Survey finds policyholders want more communication from insurers on claims
By onInsurance
When it comes to the auto insurance claims process, respondents to a recent survey said they aren’t satisfied with the communication and support they receive from their carriers.
Duck Creek surveyed 2,000 residents of the U.S., United Kingdom, and the Republic of Ireland as well as Portugal, Spain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand on their insurance claims and buying preferences among different lines of insurance, including auto. Respondents included 800 Americans. It wasn’t specified in the report how survey participants were chosen and what insurance companies they held policies with. Duck Creek didn’t respond to an inquiry by Repairer Driven News for those and other details.
“They felt ‘left in the dark’ and also called for clear milestones with specific timeframes,” the survey report states. “Consumers generally want carriers to be more engaged, easily accessible and share real-time information during a claim. Respondents also raised the issue of rewarding policyholders who do not file a claim – an interesting concept that some carriers are already exploring.”
The report doesn’t say which companies are considering the concept.
Almost unanimously, 95% of respondents agreed that regardless of insurance product, they would find it useful to hear about the status of their claim and its progression. Ten percent said they want more information on the claim and prices.
Despite those answers, however, nearly 70% of respondents felt their insurer treats them as an individual and that the company cares about its customers with U.S. policyholders being the most positive, although the percentage isn’t broken out by region or country.
Fifty-nine percent of U.S. car insurance policyholders recently surveyed by Duck Creek Technologies prefer to buy from a local agent. Less than 10% of respondents in each of every other region or country surveyed, except for Spain, prefer a local agent. Seventy-seven percent of car insurance policyholders across all locations prefer to buy directly from the insurer.
The survey found that 45% of Americans rated their buying experience as very good while 14% of the rest of the respondents rated their experiences as poor or very poor. More than 50% of global respondents cited customer service as the determining factor in rating their insurance experience.
Duck Creek found that because consumers are becoming more “digital-savvy,” especially younger adults, many respondents said they feel comfortable using price comparison websites to buy their insurance and two-thirds said they’d switch insurance companies online.
“…the significant preference for a digital-only experience for the majority of consumers highlights the need for an excellent, user-friendly website coupled with the ability to harness data seamlessly for the benefit of customers to prevent duplication, errors and frustration.”
Respondents showed interest in usage-based insurance, which Duck Creek stated is a result of the COVID-19 pandemic shifting expectations “as consumers weigh the value of annual policies that they don’t use all year round.”
“…Currently usage-based insurance in many markets is focused on motor insurance with premiums built on data/telematics, artificial intelligence and machine learning that provide fair and transparent pricing based on the driving habits of each insured customer – with the most pioneering carriers rewarding good, responsible driving.”
Therefore, Duck Creek surmised it’s important for insurers to have well-designed websites that allow for “an excellent and persona-based, digital-only experience.”
Duck Creek included five “calls to action” that it thinks the insurance market should take starting right away:
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- Accelerate speed to market with easy-to-access and transparent products that are timely and have good value;
- Maximize operational efficiency with cloud-based, software-as-a-service (SaaS);
- Optimize experiences to make them personal for every buyer;
- Grow distribution channels by “nurturing and expanding” relationships with brokers and third-party agents; and
- Harness innovative technology by offering a single, unified suite of insurance software products to “take inconsistency, poor integration and lack of transparency off carriers’ lists of worries.
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