Policyholders want better from their insurance providers. Whether they are applying for a policy or going through the claims process, not every insured is confident that their carrier will treat them fairly.

London-based research data and analytics group YouGov completed a study that found 43% of Americans don’t trust insurance companies, and 49% of Americans felt insurance companies didn’t act in the best interest of their customers.

InsurTechs aim to provide services that deliver convenience and simplicity through innovative technology. These qualities can benefit carriers while enhancing the policyholder experience to develop a higher level of trust.

Policyholders may have difficulty trusting adjusters when they don’t feel carriers have their interests at heart. Photo Credit: “Trust” by Joshua Hoehne / CC BY 4.0

Improve Policyholder Communication

The smallest interaction can make the difference for an insured, regardless of if it’s positive or negative. Most policyholders would rather not have to wait and listen to a recording until someone is available on the phone. Others may get aggravated if they are transferred to multiple people or departments before they can receive answers to a question.

Carriers have been able to improve this experience through automated phone answering services that gather information to transfer a caller to the correct department. Other offerings allow the customer to add a return phone number to a queue and hang up to reduce the amount of time a policyholder is on hold.

Communication has also been enhanced through personalized logins and phone applications to increase transparency. Policyholders can check a claim’s status, pay insurance bills conveniently, and receive documents and messages in one place.

Even if an Insurtech is handling assessments or other aspects of the claim process, its employees can do their part in providing superior policyholder experiences, such as contacting the insured to confirm equipment types and damage, automating procedures to make scheduling appointments faster and easier, and automatically sending confirmation texts and emails to keep policyholders informed.

Adding automation doesn’t mean cutting out human interaction. CGS, an international provider of business applications, reviewed responses of 1,000 U.S. consumers in the CGS Customer Service Chatbots and Channels Survey and found that 29% were more likely to use chat or direct messaging for quick questions, but nearly 70% were more likely to use a phone for a more complex question. While this survey wasn’t aimed at the insurance industry, the results indicate the importance of carriers and other service providers offering a hybrid communication model to meet policyholders’ preferences.

Offices don’t have to have rows of people ready to take a phone call or a message – but accessible communication methods should make it seem like they do. Photo Credit: “People Doing Office Work” Alex Kotliarskyi /CC 4.0

Use Efficient Processes to Avoid Wasting Time

It’s critical that carriers use efficient processes. This includes being respectful of the insureds’ time by reducing their wait, not scheduling assessments at inconvenient times, and eliminating redundancies.

InsurTechs have found ways to make processes easier through automations. Data mining enables carriers to automatically have information at their fingertips to make tasks more about information verification rather than gathering. Portals with pre-filled forms help policyholders and adjusters alike speed up the process of gathering details.

Other InsurTech services could help weed through results to make faster policy decisions – without sacrificing accuracy.

Gathering and verifying information should be an easy process for both carriers and adjusters so everyone has what they need at their fingerprints. Photo Credit: “Person Using MacBook” Christin Hume /CC 4.0

Demonstrate Knowledge and Objectivity

Carriers can increase policyholder trust by demonstrating policy decisions are objective. Insureds may provide documentation, including contractor recommendations and estimates, with their claim. While many may be accurate, others may include inflated costs or unnecessary repairs and replacements. These drive an increase in claims leakage that may result in larger premiums if carriers make inaccurate settlements.

InsurTechs can be part of the solution through data-driven methods. One is example is using technology to quickly verify contactor and policyholder estimates using real-time manufacturer databases. This provides unbiased results to ensure carriers don’t pay more or less than is necessary.

Some policyholders receive contractor estimates that only provide a final cost with no other detail about where it came from. On the other hand, insurance professionals and their third-party vendors can use technology innovations to strengthen transparency and policyholder trust. This occurs by using apps, portals, and other cloud-based services to submit and store detailed documents, testing results, and other comprehensive data in one location that can be sent to or accessed by policyholders. No longer is there confusion about what something means or why a decision was made.

CCG IQ Maintains Trust of Carriers and Policyholders

CCG IQ, which includes claims solutions companies HVACi and StrikeCheck, has a proven track-record of providing superior customer service to carriers and their policyholders. The expert teams use efficient processes, open lines of communication, and objective reports to deliver data-driven recommendations.

Ultimately, carriers decide how to settle a claim and interact with policyholders. CCG IQ is a trusted partner in making the process more fair, easier, and more accurate. Find out more about the CCG IQ’s suite of services.