn’t satisfied with the information being provided.
Implementing bi-directional messaging capabilities, repairers can close the loop and ensure customer follow up is occurring. Today if this conversation were to unfold over the phone a shop owner and insurer would have no visibility to the customer issue or the required follow up. But automated communication allows for documentation and tracking, providing visibility into the conversation so both the repairer and insurer can better understand the sentiment of the policyholder and determine if any additional action is necessary – before the repair is complete.
Cycle time drives satisfaction
Another key component of satisfaction with the claims process often identified in research studies is the overall time it takes to handle the claim and return the vehicle back to the customer. Repairers are focused on a number of process improvements to improve customer satisfaction, but like everything in life accountability can have a significant impact on performance.
An indirect benefit of implementing an automated consumer status solution is improved cycle time and on time delivery. By providing the customer with a promise date in writing up front and continuing to reinforce that date the process, can drive behavior in the repair facility to meet that promise. The result: repairers are seeing gains in cycle time and significant improvement in on-time delivery of repairs after implementing an automated status solution. With in-app views and notifications as promises are coming due repairers now have the tools they need to prioritize work and deliver on time.
Measuring performance
Proactive communication shouldn’t stop once the vehicle has been delivered. The electronic “relationship” with the customer remains intact and can be leveraged for more convenient and lower cost ways to conduct post-claim/repair customer satisfaction surveys. Response rates for certain text/email-based surveys achieve up to a 35% capture rate, as high as or higher than phone based surveys with less hassle for your policyholder, immediate feedback and at a significantly lower cost. Survey results are available to the repairer and insurer immediately, driving quick and efficient service recovery. For the insurer this means improved customer satisfaction which drives loyalty and retention.
As companies look to achieve greater engagement with their customers, it’s important to consider all of the interaction points that customer may have with your business and the role your business partners play in delivering on the brand promise. Customer satisfaction with a claim is not just the satisfaction with the repair of the vehicle itself. Certainly this is a critical component, but a consumer wants to be engaged upfront, helping them understand the claims process and in making an educated decision on where to get their vehicle fixed. Ensure that you’re taking advantage of these tools to drive best in class performance for your claims organization.
For more information on consumer experience solutions from CCC Intelligent Solutions visit cccutilities.wpengine.com/insurance
[1] Ibid.
[2] Ibid.
[3] “Bain: Few P/C Outfits Excel at Both Attracting and Keeping New Clients.” Carrier Management, July 22, 2014. http://www.carriermanagement.com/news/2014/07/22/126518.htm.
[4] Ibid.
[5] “TransUnion Finds Auto Insurance Shopping Steadily Declining Since 2012.”