Optimizing the Claims Experience to Boost Customer Satisfaction and Increase Retention

Why Improving the Claims Experience is a Business Imperative

For most consumers, personal lines insurance is a “set it and forget it” purchase…until they need to file a claim. Whether the loss is from an auto accident or property damage, claims processing is a “make it or break it” transaction for customer loyalty. In fact, Accenture says that dissatisfaction with the claims experience is a leading reason why policyholders change insurance carriers.

More than 30% of insurance customers surveyed by Accenture were not fully satisfied with a recent claims handling experience. Of that group, 30% had switched carriers, and 47% were considering it. That puts up to $34 billion of premiums at risk annually, or $170 billion over five years. Given the insurance industry’s high customer acquisition costs, improving customer satisfaction with the claims experience and increasing retention is crucial to ensuring profitability, particularly in today’s hard market for property and casualty insurers.

There are four things customers want when they file a claim:

• A simple and easy-to-understand process, without a lot of back-and-forth, duplicate requests for information, and chasing down answers.
• Speedy resolution so they can get life back to normal as quickly as possible, whether that’s resuming their turn in carpool or getting the blue tarp off the roof.
• Empathy with their situation — an indication that you understand and care.
• Clear, proactive, and timely communications from your claims team, along with the ability to reach you over any channel without having to retell their story repeatedly.

Addressing the first two takes some heavy lifting. It involves breaking down organizational silos, streamlining data collection, and replacing manual and paper processes with a transparent, digital-first claims experience. Going even deeper with digital transformation, insurers are using robotic process automation for straight-through processing of simple claims and AI to automate routing, estimating, adjusting, and decision-making.

Read this white paper to learn more about how improving the claims experience is a business imperative.