Customer Experience Management and the Insurance Provider A Blueprint for Online & Multi-Channel Engagement

Transcription

1 I R K n o w l e d g e S e r i e s August 2009 Customer Experience Management and the Insurance Provider A Blueprint for Online & Multi-Channel Engagement Insurers that fail to exploit a web site as an essential channel option will risk customer dissatisfaction and a weakened competitive position by 2010 Gartner Research

2 1 This knowledge paper examines and explores the key elements that will allow insurance providers of all types to continue to evolve their approach to addressing the questions and concerns of their unique customer base. Perhaps now more than ever, one of the best ways to differentiate your organization in the insurance industry is through exceptional customer service, beginning with your contact center and web properties, and extending out to include assisted channels, mobile and new media as part of a next generation, multi-channel approach to managing the customer experience. Whether the journey begins on a smartphone, via a new social media channel, directly on your corporate web site, or via a direct call to your contact center, best practices demand speed, consistency and a truly uniformed approach to managing customer interaction. The Web as the Lynchpin of a Multi-Channel Customer Experience To say that the web has become an important tool for customer interaction would be more than just a minor understatement. The insurance industry is facing a veritable explosion in the number of online customer service interactions over the coming years. Due to the increased convenience, independence, speed and value of the Internet, consumers of all ages increasingly are using the web as their primary conduit to insurance plans and services, from property and automotive, to life, disability, health, travel and virtually every other type of insurance need. An insurance report by Capgemini reveals that 31% of non-life insurance customers have changed providers in the last five years. i Consumers are going on the Internet to compare prices, assisted by the growing popularity of data aggregators that present insurance products as undifferentiated commodities sorted by price. Also, the power of the web has extended its reach to include mobile technology that allows insurance customers to engage with their providers wherever and whenever they choose. Consumers of all ages are continuing to use the web as their primary conduit to every type of insurance program, from property and automotive, to life, disability, health, travel and virtually every other type of insurance. In this competitive market, customer attrition is not only due to the increasing usage of the Internet to shop for services. Another significant factor of customer loss can be attributed to poor contact center customer service. A study by the Claes Fornell International Group, an employee and customer satisfaction consultancy, showed that nearly 61% of insurance customers who have had a bad contact center experience will consider switching companies, and 26% said they will definitely switch companies because of a bad call center experience. ii And, a Genesys USA Consumer Survey further highlights the high stakes of customer service. In this survey, 48% of U.S. consumers said that customer service has the biggest impact on their loyalty to a company, and 44% said that a poor contact center experience was the sole reason they stopped doing business with a company. iii When compared to other industries, satisfaction with insurance contact centers is lower than levels found in other industries including banking, telecommunications and catalog retailers (see Figure 1 next page). Overall, the insurance market has a lower satisfaction level than the aggregate of all industries. iv

3 2 Figure 1 Satisfaction with Insurance Contact Centers is Low Compared to Other Industries Health, property and casualty and life insurance companies have contact center satisfaction scores that lag catalog retailers, banking, cell phone services and cable and satellite television. Industry Satisfaction with Contact Center* Overall Industry Satisfaction** Aggregate of all industries Catalog retailers Banking Cell phone service Cable and satellite television Insurance Personal computers * As measured by the Call Center Customer Satisfaction Index ** As measured by the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), using the same methodology + Score represents ACSI for retail industry overall, not just retailers ++ Includes health, P&C, and life insurance For most if not all insurance institutions, increasing customer satisfaction online is just good business. Not only do such solutions and strategies promote a seamless, multi-channel experience for the customer, they also provide the institution with the ability to improve both overall loyalty and bottom line savings by moving customers to the most cost effective service channel. Increasingly, the web sites of insurance providers of all types have a fairly large impact on the overall success of the entire organization. Insurance providers can and should strive to differentiate themselves on service that, more often than not, involves the web at some point during any sales or service engagement. So it s critical that the experience be productive and be in line with customer expectations. Satisfied online customers are more profitable, more loyal, and more likely to engage in positive word of mouth, and if they increase their use of the web site for informational and transactional service, cost savings increase through the value of right-channeling. With Opportunity comes Challenge: the Multi-Channel Reality The picture is not all rosy however. As more and more transactions, sales and service interactions in the insurance industry continue to involve the Web, your organization s opportunity to influence customer perceptions about brand, net promoter score, loyalty and advocacy increasingly begins online. The new reality now demands that organizations of all types provide rapid, concise information to customers across a variety of self-service and assisted channels, and this can be a daunting mandate. Many insurance providers are not able to provide a truly consistent experience across multiple channels during any given inquiry process.

4 3 The insurance industry needs to embrace online customer experience management, and adopt new and innovative ways to manage the customer experience in the emerging multi-channel environment. With the web as a new channel, providers will be able to gain new insight into customer value. They will be able to leverage this information by tapping in to the unique insights that are sometimes only available via online interactions. This type of web to multi-channel customer experience strategy is now readily found in the financial services market. That said, many insurance provider web sites are not designed using a customer centric process and as a consequence users cannot find relevant content and information quickly. In addition, many insurance providers are not able to provide a truly consistent experience across multiple channels during any given inquiry process. For example, providing customers with the ability to seamlessly transition between online and offline (self-service and assisted channels) is often non-existent for many insurance providers. The resulting frustration causes consumers to either leave and go to a competitor s web site or re-connect in a more expensive channel such as , phone or in person for example. Online, the Status Quo does not Suffice Damaging Effects of POOR SITE DESIGN Although the online growth trends for insurance providers continue to trend upward, and multichannel customer experience has taken on a new meaning in recent years, many web sites are not designed with a clear customer focused approach and as a result struggle with navigational elements, layout, content that reads as collateral, site depth and complexity, static FAQ s, and the ubiquitous site search that returns numerous links. In addition, many providers offer a disjointed customer experience across assisted and self-serve channels, with information flow in the contact center often lacking continuity to web interaction. A recent Jupiter Consulting survey revealed that 54% of consumers visiting a web site came looking for product and/or service information. Once on the site, a third of customers had a difficult time finding the information they were looking for, and the top three reasons that customers leave sites early are directly linked to poor site design and service flaws (see Figure 2 next page). Site Search and FAQ s Prove Inadequate Most corporate search platforms often do little to help the situation. Approximately 63% of consumers continue to be frustrated with web site search because it cannot understand the real question and 57% believe search results are not related to their specific topic of interest. v As most of us know from experience, web site users who utilize search often have to hunt and peck through large numbers of possible links to find answers buried somewhere in the detailed content of search results. Static FAQ systems, the other pervasive alternative, only deal with a subset of questions and require visitors to find a question. Many self-service solutions today lack relevance, speed and accuracy. Research indicates that approximately 47% of customers are looking for a faster navigation path and 33% want a tool to provide a single accurate response or advanced FAQ (see Figure 3 next page).

5 4 Figure 2 Site Visitor Frustration Can Lead to Devastating Results: Lost Sales and/or Tarnished Brands Leave the website and go to a competitive website Be less likely to visit the site again Be less likely to buy from them online Leave the website and give up Contact customer service via Have a more negative overall perception of the company Contact customer service via phone phone regarding my experience Be less likely to buy from them offline Tell others about my negative experience I have never been dissatisfied 4% 24% 24% 21% 18% 18% 16% 45% 45% 40% Site visitors are more likely to opt for an alternative site than both to contact customer service. Question: If you find yourself dissatisfied with your ability to find the necessary information you sought when first arriving on a website or a specific product/service page, which of the following are you likely to do? (Select all that apply) Select responses shown. 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% Percentage of Site Visitors 100% Figure 3 Effective Navigation Tools Resonate with Site Visitors Ability to easily navigate from home page and find what I seek The ability to send an to customer service Frequently Aked Questions (FAQ) web page Question box that enables you to enter a question and get a single, accurate answer Search tool that offers a list of search results Text-based online chat Call back option, where I enter my information and phone number and customer service calls me back A link to information About US that is easily found None of these would be helpful The ability to make a phone call to the company via my PC, cllicking a button and talking through my computer s microphone (VoIP) Other 13% 13% 12% 8% 5% 2% 47% 36% 33% 33% 30% 47% of customers are looking for a faster navigation path and 33% want a tool to provide a single accurate response or advanced FAQ. 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Percentage of Site Visitors

6 5 Insurance Customers are Goal Oriented Customers come to interact with insurance provider web sites and service agents armed with a goal in mind, and usually they have a specific context associated to their visit or inquiry. We can group these key objectives into three major categories: DO, BUY or ASK. The definition and an example of each of these three categories are as follows: 1. DO: Involves the desire to perform a task that leads to the customer engaging in an assisted or self-service transaction online or started online and concluded in another channel. Example: DO (Goal Oriented) when a customer wants to expand their insurance coverage with the provider. During this process a customer may have a simple question which can be phrased in numerous different ways: How do I expand my life insurance coverage to cover long term disability? Can I also get disability insurance through you? Do you provide disability insurance? Who do I contact to extend my insurance coverage? 3. ASK: Relates to customers seeking assistance to correct or rectify a customer service problem often caused by a failure to meet customer needs and expectations in the DO and BUY categories. Example: ASK (Goal Oriented) - a customer has a dispute with the timing of a bill payment made online. A customer may have the following ways of asking the same question: Can I report a bill payment problem online? How do I report a bill payment issue? How do I correct a billing error? What action should I take to correct a payment problem online? The DO, BUY and ASK goal categories help us understand that there is a solid link between customer intention and customer action, often in the form of a question or search for information. More importantly we learn that while there is often only one common destination or piece of information that will allow customers to achieve their goal, they often travel down a number of disparate paths to get there. 2. BUY: Involves any task related to the intended and/or final purchase of a product or service this may start and conclude online or in another channel, and often requires multiple channels to complete the process. Example: BUY (Goal Oriented) when a customer wants to purchase travel insurance for an upcoming vacation outside the country. During this process the customer may have a question which can be stated in many ways, for example: How do I purchase travel insurance? Can I purchase insurance for travel? What do I need to buy travel insurance? Where can I buy travel insurance?

7 6 The Expanding Interaction Ecosystem Assisted and Self-Service There is a lot of confusion surrounding the key channels and interaction points that can most effectively influence the customer experience. For many insurance providers, both the web and the contact center must now deploy a variety of strategies and technologies in order to service their multichannel customer base. Defining the key elements of an effective customer interaction ecosystem will help bring some clarity to the situation. Most customer interaction platforms (see Figure 4) require the capability to manage customer queries across two primary sub-categories: 1. Assisted Service Assisted-service provides or enables human interaction with customers via phone or face-to-face interaction as well as the Internet ( , chat or click-to-call). This type of service is generally best suited to the sort of complex, multi-faceted interaction that can best be executed by trained customer interaction personnel. Self-Service Figure 4 Customer Interaction Ecosystem Internet Search Contact Us / Ask Us FAQ Virtual Assistant Instant Answers Help Web Content Databases Secure site Applications, Tools and Calculators Intranet Search Ask Us FAQ Virtual Assistant Instant Answers Help Content Databases Cross Channel Assisted Service Contact Center Agents Click-to-chat Click-to-talk Collaborative browsing Lead Generation Call Center Platform Enterprise Platform CRM Platform Virtual Assistant Instant Answers Support 2. Self-Service Self-service solutions offer support via electronic means and allow customers to access information quickly, or perform simple transactions, often over the Internet. Self-service solutions can include status quo offerings such as site search or FAQ s, or next generation solutions such as virtual assistants or instant answer agents. Part of the role of self-service is to transition qualified sales and service leads to the most appropriate assisted-service channels. It is worth noting that employees and call center agents also have self-service needs that functions within the contact center, branch platforms or Intranet.

8 7 The Right Channel The Right Time Customers want the option to be able to transition easily from self-service to human assistance (via , click-to-chat and click-to-call, etc.) to get help and advice for more complex products, services and transactions. Ideally, this should and can be accomplished in a single session with no loss of context or information. For an insurance provider, the goal is seamless cross-channel information delivery. For the provider s customers, this translates into a positive customer experience. A positive cross-channel experience can substantially increase First Contact Resolution rates A positive cross-channel experience increases the ability to achieve first contact resolution. Understanding early stage web activity, customer queries or online information requests can allow providers to segment customers and move those identified as key prospective customers quickly to a seamless cross-channel experience to complete the sales or service interaction that much quicker. The Road toward Next Generation Customer Experience Capabilities Today s leading insurance providers should deploy both the technology and the customer engagement processes to allow them to: Identify the customer goal Actively and intelligently determine the customer goal by engaging them online (increasingly regarded as the seminal first point of customer interaction) Equip the customer with access to quick, consistent information Provide customers with an effective solution so that they may self-serve Connect the customer to service channels Provide a natural and consistent cross-channel escalation at the correct point in time relative to the product or service complexity Provide consistent answers Offer consistent information and overall experience throughout the interaction, across multiple touch-points and interaction platforms, including emerging channels such as mobile text messaging and new social media channels such as Twitter and Facebook Most insurance providers are nothing if not multichannel businesses, and as such they must address their customers needs as they progress through their journey towards achieving their goals. Best practices demand that organizations be equipped to manage the customer experience via the preferred channel of the customer whether it s online via self-service, online via assisted service, or offline through a phone or in person. For some insurance providers, this process can be hindered by silos of informational hierarchies with marketing owning the web site, contact center owning many of the customer interactions and with neither communicating effectively with the other. Or, silos may exist with technology systems each group has all the information but getting the information out to the customer is the roadblock.

9 8 6 Things You Can Do NOW 1. Add Intelligent Self-Service Options If you haven t already, look towards adding intelligent self-service options such as a virtual assistant to your web site or mobile platform These technologies are quickly becoming a key component of the multi-channel customer experience, and provide a number of strong benefits, including: Making it easy and convenient for customers to get the right answer to many of their questions the first time, thereby increasing first contact resolution Allowing customers to type their question and get an immediate, accurate answer, with a high degree of accuracy. Improving key metrics such as net promoter (CEI/CSI) score, brand and customer loyalty while reducing re-connect costs and increasing sales/transactions 2. Overcome Silos of Information Bottlenecks Strive to overcome silos of information bottlenecks so that information about the customer and status of their inquiry is shared across different channels ( For example, a call center operator should not need to ask the same questions that have already been answered online) 3. Include Customer Feedback Incorporate customer feedback opportunities at each touch point, including online and via assisted channels 4. Test and Test Again! Test your new technologies and processes with customers directly to confirm that they are valued by the customers that use them 5. Right-Channeling Make sure you are channeling customers into the right information funnel through intelligent escalation. For example, it may make more sense to push certain inquiries to self-service, while triaging high value or high issue customers to assisted channels 6. Make Your Phone # Accessible The phone is not obsolete. Some customers will come to your web site with the sole purpose of finding a phone number they can use to contact you with make sure that number is available to them For More Information For more information on cost effective ways to enhance the customer experience at your organization contact: Mike Hennessy IntelliResponse mike.hennessy@intelliresponse.com About IntelliResponse IntelliResponse enhances the multi-channel customer experience for businesses and educational institutions via its Instant Answer Agent, a question-and-answer software platform that allows web site visitors and service agents to ask questions in natural language, and get the One Right Answer, regardless of the hundreds of ways the question may be asked. This industry leading On Demand software platform is used by both consumers and contact center agents. With more than 200 live, customerfacing implementations answering 50 million+ questions with one right answer, IntelliResponse is the gold standard in first line customer experience management. Some of the world s most recognized corporate brands and higher education institutions trust their customer experience management needs to IntelliResponse - including ING Direct, TD Canada Trust, Scotiabank, Penn State University, The Ohio State University, University of British Columbia and Harvard University Extension School. i Capgemini World Insurance Report, 2007 ii Claes Fornell International Group Report, 2007 iii Genesys USA Consumer Survey, 2007 iv Claes Fornell International Group Report, 2007 v Jupiter Research, 2008 Copyright 2009, IntelliResponse Systems Inc. All rights reserved. The trademarks identified herein are the trademarks or registered trademarks of IntelliResponse Systems Inc. or other third party.