“Put the customer front and center to drive innovation,” advised CX expert and former Virgin Head of Digital Alex Hunter. Across the two days of the 2024 InnovateTHIS conference, leaders in the travel insurance sector provided numerous examples of how their organizations were doing exactly this. But there were also many questions and conversations that indicated there was lots of opportunity to improve.
Flywire were delighted to be headline sponsors of the third annual InnovateTHIS, which brings together insurers, underwriters, medical aid/assistance companies, and insurtech providers from across the globe, encouraging them to think differently about how to drive loyalty and growth for their businesses.
1. Create “moments of delight” to improve CX and drive loyalty
Using diverse examples of great customer experiences, keynote speaker Hunter emphasized how emotion is a greater driving force than reason; giving clients exactly what they need in the form of lots of tiny “moments of delight” is how great customer experiences are created.
You’d be forgiven for wondering where delight could feature in insurance, particularly when customer interactions are often limited. However, Hunter asserts “If I can have a visceral reaction to something as dumb as brown water in a can [of soda]], there is not a brand or product on the planet that cannot evoke that sort of emotion.” But, he stressed, the customer’s entire experience must match up to the promise of the product/service they are buying, and this continuity in CX is critical for differentiating in a sector as commoditized as insurance.
Many insurers have yet to achieve this continuity. Payment, medical assistance, and claims are examples of processes where CX often breaks down, presenting huge opportunities for improvement through innovation.
2. Use data to drive innovation; real innovation in how it is collected, analyzed, and used
Regarding product or CX, the best data source is the customer. But, as Sasha Gainullin, CEO of Battleface commented, too many insurers are held back from innovating simply because they do not actively talk to them.
What’s more, in an industry fueled by data, there needs to be more innovation around how it is collected, analyzed, and used. That is, according to Dan Kaine of Inherent Risks, where true innovation will happen. Not only are most travel insurance policies one-size-fits-all, but many insurers are still using old data models to price these policies, which don't include things, such as AI or social media, that have emerged in the past 10 years. If insurers can improve the data they use it would improve pricing, risk exposure, operations, CX and, ultimately, drive growth.
3. Seamless partner and tech relationships critical to achieving great CX
The central question of the event was, “What can insurers do to embrace hyper-personalization and increase efficiency to deliver a great customer experience?” According to Quinten Colmant, CEO of Qover, leveraging partnerships and, in particular, technology is the answer.
While the sector has undergone dramatic digitization in the last two decades everyone in attendance acknowledged there is more still to be done. For example, digital claims processes are now commonplace, but most were implemented to alleviate pressure on claims teams rather than to improve the customer experience. Throughout the conference there were plenty of ideas on how tech and partnerships can improve CX in their organization, for example leveraging partner relationships to create additional customer touchpoints, improve medical assistance, streamline claims processing, and more.
What all the examples had in common was that they were all implemented to improve CX. That was the focus rather than cost saving. While it is a challenge to maintain that focus point, Carl Carter of CSC Global Partners recommended insurers “start with the outcomes first, and work back,” to find the best solution.
Other challenges discussed on stage included data sharing (which can lead to disjointed CX), staff bandwidth and IT resourcing. Flywire’s Director of Strategic Accounts for Insurance, Matt Teumer acknowledged that many insurance clients say they can’t get IT support to implement tech solutions because, traditionally tech partners have created a ton of work, but, he assured the audience, that is changing.
“As a tech-driven payments partner Flywire is always keenly aware that insurers struggle to balance a customer-centric approach with both the limitations of their existing tech and IT resources. The Flywire APIs have been developed to require minimal client-side IT resources. Implementation is quick and easy and clients can see the benefit of improved cross-border payment processes from day one,” he said.
From the conference floor
Coolest insurance policy: Battleface’s space travel insurance.
Most thought-provoking statistic: More than 85% of online reviews for companies are fake, don’t always believe what you read!