There are countless pressures currently affecting auto insurance rates – from rising gas prices, extreme weather conditions and supply shortages to increases in risky driving and roadway fatalities. Last year, this brought a 11.8% jump in insurance quote rates across the nation as insurers adjust to remain viable.
And as premiums continue to rise, customer loyalty is at an all-time low. More and more policyholders are shopping elsewhere for better rates – with customer churn costing carriers billions of dollars globally.
The Statistics Speak
According to a recent study, auto insurance has the highest percentage of policyholders who shop around and switch providers compared to homeowners, renters, pet or life insurance. 25% of the policyholders surveyed also reported changing providers after shopping around – and this number is sure to continue climbing alongside rising premium costs.
Another recent study found that 26.8% of policyholders surveyed changed insurance providers over the last year. When asked why, 100% of these policyholders cited a reason pertaining to their experience with their previous carrier, including the need for faster claims processing, better personal service and a better digital experience.
In order to improve customer conversion and retention rates, insurers need to offer more – beyond attractive pricing – to set them apart from their competition. To start, they must put a greater focus on enhancing their customers’ digital experience.
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How Can Carriers Improve Their Customers’ Digital Experience?
Many customers want and expect their insurance buying experience to be as seamless as shopping on Amazon. But this is far more complex to accomplish in the insurance space. We explore three important but challenging expectations below.
Quicker Processes
In a digital world, customers heavily value convenience. When it comes to shopping around for the best rates, the price is important, but the time it takes to obtain a quote is just as critical. How many times as a consumer have you put down your phone or laptop in the middle of an application because it took too long to fill out the required information? Carriers that can master a quick and seamless buying experience will see far better quote-to-bind ratios.
Simplified Systems
A common pain point during a customer’s onboarding process surrounds providing personal information and filling out forms – the time and effort that goes into these steps are known to create friction. With this in mind, automating intake processes can help simplify the buyer’s experience. Quick tools such as identity verification and utilizing pre-filled data can put carriers leagues ahead of their competitors.
Accurate Quotes
There’s a lot that goes into providing a qualified quote. In order to do so successfully, carriers need to offer a verified price that they feel confident standing behind. But with customers wanting a quick and simple process, it’s challenging for carriers to meet these demands all while maintaining accuracy. And carriers that decide to cut corners in order to provide a quicker response time and/or to save money do not have the visibility needed to match the right price to the right risk – this is a costly decision that can lead to lower quote-to-bind ratios and future premium leakage.
A Better Customer Experience Requires Better Data
For carriers that are unable to meet these three customer needs, the missing component most likely involves a lack of data. Without the right data, it would be almost impossible for carriers to speed up and automate processes. But even having the right data brings its own set of challenges – especially if you don’t have the right technology infrastructure to manage and make sense of it in a timely and cost-effective manner.
Want to learn more about how you can leverage technology to improve your digital buying experience and increase customer conversion and retention rates? Watch our webinar, The Secret’s in the Numbers: How Top Insurers Are Leveraging Data to Gain a Competitive Advantage.
