A concept that has been gaining traction in the last 3 years is Customer Satisfaction when talking about websites, software and procedures across the board that involve a client performing an action in a platform. Customers want a product that is easy to use. If a product or product integration is not streamlined enough, customers will not be satisfied with the product.
According to Insurance Thought Leadership: “Customer experience is quickly becoming the new battleground for insurance companies. The pandemic has changed the way customers interact with insurers; companies that don’t digitize their delivery, service, and communication channels will fall behind in this increasingly technology-centric world.”
What is Customer Satisfaction in Claim Management?
Customer satisfaction is deeply engrained in Customer Experience. It encompasses all the ‘steps’ that a customer needs to take to complete an action, and the percentage in which the completion of said action was easy and successful.
There are two fundamental concepts here:
- Customer experience: how customers go through the actions they want to take.
- Customer satisfaction: gives a value to how happy the customer is with what they received or did.
Registering for a demo on a website is part of the customer experience. Buying an item is another example. So is checking the status of an account. These are all part of the customer experience and they can all bring in the benefits of customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction is manifested through scores in surveys, online reviews and NPS (net promoter’s score).
If any of the actions a client had to perform where to be broken or difficult, it could annul any wish or urgency the client must acquire your products. Customer experience transforms then, into customer dissatisfaction that also gets channeled through reviews and so on which will result in a negative word of mouth for the product.
Are there any critical areas where to improve customer satisfaction?
In the case of Insurance companies, a study was done by Customer Strategiest a firm specialized in Customer Satisfaction, revealed that there were six critical areas for an insurance company to manage, that could make or break the “insurance claims” experience:
- Issues were resolved the first time: This indicates that the user did not have to re-do anything nor make a complaint about their claim before it was resolved.
- No surprises: Clients did not encounter unforeseeable factors or blockers. Everything that happened was supposed to happen.
- Insurance Company acted in client’s best interest: Clients found that the insurance provider was looking to resolve the claim as soon as possible and with the best results for every party involved.
- Managed expectations: No ideal timeline was presented. Every step was followed to the letter and events happened when they needed to happen.
- Overall Effort for a claim: Clients did not go through a lot of hassle to submit a claim nor to follow up on it.
- Approval for the claim: Due actions in time led to faster claim approval.
It was also established that clients prefer one channel for communication, two channels’ tops. Three or more were perceived as invasive and time consuming.
How can Customer Experience and Satisfaction be improved in Claim Management?
As it has been analyzed, customer experience and customer satisfaction depend on several factors. There are 3 key areas for improvement that drastically increase how good a customer feels about your product:
- Time: In something as sensitive as claim management, time is of the Essense. A well-managed claim does not involve a client having to ask for updates, nor a prolonged process of several months. The use of claim management software drastically reduces time spent in information gathering, form filling, form sending, data processing and comparing, and it centralizes data.
- Reliance: The policy holder should say that the insurer put their best interest first. Not only because of one claim, but also because a low rating, or negative comment will have a negative impact on your business.
- Easiness: Clients should not need a degree to make a claim. Make it simple for them and they will make it easier for the insurer. The use of claim management software can help here too. Claim management systems lets the insurer organize the information, thus, allowing the insurer to ask for everything he needs at once, and not be bothering the client over and over.
Best practices to deliver a superior customer experience in claim management
- Improve the customer journey to ensure a clear result to a clear action.
- Prioritize the key areas and check for opportunities for improvement.
- Educate the organization on how each area of the business impacts the customer experience.
- Continually monitor success and adjust where necessary.
The right person needs the correct tool.
Terraclaim is here to offer insurers a clean, swift, and fast claim management experience. This tool was designed with the preferences of Adjusters, Brokers, TPA’s, PEO’s, and Insurance providers in mind, to make it easier for them. Have all your claims, all their data and all your vendors in one place, and claim your time back with Terraclaim.
