US consumer insights firm J.D. Power said the Property and Casualty (P&C) insurance industry in the USA lags far behind financial services and utility providers when it comes to the digital customer experience.
According to the J.D. Power 2021 US Claims Digital Experience Study, none of the most important key performance indicators achieved even a 50 per cent success rate and adoption remains “stubbornly” low. This year, just 40 per cent of claimants interacted with an estimator via digital channels and only 47 per cent made a claim via a website.
“At a time when virtually every other industry is experiencing significant gains in digital customer engagement, the insurance claims process has not really evolved beyond the launch of digital photo estimation three years ago,” said Martin Ellingsworth, Executive Managing Director of P&C Insurance Intelligence at J.D. Power.
“It’s no secret the industry has been investing heavily in back-end technology such as straight-through processing, which should help set the stage for faster, more personalised digital claims management tools. But right now, there is still a great deal of room for improvement in these functions. It is also critical to note that satisfaction is highest when claimants have options to interact via the channel they choose and not feel forced into a one-size-fits-all experience.”
Michael Ellison, President of Corporate Insight, said the insurance industry needs to look at what leaders in the banking and wealth industries are doing with their web and mobile apps as a guide for where customer expectations have moved during the past several months.
“Simple, easy-to-use tools like calculators and estimators that help customers set realistic expectations and provide important information throughout the process go a long way toward driving engagement and end-user satisfaction,” said Ellison.
KEY FINDINGS OF THE 2021 STUDY
The phone still dominates the estimator phase, dragging down customer satisfaction: 40 per cent of claimants interact with their claim estimator via digital channels, while 49 per cent interact with their claim estimator via phone. The average overall customer satisfaction score among claimants who use the phone is 861 on a 1000-point scale – lower than in any other interaction channel. Use of video chat with an estimator is associated with the highest level of overall satisfaction at 882, but it is experienced by just 26 per cent of claimants.
Key satisfaction metrics being missed: Digital claims management tools are hitting their key performance indicators for the estimation process only 35 per cent of the time, and for digital reporting just 40 per cent of the time.
Generational disparities magnified: Members of the Boomer generation are using insurance digital claims tools less and experiencing lower levels of overall satisfaction than members of Generations Y and Z.
The 2021 US Claims Digital Experience Study is based on 3043 evaluations by automotive or home insurance customers who filed a claim in the past 12 months. The study was run from June to September 2021.