1.
IR Kn OwlE dgE S ERIES August 2009
Customer Experience
Management and the
Insurance Provider
A Blueprint for Online &
Multi-Channel Engagement
Insurers that fail to exploit a web site as an
essential channel option will risk customer
dissatisfaction and a weakened competitive
position by 2010 – Gartner Research

2.
Customer Experience Management 1
and the Insurance Provider
A Blueprint for Online & Multi-Channel Engagement
This knowledge paper examines and explores
the key elements that will allow insurance
providers of all types to continue to evolve Consumers of all ages are
their approach to addressing the questions
and concerns of their unique customer base. continuing to use the web as
Perhaps now more than ever, one of the best ways their primary conduit to every
to differentiate your organization in the insurance
industry is through exceptional customer service, type of insurance program, from
beginning with your contact center and web
properties, and extending out to include assisted
property and automotive, to
channels, mobile and new media as part of a next life, disability, health, travel and
generation, multi-channel approach to managing the
customer experience. virtually every other type
of insurance.
Whether the journey begins on a smartphone,
via a new social media channel, directly on your
corporate web site, or via a direct call to your contact
center, best practices demand speed, consistency
and a truly uniformed approach to managing In this competitive market, customer attrition is
customer interaction. not only due to the increasing usage of the Internet
to shop for services. Another significant factor of
The Web as the Lynchpin of a Multi-Channel customer loss can be attributed to poor contact
Customer Experience center customer service.
To say that the web has become an important tool
for customer interaction would be more than just A study by the Claes Fornell International Group,
a “minor” understatement. The insurance industry an employee and customer satisfaction consultancy,
is facing a veritable explosion in the number of showed that nearly 61% of insurance customers
online customer service interactions over the who have had a bad contact center experience will
coming years. Due to the increased convenience, consider switching companies, and 26% said they
independence, speed and value of the Internet, will definitely switch companies because of a bad
consumers of all ages increasingly are using the call center experience.ii
web as their primary conduit to insurance plans
and services, from property and automotive, to life, And, a Genesys USA Consumer Survey further
disability, health, travel and virtually every other highlights the high stakes of customer service.
type of insurance need. In this survey, 48% of U.S. consumers said that
customer service has the biggest impact on their
An insurance report by Capgemini reveals that loyalty to a company, and 44% said that a poor
31% of non-life insurance customers have changed contact center experience was the sole reason they
providers in the last five years.i Consumers are stopped doing business with a company.iii
going on the Internet to compare prices, assisted
by the growing popularity of data aggregators that When compared to other industries, satisfaction
present insurance products as undifferentiated with insurance contact centers is lower than levels
commodities sorted by price. Also, the power of found in other industries including banking,
the web has extended its reach to include mobile telecommunications and catalog retailers (see
technology that allows insurance customers to Figure 1 next page). Overall, the insurance market
engage with their providers wherever and has a lower satisfaction level than the aggregate of
whenever they choose. all industries.iv

3.
Customer Experience Management 2
and the Insurance Provider
A Blueprint for Online & Multi-Channel Engagement
Figure 1
Satisfaction with Insurance Contact Centers
is Low Compared to Other Industries
Industry Satisfaction with Overall Industry
Contact Center* Satisfaction**
Health, property and Aggregate of all industries 71 75
casualty and life insurance
Catalog retailers 80 74+
companies have contact
Banking 77 77
center satisfaction scores
Cell phone service 69 70
that lag catalog retailers,
Cable and satellite television 68 62
banking, cell phone
services and cable and Insurance 68 75++
satellite television. Personal computers 64 77
* As measured by the Call Center Customer Satisfaction Index
** As measured by the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), using the same methodology
+ Score represents ACSI for retail industry overall, not just retailers
++ Includes health, P&C, and life insurance
For most if not all insurance institutions, increasing With Opportunity comes Challenge:
customer satisfaction online is just good business. the Multi-Channel Reality
Not only do such solutions and strategies promote The picture is not all rosy however. As more and
a seamless, multi-channel experience for the more transactions, sales and service interactions
customer, they also provide the institution with the in the insurance industry continue to involve the
ability to improve both overall loyalty and bottom Web, your organization’s opportunity to influence
line savings by moving customers to the most cost customer perceptions about brand, net promoter
effective service channel. score, loyalty and advocacy increasingly begins online.
The new reality now demands that organizations
Increasingly, the web sites of insurance providers of all types provide rapid, concise information to
of all types have a fairly large impact on the overall customers across a variety of self-service and assisted
success of the entire organization. Insurance channels, and this can be a daunting mandate.
providers can and should strive to differentiate
themselves on service that, more often than not,
involves the web at some point during any sales
or service engagement. So it’s critical that the Many insurance providers are
experience be productive and be in line with
customer expectations. not able to provide a truly
consistent experience across
Satisfied online customers are more profitable,
more loyal, and more likely to engage in positive multiple channels during
word of mouth, and if they increase their use of any given inquiry process.
the web site for informational and transactional
service, cost savings increase through the value
of right-channeling.

4.
Customer Experience Management 3
and the Insurance Provider
A Blueprint for Online & Multi-Channel Engagement
The insurance industry needs to embrace online Online, the Status Quo
customer experience management, and adopt
new and innovative ways to manage the customer does not Suffice
experience in the emerging multi-channel
environment. With the web as a new channel, Damaging Effects of POOR SITE DESIGN
providers will be able to gain new insight into Although the online growth trends for insurance
customer value. They will be able to leverage this providers continue to trend upward, and multi-
information by tapping in to the unique insights that channel customer experience has taken on a new
are sometimes only available via online interactions. meaning in recent years, many web sites are not
This type of web to multi-channel customer designed with a clear customer focused approach
experience strategy is now readily found in the and as a result struggle with navigational elements,
financial services market. layout, content that reads as collateral, site depth
and complexity, static FAQ’s, and the ubiquitous
That said, many insurance provider web sites are not site search that returns numerous links. In addition,
designed using a customer centric process and as a many providers offer a ‘disjointed’ customer
consequence users cannot find relevant content and experience across assisted and self-serve channels,
information quickly. In addition, many insurance with information flow in the contact center often
providers are not able to provide a truly consistent lacking continuity to web interaction.
experience across multiple channels during any given
inquiry process. For example, providing customers A recent Jupiter Consulting survey revealed that 54%
with the ability to seamlessly transition between of consumers visiting a web site came looking for
online and offline (self-service and assisted channels) product and/or service information. Once on the
is often non-existent for many insurance providers. site, a third of customers had a difficult time finding
The resulting frustration causes consumers to either the information they were looking for, and the top
leave and go to a competitor’s web site or re-connect three reasons that customers leave sites early are
in a more expensive channel – such as email, phone directly linked to poor site design and service flaws
or in person for example. (see Figure 2 next page).
Site Search and FAQ’s Prove Inadequate
Most corporate search platforms often do little to
help the situation. Approximately 63% of consumers
continue to be frustrated with web site search
because it cannot understand the real question and
57% believe search results are not related to their
specific topic of interest.v As most of us know from
experience, web site users who utilize search often
have to hunt and peck through large numbers of
possible links to find answers buried somewhere in
the detailed content of search results.
Static FAQ systems, the other pervasive alternative,
only deal with a subset of questions and require
visitors to “find a question”. Many self-service
solutions today lack relevance, speed and accuracy.
Research indicates that approximately 47% of
customers are looking for a faster navigation path
and 33% want a tool to provide a single accurate
response or advanced FAQ (see Figure 3 next page).

5.
Customer Experience Management 4
and the Insurance Provider
A Blueprint for Online & Multi-Channel Engagement
Figure 2
Site Visitor Frustration Can Lead to Devastating Results:
Lost Sales and/or Tarnished Brands
leave the website and go to a competitive website 45%
Be less likely to visit the site again 45%
Be less likely to buy from them online 40%
leave the website and give up 24%
Contact customer service via e-mail 24% Site visitors are
more likely to opt for
Have a more negative overall perception of the company 21% an alternative site
Contact customer service via phone phone regarding my experience 18% than both to contact
Be less likely to buy from them offline 18% customer service.
Tell others about my negative experience 16%
I have never been dissatisfied 4%
Question: If you find yourself dissatisfied with your ability to find the 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
necessary information you sought when first arriving on a website or a
specific product/service page, which of the following are you likely to do?
Percentage of Site Visitors
(Select all that apply) Select responses shown.
Figure 3
Effective Navigation Tools Resonate with Site Visitors
Ability to easily navigate from home page and find what I seek 47%
The ability to send an e-mail to customer service 36%
Frequently Aked Questions (FAQ) web page 33%
Question box that enables you to enter a question
and get a single, accurate answer 33%
Search tool that offers a list of search results 30%
Text-based online chat 13%
Call back option, where I enter my information 47% of customers are
and phone number and customer service calls me back 13% looking for a faster
navigation path
A link to information About US that is easily found 12%
and 33% want a tool
none of these would be helpful 8% to provide a single
The ability to make a phone call to the company via my PC, cllicking a accurate response or
button and talking through my computer’s microphone (VoIP) 5% advanced FAQ.
Other 2%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Percentage of Site Visitors

6.
Customer Experience Management 5
and the Insurance Provider
A Blueprint for Online & Multi-Channel Engagement
Insurance Customers are Goal Oriented 3. ASK: Relates to customers seeking assistance to
Customers come to interact with insurance provider correct or rectify a customer service problem –
web sites and service agents armed with a goal often caused by a failure to meet customer needs
in mind, and usually they have a specific context and expectations in the DO and BUY categories.
associated to their visit or inquiry. We can group Example: ASK (Goal Oriented) - a customer has
these key objectives into three major categories: a dispute with the timing of a bill payment
DO, BUY or ASK. The definition and an example made online. A customer may have the
of each of these three categories are as follows: following ways of asking the same question:
• Can I report a bill payment problem online?
1. DO: Involves the desire to perform a task that leads • How do I report a bill payment issue?
to the customer engaging in an assisted or self-service
• How do I correct a billing error?
transaction online or started online and concluded in
another channel. • What action should I take to correct a
Example: DO (Goal Oriented) – when a customer payment problem online?
wants to expand their insurance coverage with
the provider. During this process a customer may The DO, BUY and ASK goal categories help us
have a simple question which can be phrased in understand that there is a solid link between
numerous different ways: customer intention and customer action,
often in the form of a question or search
• How do I expand my life insurance coverage
for information. More importantly we learn
to cover long term disability?
that while there is often only one common
• Can I also get disability insurance through destination or piece of information that will
you? allow customers to achieve their goal, they
• Do you provide disability insurance? often travel down a number of disparate
• Who do I contact to extend my insurance paths to get there.
coverage?
2. BUY: Involves any task related to the intended
and/or final purchase of a product or service – this
may start and conclude online or in another
channel, and often requires multiple channels to
complete the process.
Example: BUY (Goal Oriented) – when a customer
wants to purchase travel insurance for an
upcoming vacation outside the country. During
this process the customer may have a question
which can be stated in many ways, for example:
• How do I purchase travel insurance?
• Can I purchase insurance for travel?
• What do I need to buy travel insurance?
• Where can I buy travel insurance?

7.
Customer Experience Management 6
and the Insurance Provider
A Blueprint for Online & Multi-Channel Engagement
The Expanding Figure 4
Customer Interaction Ecosystem
Interaction Ecosystem
Self-Service Assisted Service
Assisted and Self-Service
There is a lot of confusion surrounding the key Internet Contact Center
channels and interaction points that can most • Search • Agents
effectively influence the customer experience. • Contact Us / Ask Us • Email
For many insurance providers, both the web and the • FAQ • Click-to-chat
contact center must now deploy a variety of strategies • Virtual Assistant • Click-to-talk
• Instant Answers Cross • Collaborative browsing
and technologies in order to service their multi- Channel
• Help • Lead Generation
channel customer base. Defining the key elements of • Web Content • Call Center Platform
an effective customer interaction ecosystem will help • Databases • Enterprise Platform
bring some clarity to the situation. • Secure site • CRM Platform
• Applications, Tools • Virtual Assistant
and Calculators • Instant Answers
Most customer interaction platforms (see Figure 4)
require the capability to manage customer queries
across two primary sub-categories: Intranet
• Search
1. Assisted Service – Assisted-service provides or • Ask Us
enables human interaction with customers via phone • FAQ
• Virtual Assistant Support
or face-to-face interaction as well as the Internet (email,
• Instant Answers
chat or click-to-call). This type of service is generally
• Help
best suited to the sort of complex, multi-faceted • Content
interaction that can best be executed by trained • Databases
customer interaction personnel.
2. Self-Service – Self-service solutions offer support
via electronic means and allow customers to
access information quickly, or perform simple
transactions, often over the Internet. Self-service
solutions can include status quo offerings such as site
search or FAQ’s, or next generation solutions such as
virtual assistants or instant answer agents.
Part of the role of self-service is to transition qualified
sales and service leads to the most appropriate
assisted-service channels. It is worth noting that
employees and call center agents also have self-service
needs that functions within the contact center,
branch platforms or Intranet.

8.
Customer Experience Management 7
and the Insurance Provider
A Blueprint for Online & Multi-Channel Engagement
The Right Channel –
The Right Time
Customers want the option to be able to transition The Road toward Next Generation Customer
easily from self-service to human assistance (via Experience Capabilities
email, click-to-chat and click-to-call, etc.) to get help Today’s leading insurance providers should deploy
and advice for more complex products, services both the technology and the customer engagement
and transactions. Ideally, this should and can be processes to allow them to:
accomplished in a single session with no loss of • Identify the customer goal
context or information. For an insurance provider, Actively and intelligently determine the
the goal is seamless cross-channel information customer goal by engaging them online
delivery. For the provider’s customers, this translates (increasingly regarded as the seminal first point
into a positive customer experience. of customer interaction)
• Equip the customer with access to quick,
consistent information
A positive cross-channel Provide customers with an effective solution so
experience can substantially that they may self-serve
increase First Contact • Connect the customer to service channels
Provide a natural and consistent cross-channel
Resolution rates
escalation at the correct point in time relative to
the product or service complexity
A positive cross-channel experience increases • Provide consistent answers
the ability to achieve first contact resolution. Offer consistent information and overall
Understanding early stage web activity, customer experience throughout the interaction, across
queries or online information requests can allow multiple touch-points and interaction platforms,
providers to segment customers and move those including emerging channels such as mobile text
identified as key prospective customers quickly to a messaging and new social media channels such
seamless cross-channel experience to complete the as Twitter and Facebook
sales or service interaction that much quicker.
Most insurance providers are nothing if not multi-
channel businesses, and as such they must address
their customers’ needs as they progress through their
journey towards achieving their goals. Best practices
demand that organizations be equipped to manage
the customer experience via the preferred channel
of the customer – whether it’s online via self-service,
online via assisted service, or offline through a phone
or in person.
For some insurance providers, this process can be
hindered by silos of informational hierarchies – with
marketing owning the web site, contact center owning
many of the customer interactions and with neither
communicating effectively with the other. Or, silos
may exist with technology systems – each group has
all the information but getting the information out to
the customer is the roadblock.

9.
Customer Experience Management 8
and the Insurance Provider
A Blueprint for Online & Multi-Channel Engagement
6 Things You Can do nOw
1. Add Intelligent Self-Service Options 5. Right-Channeling
If you haven’t already, look towards adding Make sure you are channeling customers into the
intelligent self-service options such as a virtual right information funnel through intelligent
assistant to your web site or mobile platform escalation. For example, it may make more sense
These technologies are quickly becoming a key to push certain inquiries to self-service, while
component of the multi-channel customer “triaging” high value or high issue customers to
experience, and provide a number of strong assisted channels
benefits, including:
• Making it easy and convenient for customers to 6. Make Your Phone # Accessible
get the right answer to many of their questions The phone is not obsolete. Some customers will
the first time, thereby increasing first contact come to your web site with the sole purpose of
resolution finding a phone number they can use to contact
• Allowing customers to type their question and you with – make sure that number is available
get an immediate, accurate answer, with a high to them
degree of accuracy.
• Improving key metrics such as net promoter
(CEI/CSI) score, brand and customer loyalty –
while reducing re-connect costs and increasing
sales/transactions
2. Overcome Silos of Information Bottlenecks
Strive to overcome silos of information “bottlenecks”
so that information about the customer and status of
their inquiry is shared across different channels ( For
example, a call center operator should not need to
ask the same questions that have already been For More Information
answered online) For more information on cost effective ways to enhance
the customer experience at your organization contact:
Mike Hennessy
3. Include Customer Feedback IntelliResponse
mike.hennessy@intelliresponse.com
Incorporate customer feedback opportunities
at each touch point, including online and via
assisted channels About IntelliResponse
IntelliResponse enhances the multi-channel customer experience for
businesses and educational institutions via its Instant Answer Agent, a
4. Test and Test Again! question-and-answer software platform that allows web site visitors and
service agents to ask questions in natural language, and get the “One Right
“Test” your new technologies and processes with Answer”, regardless of the hundreds of ways the question may be asked.
customers directly to confirm that they are “valued”
This industry leading On Demand software platform is used by both
by the customers that use them consumers and contact center agents. With more than 200 live, customer-
facing implementations answering 50 million+ questions with one right
answer, IntelliResponse is the gold standard in first line
customer experience management.
Some of the world’s most recognized corporate brands and higher
education institutions trust their customer experience management needs
to IntelliResponse - including ING Direct, TD Canada Trust, Scotiabank,
Penn State University, The Ohio State University, University of British
Columbia and Harvard University Extension School.
i
Capgemini World Insurance Report, 2007
ii
Claes Fornell International Group Report, 2007
iii
Genesys USA Consumer Survey, 2007
iv
Claes Fornell International Group Report, 2007
v
Jupiter Research, 2008
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