Hyper-Personalization Is the Next Step

While personalised insurance policies are the industry norm, the current push for hyper-personalised products and services can pose multiple risks for insurers.

The ability to fully understand and manage unique context and a multitude of data points, means Contact Centre as a Service (CCaaS) solutions can form the bedrock of smarter customer service in an age of hyper-personalisation.

How then can insurers seek to bring hyper-personalisation successfully into the contact centre, and moreover do so in a strategic way?

The key lies in data management, by investing in contact centre solutions with AI-powered tools, it is possible to harness all the rich data available to take personalised insurance to the next level.

Personalisation has always formed the bedrock of the insurance sector. Each individual policy considers the circumstances of the policyholder and the entity being insured. In this sense, the industry of insurance services can be said to have a head start in meeting the growing demands of consumers, both personal and business, for personalised service offerings and on-demand, in-context support.

Nevertheless, the market is becoming increasingly complex. Customers are demanding niche, personalised insurance products and flexible terms such as 24hr-only car insurance, rare items, or antique insurance.

What’s more, they want it at a low cost, and for their policy to consider context, such as where a vehicle is parked, health insurance status and exercise history.

Hyper-personalisation in every other aspect of life means that insurance customers expect not only policies but customer services to be uniquely tailored to their own needs. This demand elevates the status of contact centres to a critical hub of information.

Massive amounts of data stream in from customers via different channels, whose policies then need to be accurately drawn up and maintained. Information, terms and updates must all be accurately communicated, ideally considering customer channel preference, or risk action from the Financial Conduct Authority.

This is where Contact Centre as a Service (CCaaS) solutions step in, to provide the tools needed to orchestrate such a complex strategy.

CCaaS: the Smart Way to Achieve Personalised Insurance

To create personalised insurance, companies often require a wealth of customer information. If a customer takes a break to come back later or needs help to understand a question, the features of a CCaaS solution, such as real-time integrated histories, can support that process.

Adding to customer frustration by making them repeat information will not leave a great impression. Real-time integrated histories take the first step in a journey and make it visible to virtual or human agents at the next point of contact.

How much more efficient and personalised would it be to have an agent say, ‘I can see you have reached question 7 in your online application, how can I help, Mrs Jones?’

To help ensure regulatory compliance, agent assist prompts guide the process so no step in the standard operating procedure is missed out.

Equally, although there is a clear desire not to control all conversations, context-appropriate scripting can be extremely important in helping relay important information to customers. These necessary steps in compliance can also benefit from CCaaS solution’s omnichannel capabilities.

By sending confirmations or terms and conditions via a client’s preferred channel how much more likely is it that they will at least glance at the information and store it somewhere accessible for future reference.

Both insurers and policyholders hope that no claim will need to be made. However, when it does, these stressful situations need to be handled well or they are likely to result in complaints. Here, up-to-date histories are crucial but also the empathy and understanding that can only come from agents.

Automation and AI-enhanced CCaaS solutions can remove the burden of repetitive tasks from agents so their valuable skills are focused on more sensitive issues; this includes more time for vulnerable customers who also benefit from quicker escalation via intelligent routing.

Agents should be allowed to take time to personally guide customers through the requirements of more delicate cases. Links, confirmations and details of support networks can be supplied via a multitude of channels.

Additionally, authorisation to deal with third parties can be established and clearly recorded. It is often in the worst circumstances that customer services can make the most difference.

All these CCaaS solutions create more data by analysing text and speech with natural language understanding and also has the analytics tools to ensure all available data is fully integrated. These fuels data-driven strategies, personalised insurance policies and interactions.

Practical Steps to Personalised Insurance

A recent report from Capgemini emphasises how important both personalised insurance and a smoothly executed strategy is to overall business success: ‘No matter how much your brand and advertising might promote your insurance expertise or claim to offer a personal touch, all of that is put to the test each time a customer enters your automated contact centre environment.’

As a matter of fact, ‘96% of consumers won’t complain when they’ve had a bad experience, but 91% will simply leave and never return as 1st Financial Training Services has shown. That is a significant loss of potential revenue that cannot be overlooked.’

Ultimately, CCaaS solutions help operationalise customer journey maps into real networks of key events and touchpoints which integrate omnichannel experiences into a single satisfying journey. Additionally, by visualising these maps, it is then possible to identify any additional pain points which need soothing or points of contact where new processes could be introduced.

In this manner, insurers can ensure that each step on the customer journey is personalised and underpinned by smart technology to keep things running smoothly. CCaaS solutions can therefore provide fully integrated capabilities that insurers can use not just to mitigate the risks that come with hyper-personalisation, but to turn them into opportunities.

This blog post has been re-published by kind permission of Odigo – View the Original Article

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Odigo helps large organisations connect with individuals through world-class, cloud-based contact centre solutions. Our cutting-edge, proprietary technologies enable a seamless, efficient, omnichannel experience for your customers and a satisfying, engaging experience for your service agents.

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Call Centre Helper is not responsible for the content of these guest blog posts. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect those of Call Centre Helper.

Author: Odigo