Digital experience in insurance: the importance of making complex simple 

Making the complex simple is a critical part of the digital customer experience. By streamlining processes and removing unnecessary steps, businesses can improve conversion rates, create loyalty, and reduce friction. In this blog post, we'll explore the importance of simplifying complex processes and how it can benefit your business.

Why is simplicity important?

In financial service organizations, customer experience is often complex and lengthy. There are a lot of steps involved in the customer journey, from discovery to purchase. If businesses want to keep their customers happy, they need to ensure that each step is as easy and straightforward as possible.

For insurers, this is especially important. The insurance industry is notoriously complex, with a lot of jargon and paperwork. If customers are already overwhelmed by the process, they will not be happy if they have to wade through a cumbersome website or digital experience.

Complex processes don't just frustrate customers; they also lead to errors and bad data. When customer data is entered manually into multiple systems, there's a higher chance of inaccuracies. 

Poor-quality data costs the US economy around $3.1 trillion annually, representing a huge opportunity cost for businesses.

Not only that, but bad data can also lead to customer churn. Customers who have a positive experience with a company are more likely to stick around. On the other hand, if they're constantly running into problems and roadblocks, they'll be less likely to continue doing business with that company. In fact, 63% of customers say a poor customer experience is enough reason to leave a brand they were previously loyal to.

So how can businesses make the digital customer experience simpler?

The importance of transforming customer data intake in insurance

Customer data collection is often a point of friction in the insurance customer journey. In order to get accurate quotes, businesses need to collect a lot of information from their customers. However, customers are often reluctant to share this information, especially if they feel that the process is going to be complicated and time-consuming.

Everybody hates paperwork, and customer intake for insurance processes is no different. To make the digital customer experience simpler, businesses need to find ways to reduce the amount of paperwork required. 

In order to keep up with the competition, businesses need to make sure that their digital customer experience is top-notch. This means making sure that all aspects of customer experience, including customer data intake, are simple and streamlined. This can be done by transforming data intake, automating data entry, and using digital signatures. Not only will this make the digital customer experience more simple, but it will also lead to better quality data.

Why is making data intake simple important?

There are a few reasons why making the complex simple is important when it comes to customer experience in insurance. 

It helps to reduce friction

If customers have to jump through hoops just to provide their data, they're likely to get frustrated and give up. This can lead to lost sales and a negative impact on your brand. Form abandonment rates are high enough as it is—you don't want to make it even harder for customers to complete your forms.

It improves the customer experience

A streamlined digital customer experience is a positive experience. On the other hand, a complicated and convoluted customer experience will just leave customers feeling angry and frustrated.

It helps you collect accurate data

If data intake is simple and easy, customers are more likely to provide accurate information. This is important because accurate customer data is essential for making informed business decisions.

It reduces costs

A simpler digital customer experience can lead to cost savings in a few different ways:

1. It can help you reduce the amount of customer support staff you need.
2. It can help you avoid errors and bad data.
3. It can help you improve customer retention rates.

It helps to improve conversion rates

If customers can easily provide their data, they're more likely to complete a purchase or sign up for a service. A seamless purchase journey can help your business stand out. Although many insurance providers offer online purchase options, consumers often struggle to navigate them and get the help they need - almost 75% of customers who attempted to purchase insurance online reported problems. 

How can businesses simplify their digital customer experience?

There are a few ways businesses can make the digital customer experience simpler:

• Replace complex forms with easy digital journeys: Customer data collection should be quick and easy. Customers should be able to provide their data via a user-friendly journey that guides them through the process step-by-step and makes it easy to get help from your support team in real-time. Long and complicated forms and long waiting times are a thing of the past.
• Use a digital journey platform: Replace your inefficient manual processes with digital journey software. This will help you to digitize data collection and make it easier for customers to provide their information.
• Make sure your forms are mobile-friendly: More and more people are using their smartphones to access the internet. If your forms are not mobile-friendly, you're making it harder for customers to provide their data.
• Use progressive profiling: Don't ask for too much information all at once. Use progressive profiling to gradually collect customer data over time.
• Pre-fill your forms: Use data from previous interactions and data from your CRM to pre-fill your forms. This will save customers time and make it easier for them to complete the process.
• Personalize your journeys: Use customer data to create personalized digital journeys. This will make it feel like you're talking to customers on a one-to-one basis, which will improve the digital customer experience.
• Use data to streamline the customer journey: By understanding how customers interact with your digital channels, you can simplify and optimize the customer journey. Pay attention to what happens when customers go through the journey. If they're constantly running into problems, make changes to simplify the process.
• Automate where possible: Automation can help reduce errors and free up time for your team to focus on more important tasks.

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Simplicity is key when it comes to digital customer experience. By making the complex simple, businesses can improve conversion rates, create loyalty, and reduce friction in the customer journey.