Frank Heaps
Director, P&C Product Marketing
StoneRiver
The world of electronic media is expanding rapidly. New methods of communications are being delivered quickly on new devices. Some devices leverage existing technology like email, some provide a complementary communication method like smart phones and tablets, other are breaking new ground. The ironic point of this is that these tools provide more ways to provide personal contact and communications in a traditionally impersonal way--with no human contact.
It seems that the more communications evolve the less actual human contact we have. How many people do you see texting someone for minutes on end when they could simply make a phone call? Webcam conversation from home or office have replaced meetings or getting together with a friend at a coffee shop. I have even seen people at a coffee shop having a web cam conversation with a friend at a different coffee shop. It seems odd to many of us but that is the way we are moving: more innovative ways to make contact without actual making contact.
That is the same transition that insurance carriers must make. Consumers are getting used to push communication and notifications of things that are coming up rather than just those things that have just happened. Retailers are taking advantage of using social media to alert loyal consumers about sales in advance because they follow the retailer on Facebook or Twitter, for example. While insurance carriers cannot necessarily alert a customer about a ‘sale,’ they can use these tools to push information about rate changes, claims status, updates to bills, and more. Periodic communications for reminders like a renewal coming up, reminder about a teen in the house who’s now of driving age, any address changes for young adults for auto policies, reminder about a discount for another accident-free year, etc. are all great ways to inform your customer. Sending an email or text to a consumer is a great, non-invasive way to send information that they can read when they are ready to look at it and is much cheaper than using mail or a phone call.
Not all consumers prefer to have non-personal contacts; some still prefer to have a more traditional contact for important things like insurance. The key here is to communicate with your customers in the manner that they prefer. Most carriers have a customer management system that tracks names, addresses, phone numbers, etc. But, most carriers have a system designed for the 1990’s when email and mobile phones were emerging. The modern consumer has multiple email accounts, possibly more than one phone number, and different physical addresses. Insurance carriers need to capture the various ways a customer prefers to receive communications for things like policy information, billing notices, and claims updates. Capturing the preferred contact methods for a customer can elevate consumer satisfaction and satisfy the need for each customer to receive information from you in the manner they prefer.