Outside of payments, customers interact with their insurance carrier an average of once per year. With so few touchpoints to work with, the written communications insurers send throughout the customer lifecycle, such as welcome kits, policy renewals and claims updates, play a major role in shaping the customer experience. Rather than treating these communications merely as a means to satisfy operational and compliance requirements, insurers should leverage them to build trust and emphasize what sets them apart in an increasingly competitive industry.
Unfortunately, the communications most insurers provide are long and unnecessarily complex and are mostly delivered by mail — or, at best, posted as static PDFs on web portals. This won't cut it with today's mobile-first customers, who rely on their phones to manage nearly every aspect of their lives. Consumers of all ages expect businesses to deliver accessible, user-friendly communications that integrate seamlessly into their digital routines. Anything less feels outdated and inconvenient.
Meeting these expectations isn't possible without first modernizing the outdated, often custom-built systems many insurers use. Major advancements in customer communications management (CCM) technology enable insurers to eliminate the manual processes, technical debt and outdated technology that is stifling efficiency and blocking innovation.
Here are five capabilities insurers should prioritize when evaluating potential CCM solutions:
1. Centralized control of communications for all channels
When adopting a new communication channel, insurers typically set up an operational and technological silo — for example, managing email separately from printed communications, SMS, web portals and others. These solutions are managed by disparate teams, which increases costs, duplicates operational processes, such as managing the same content in multiple locations, and potentially fragments the customer experience.
Insurers can benefit from a centralized content hub from which communications can be delivered to any channel where it's required. These systems manage content independently from channel-specific templates and layouts — known as the "presentation layer." This approach eliminates the need to manage content in disparate systems for each delivery channel and enables teams to reuse content across channels.
See also: Language Barriers Create Claims Challenges
2. A cloud-based platform to lower infrastructure costs
A 2023 report from Capgemini states that 91% of insurers have begun moving to the cloud, recognizing it as essential to reducing costs and eliminating tech debt. While many have focused on migrating their core policy and customer management systems to the cloud, CCM infrastructure is still typically hosted on premise.
Moving to a cloud-based CCM system significantly reduces infrastructure and maintenance costs. Built on modern tech stacks, cloud-based systems reduce reliance on a small pool of specialized employees needed to keep outdated or custom-built systems up and running. The systems also provide seamless upgrade processes, eliminating the need for time-consuming manual updates and regression testing, while enabling businesses to immediately benefit from the latest features and security enhancements. Additionally, cloud platforms support real-time collaboration, enabling teams to access and modify content from anywhere — an essential capability for modern, dispersed workforces.
3. No-code content to accelerate change cycles
For many insurers, minor updates to their communications can take weeks — or even months — because their legacy CCM systems require costly IT resources to code content updates into communication templates.
Insurers need systems that enable nontechnical personnel to design and update content, set targeting rules and arrange layouts without having to write code. This enables business and communication teams to take control of the content, rules and template layout. As a result, change cycles can happen in minutes, not months, giving the business the speed and flexibility to launch products faster and meet regulatory deadlines with ease.
4. Integrated AI capabilities for improving content clarity
To the average customer, insurance is a complex and unfamiliar subject. Unfortunately, insurers often compound the issue by sending communications filled with industry jargon and dense language that confuse and frustrate customers. A recent report from Forrester states that "customers are 2.7 times more likely to spend more when companies communicate clearly." Insurers that simplify their communications will not only drive better customer engagement but also foster long-term loyalty and trust.
Innovative CCM platforms are making it easier to achieve this with AI-powered capabilities that streamline the process of improving communication clarity. These tools can quickly evaluate an insurer's entire library of content, identifying unclear content using established benchmarks like Flesch-Kincaid scoring. They can also provide rewritten alternatives that simplify complex information, such as coverage details, claims instructions or compliance notices, into language that is easily digestible by the average customer, or even align content with plain language standards like those set by ISO. Some platforms also have capabilities for AI translation, offering insurers the ability to cater to the 22% of Americans who speak a language other than English at home. AI can translate content more than 20 times faster than humans while validating semantic similarity and translation accuracy, thereby reducing translation teams' effort to one of reviewing exceptions and inaccuracies that are caught by the algorithms.
See also: 3 Steps for Insurers to Keep the Human Touch
5. Capabilities that streamline responses from frontline teams
With the agent-led sales model on the decline, a carrier's claims, adjustor and customer service teams are more essential than ever to building a personal connection with customers. These frontline teams often need to follow up with customers after speaking with them, sending personalized, one-off communications that address specific inquiries or provide additional information discussed during their interactions.
Modern CCM platforms enable frontline teams to quickly locate, personalize and send communications while giving their managers control and visibility into what gets sent. These systems integrate seamlessly into the portals and platforms frontline teams use every day, saving them from having to search through shared servers and Word templates to find the most up-to-date version of the desired communication.
Agents can quickly personalize content and graphics using a guided interview process, after which a purpose-built communication using the customer's specific data is generated. Predefined sections of the communication can then be customized through a controlled editing process, which achieves true one-to-one personalization without the risk of sensitive branding and regulatory content being altered. From there, if required, the communication can then be passed to other stakeholders for approval before being delivered to customers on their channel of choice.
Insurers can't afford to wait any longer. The technical debt from legacy systems is only going to keep growing, and the bar for customer experience will only get higher. By moving to modern customer communications management systems which have the capabilities outlined above, insurers can drive efficiency, reduce costs and equip themselves with the agility needed to stay competitive in a rapidly changing market.
