Insurers that want to prevent clients being snatched away by competitors should look to customer experience (CX) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) says Qualitest’s senior vice president Simon Pickersgill.
Simon identifies three key areas where AI can boost customer retention by putting the ‘wow’ into clients’ online experiences in a recent article for Insurance Thought Leadership.
It’s always cheaper to retain a current customer than to attract a new one, so here’s a summary of Simon’s thoughts on how you can use AI to deliver fast, accurate and fair services that will encourage your policyholders to stay.
AI lets insurance providers capitalize on big data to personalize core products for an individual customer. By optimizing a client’s historical data within an AI model, you can more accurately identify which product or policy will be the best fit.
Better still, AI can speed everything up. This includes your underwriting and claims processes – both vital customer touchpoints where lengthy turnaround times, snags or uncertainty can determine whether a customer stays or goes.
What’s in it for customers? Well, they get attractive products and swift service minus the hassle of time-consuming consultations with a broker or agent. You also make big wins through greater efficiencies and less time spent face to face or on the phone with clients.
Customers usually communicate with their insurance company when life deals them the unexpected – think car accident, medical issue, roof leak or home invasion. AI-powered chatbots can boost an insurer’s online CX by giving policyholders quick answers to pertinent questions right when they need it most.
This quick response on both web and mobile platforms can be critical following a major event such as a full-on natural disaster. And, of course, AI-powered chatbots can also make life simpler for both you and your policyholders by automating routine day-to-day online customer interactions.
To deliver the best CX possible, it’s vital that any AI model an insurance company employs addresses four risk factors: accuracy, stability, flexibility and ethics. And you’ve guessed it, AI can help with this too.
Once your AI model is in place to help with crafting policies, settling claims and responding to queries from policyholders, AI can test your model for:
Smart AI model testing ensures that results are accurate – with an agreed tolerance for the model to protect company profitability while appropriately managing risk.
Testing also makes sure that the model remains stable over time as customer data in the ecosystem or the way you do business changes.
Testing also establishes that the AI model is flexible enough to remain accurate while reacting to those changes.
Crucially, AI testing can verify that your AI models are not biased toward or against any specific groups of society in a way that leads to unintended consequences.
AI helps to build outstanding online customer experiences that improve customer retention and set you apart from the competition. The technology also enables many services and processes to be automated, resulting in cost and time savings for both you and your customers.
To make these vital wins, your AI model needs to be accurate, stable, flexible and ethical. AI can help with this too.
Protect your company’s brand and its reputation by ensuring your AI models are tested on a regular basis to ascertain that risk factors are being applied appropriately and ethically. Qualitest is a digital transformation, insurance and big data quality assurance specialist, working with insurance companies such as Legal and General, Admiral, Covea, Ageas, Gallagher and more.
We can offer your business confidence in your technology, your big data and your AI predictive models (for underwriting, fraud; customer renewals, etc.), reducing your business risk by assuring your CX is always optimal, and your solutions are secure and compliant.
