With the competitive nature of the insurance industry, it’s no secret that insurers are keenly focused on growth. From customer acquisition to new products, and improved online services, there are three measures that should be zeroed in on in to facilitate the process. And while these three areas may appear very basic, I’ve come to realize that they are at the very core of company growth and worth taking a second look at.
- Improving the customer experience. The key here is in the word improve. This means listening and thinking about what it is your customers want from you, identifying their pain points, and putting an ear to what your competition is doing. For example, are there ways to improve on your billing processes or level of service from your customer call center? If you’re not sure, then ask. My experience has been that you can learn a lot by just asking your customers.
- Minimize manual processes. You want to offer that personalized service, but also automate systems. Unfortunately, most insurance companies that I talk to feel that if they reduce manual processes, they’ll be sacrificing service. The fact is, by reducing the number of redundancies in areas such as applications and underwriting, you’ll be able to shorten the time between quoting and policy issuance, allowing customers to bind without having to wait and go through a separate underwriting department for processing.
- Use data effectively. Determine the gaps in your marketing and then figure out how to use specific data metrics to get you where you need to be. Most insurers have a mountain of data in which to pull from. However, many don’t have the technology to bring it all together into a single platform to create marketing programs specific to their needs. Data alone is worthless; it is the insights derived from the data that matter. With the emergence of big data, the possibility for deriving insights is increasing dramatically, and can be the difference between success and failure. Better data leads to better decisions, which ultimately leads to more profitable business. Today, the return on information is just as important as the return on investment.
These measures may seem like a very high-level approach, but the idea is to tap into specific areas that can bring about growth. Once identified, you should be looking into scalable technology solutions with the ability to grow along with your initiatives.
