Research: Insurance Claims Process Do’s and Don’ts

For all the entertainment value generated by funny insurance commercials from property and casualty (P&C) providers, only 5 percent of the industry’s business comes from acquiring new policyholders. Real business growth comes from retaining and increasing the value of current customers. That's why understanding and focusing on the right levers to drive customer satisfaction is key to staying competitive.
 
The claims experience is one of the most important experiences a customer has with an insurance company, and as such it can make or break a relationship. There are many variables that work together to create the experience. The 2015 TTEC P&C Customer Satisfaction Survey surveyed more than 300 consumers to determine what really drives satisfaction during the claims process.
 
We learned that multiple factors are involved, including how policyholders were treated, the claims process, channel interactions, etc. We also learned that these factors are not isolated. They work together as a coalition to drive customer satisfaction. “Acting in customers’ bests interests” was by far the most significant predictor of overall customer satisfaction, though there are many drivers, as shown in the chart below.

We further categorized each satisfaction driver into one of four quadrants, based on overall customer satisfaction (Y axis) and satisfaction with each particular factor (X axis). This provides an insightful way of looking at the results that can help insurance firms prioritize where to focus their customer experience efforts.
 
Quadrant I (Drive Fast) has items with above average impact on overall CSAT and below average item satisfaction. It should be prioritized first because of the greatest opportunity for improvement. Quadrant II (Stay the Course) items should be prioritized second, because of their high impact on satisfaction levels. The two bottom quadrants should be deprioritized (especially Put It in Park), since improvements in those areas won’t drive major change in satisfaction.

The research confirms the notion that customer experience is a coalition of many factors, which require sophisticated analysis and a strategic approach when making improvements. In addition, this advanced level of analysis gives executives the tools to fight heuristics or intuition. For example, fixing the five lowest ranking satisfaction areas seems like a good idea, but the data show that it isn’t necessarily the right approach to see real improvements in overall satisfaction.
 
The study also found that channel-specific satisfaction is important to overall satisfaction. So it’s important that companies focus on what channels their policyholders like and make sure that they provide a good experience in those channels.
 
Download the complete white paper, What really drives customer satisfaction during the insurance claims process? for more detail on consumer channel preferences, as well as best practices for delivering a superior P&C claims experience.


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