Mass individualization. Is it an oxymoron? Or a new perspective when attracting customers? With a growing number of connected cars on the road and 74% of new vehicles featuring advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), it's becoming easier to see the differences between policyholders. Increasingly, insurance carriers can understand how and when people drive, as well as the ways vehicles themselves interact with the road and their drivers. The growing variety of advanced safety features affect driving patterns, adding a layer of complexity as carriers navigate pricing, claim frequency and severity. So, how do insurers attract and retain customers when faced with so many new variables, while at the same time delivering a personalized experience to meet growing customer expectations?
In a word -- telematics. Telematics can unlock an insurer's ability to:
- Better identify and reach high-intent customers
- Offer consumers new experiences that meet their expectations
- Deliver superior customer service in a way that ensures prospective customers feel confident in making a decision
Leveraging Telematics Data to Reach the Right Customers
High-intent customers can arise from common scenarios, such as the purchase of a vehicle in a state where securing insurance is legally required. In fact, for 29% of customers, a new car is what prompts insurance policy research to begin.
To catch consumers’ attention during this critical point, carriers can gain valuable, personalized insights from connected cars, given that the latest vehicle models can chart and share data at every turn (not to mention each brake, acceleration and more). Equipped with this data, carriers can better determine which customers to target and what incentives to offer them up-front, helping customers increase confidence in their decisions and potentially improving carriers' bottom line.
Going a step further, by having this information readily available at the time of quote, carriers can offer competitive pricing personalized to how an individual drives and to the vehicle the person is driving. This eliminates the need to first educate the prospective buyer about the plus side of usage-based insurance (UBI) and then make the buyer wait weeks or months to learn what discount he or she is being offered. Accessible connected car data can help carriers stand out from the competition, win a customer and simultaneously reduce marketing costs. Because about one-quarter of insurer marketing/customer engagement departments spend all of their marketing budget and time on customer acquisition, these cost savings are critical.
Offering New Experiences to Attract New Drivers
Today, most consumers navigate a variety of services digitally without a second thought -- from filling prescriptions to buying groceries to banking -- and have come to expect a seamless interaction with almost every brand. The insurance industry is no exception. In fact, according to McKinsey, customers cite convenience as the second-most-common reason for switching brands. As a result, insurance providers may want to adapt to meet customer expectations. The good news is that more than half (51%) of auto insurance marketing professionals list "designing new customer experiences" as their top priority, behind acquiring customers and improving the claims experience.
While driving may be down over the past year, accidents are still occurring, and have actually gone up in severity, possibly because less traffic encourages faster driving. By using telematics, carriers are not only able to detect a crash and provide on-the-scene assistance, but can help resolve a claim faster. These are the types of services consumers are looking for. In fact, 47% of consumers said access to telematics-enabled claims submissions would make them more likely to purchase usage-based insurance. Intuitive, personalized experiences drive so many of our daily interactions; the same should be true for submitting a claim.
See also: Telematics Consumers Are Ready to Roll
Going Beyond Digital to On-Demand
Just as it has in other industries, digital adoption has allowed insurers to speed and improve existing processes, enabling inspections, appraisals and repair estimates virtually. Beyond this, AI is creating dynamic experiences such as near-immediate total loss vs. repair decisions, repair vs. replace-parts decisions and injury prediction. AI also helps underwriters identify risk at the point of quote. The evolution of data analytics and AI guiding the estimating process will only accelerate efficiencies in operations and customer satisfaction, allowing policyholders to participate in the claims estimating process. Research shows that 36% of customers are dissatisfied with the initial claim filing process, highlighting the significant opportunity for improvement.
For example, by using telematics data that detects an accident, the carrier can reach out to the driver in the way the person prefers -- via text, in-app or through a phone call. The consumer can then decide when and how to respond. From there, the driver receives a link so her or she can take photos of the damage, upload the data, send it back to the carrier, receive a list of nearby repair shops and talk to a live person if there are questions. These improvements expedite the claims process and create a better customer experience: one that is on-demand and mimics interactions consumers have come to expect from other industries.
Research already shows that 90% of current UBI customers are satisfied with their program, but carriers can take it a step further by using gamification to offer discounts while maximizing the convenience of app resources and more. This concept has shown success in a wide range of industries, helping companies achieve goals for creating awareness, increasing sales, simplifying complex processes and more. The interest, and opportunity, to expand to meet customer needs clearly exists, but to truly take advantage of UBI beyond pricing it is key that carriers differentiate to attract and retain customers.
Carriers can begin to develop a strategy that allows them to innovate, reimagine the way customers see them and, most importantly, make offerings more personal and more appealing. The typical auto insurance customer requests three carrier quotes during the buying process. When the decision day comes and you’re among those three carrier options, these strategies can help your quotes stand out.
And, now that you’re more attuned to your customers' expectations and their specific needs, you’re putting yourself in a position not just to win on decision day but to increase the likelihood of retention, creating brand advocates who may remain loyal for a lifetime.
