Phonexa CFO and EVP Lilit Davtyan recently spoke at the Women in Insurance Tech Virtual Conference to discuss the leading factors in the digitization of customer experience, along with insurance marketing trends that have emerged as a result.
The two-day meetup brought insight from over 20 influential women leaders from top insurance and technology organizations and educated audiences about digital disruption.
“There is so much marketing out there that customers want it to be digitized,” said Davtyan. “Consumers want it to be fast and efficient, but they also want to do it on their own time.”
During the panel discussion, speakers addressed business SMS, consumer needs, technological advancements, and effective means of communication for insurance services.
Here are the top three takeaways from the roundtable discussion:
1. Consumers Are Leading The Digital Revolution
Digital transformation is forcing insurance companies to change their business models and adapt to the new digital realities in the marketplace. What’s most interesting about this is that it’s not the companies driving this transformation, but the customers.
To keep up with this new kind of “always-connected” customer, insurance leaders recognize the need to embrace technology to receive unmatched customer feedback.
“We need to meet our customers where they want to be met, which is part of the digitization process. Being able to offer myriad experiences helps us,” said Lori Pon, director of claim transformation at The Auto Group (AAA). “Having a digital way to report a claim or SMS with a client back and forth helps produce phone tech, and reduce friction, and allows us to be more proactive.”
Pon’s point suggested that mobile devices, apps, machine learning, and automation have allowed customers to get what they want precisely when they need it. This has, in turn, changed how consumers conduct their searches for whom to interact with.
Meredith Barnes-Cook, head of global insurance for Ushur, shared that now more than ever, clients look for companies to provide a more personalized, transparent, and proactive consumer output.
“[They] look for the best of breed, the bellwether for digital transformational capabilities,” said Barnes-Cook.
2. Not All Are Ready To Adapt
Because of the tech opportunities emanating from modern technology, customers often rate organizations on their digital customer encounters first. But that doesn’t mean that everyone’s interested in the digital approach.
“Some of the market doesn’t want to adapt to digitization, and some of that is due to the frustration that technology [brings about],” said Shannon Harjer, EVP of Producers National Corporation.
Harjer said that insurance companies should not only focus on digitizing the whole industry but also on offering digital solutions whenever needed, without neglecting the needs of customers that aren’t so digitally involved.
“We are throwing so much [tech] at our customers, and sometimes we can think that these are fabulous things that we provide, but we have to understand our customers and their journey,” said Harjer.
To Harjer’s point, Davtyan emphasized the value of understanding the digital solutions you need to elevate your operations and the user experience.
“The synchronization of what you need and what your customers need with the platform that you are using is really important,” said Davtyan. “There is so much technology, and it is so overwhelming.”
While everybody wants the best technology and marketing solutions, Davtyan suggests that not everybody needs it to that extent. Sometimes, SMS communication methods or email marketing solutions are all it takes to get a client’s attention.
“Understanding the consumer journey is what you need to get the right technology,” said Davtyan.
3. Companies Often Overpromise And Underdeliver
In today’s digital world, if you make a misstep and let your customer down, chances are everyone will hear about it. Consumers are savvy, and they don’t hesitate to post their concerns and complaints about companies directly to social media or review platforms.
To that issue, Davtyan proposed the clarification that digitization streamlines customer satisfaction.
“There is always so much data on the company side, and when you don’t digitize that aspect, you don’t have the most efficient data on this customer,” replied Davtyan. “Digitizing on both sides becomes an efficient process for both the customer and the company.”
Panelists reiterated the need for tech integrations to align services to promises made to customers. With that, many tech-driven solutions arise.
Here are some ways Phonexa provides insurance companies immediate value with its turnkey, all-in-one marketing solution for calls, leads, clicks, email, SMS, and accounting:
- For sales and marketing teams, a digital approach means replacing cold calling with social selling and lead generation. But, of course, your customers are already on social media and search engines, so that’s where you must have a notable presence.
- Once you’ve generated a qualified lead base, you can use all-in-one marketing tools and products to first reach out to your customers. You can do this by sharing relevant content and your expertise as part of a solution to their problem.
- Using data-driven marketing solutions and analytics tools will help you reduce your spending on offline marketing efforts and use the allotted bandwidth to send highly personalized and targeted messages to your customers.
- Digital-first isn’t about being reactive if you’re proactive about the way you reach out to your customers, who use various channels to reach you for support.
To learn more about how Phonexa can power your lead generation, tracking, and distribution strategy, email sales@phonexa.com to get a demo.
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