The Top 10 Acquisition & Retention Challenges for Insurers in 2023

As an insurance professional you spend a lot of time thinking about your policy holders’ journeys, especially in a business environment that has completely transformed. Young, agile insurtechs are entering the space with digital-first offerings for policy holders who have growing, digital-first expectations. It’s a good match if you’re there. While the last few years have accelerated digital transformation for insurers, many executives are still struggling to understand their policy holders’ real end-to-end journeys, or know how to correct them!

The link between policy holders’ journeys and business revenue has been firmly established, and multi-disciplinary teams at leading insurers are turning to Customer Journey Management, a break-through approach compared to traditional CX. Why? Because our clients’ real-time needs demand real-time insight and actionability. It sounds obvious but it’s not easy to achieve with legacy methods. At inQuba we’ve seen journey-centric approaches achieve some incredible results:

  • A 31% increase in portal registration (insurance)
  • A 34% increase in onboarding conversion (fintech)
  • A 200% increase in customer engagement (insurance and investment)
  • Significant boosts in customer satisfaction and NPS

Customer Journey Management is the laser technology of CX, offering precision targeting for important use cases such as policy holder acquisition, experience, retention and insight.

As an insurer, your two overarching challenges are policy holder acquisition and retention. While there’s some vague notion that both can be mastered through better service, the real solution is more nuanced. So, why is it often so difficult to achieve? Let’s look at some industry research from Investment Times, Accenture and others*.

Why is it difficult to get new policy holders to sign up?

1. A complicated quote process

The nature of quoting, especially for P&C, is such that it can become very detailed, very quickly. This is sometimes more than the prospect is emotionally ready for, and jumping through administrative hoops is tough on the knees! Prospects get overwhelmed, lose momentum, and then drop away.

2. It’s difficult to understand products

Insurance products can be complex, with lots of small print, conditions and exclusions. Policy holder education through traditional methods can be time-consuming and expensive.

3. Policy holders want to compare products

Comparison of individual insurance products can be a minefield for inexperienced policy holders, especially when exposure to them is so infrequent. The inability to compare reduces confidence and can overwhelm customers into inactivity.

4. No personalized advice

Each prospect comes with context and expects cover for their individual needs. And their needs are changing all the time. They don’t need what you offered to the last person.

5. Brand and industry trust issues

Trust is essential when covering your precious belongings, but difficult when there’s so little relevant engagement! Policy holders can spend most of their relationship with an insurer in an information vacuum.

Why is it difficult to keep policy holders?

1. Poor communication

Insurer communication is typically infrequent, sales-focused, and lacking the context of the policy holder. Active claims see a spike in interaction but it’s usually administrative. A one-size-fits-all approach to communication becomes unmeaningful and invisible quickly, and valuable information gets lost.

2. Poor service

Policy holders want to be kept updated when it matters most, and that’s usually when the boiler is already dripping (or any other household drama) and they don’t know where the team is! A lack of continuity and smooth handover of customer information between the insurer and their fleet of preferred service providers just adds to the problem.

3. Value of cover

Insurance is a low-touch business, but policy holders need to be continually reminded of the value and benefits of their chosen cover. Failing this, the relationship can be reduced to a monthly premium and a policy holder who’s trying to remember why they signed up! Value communications build loyalty and trust.

4. Denied claims

Claims are often denied for good reasons, but there’s policy holder shock due to a poor understanding of the policy. Again, this is a communication challenge for insurers who need to ensure understanding for the sake of retention when it matters most.

5. No cover as expected

Another communication challenge, especially when it emerges at claim time, is that policy holders don’t understand the intricacies of their cover or how the terms and conditions affect them.

Despite large sums of marketing dollars being spent to attract prospects, they continue to drop off the sales and onboarding journeys. Fortunately, success is a science rather than a mystery.

Yes, there’s a science-based solution!

Let’s dive in.

Here’s how Customer Journey Management works:

1. It’s a voyage of discovery

Rather than the journey map that was workshopped and immortalized on the boardroom wall, you need to understand your policy holders’ real journeys. Especially the messy bits – like the policy holder segment that requested a call-back which resulted in numerous representatives trying to make contact at times that customers were unavailable, before they just dropped away quietly. Your journey map won’t help with these real-time views.

In contrast to journey mapping, this step of journey management uses your existing data to expose and visualize customers’ real journeys and actual behavior. This includes drop-offs and goals. This view is always the ‘penny drop moment’ for executives, but it’s only the beginning.

2. But how do they really feel?

Add an emotional layer by collecting customer feedback and emotional context at each step, in the moment. Is value being delivered and received during the claims process? How was the onboarding experience? This insight will guide the interventions and types of help that your business will design as part of the journey optimization.

3. The why behind their behavior

Now you have emotional context for your policy holders’ actual journeys and can uncover the ‘why’ behind their behavior. This is where you’ll discover that perhaps the brand wasn’t being delivered sufficiently to all segments during the claims process, or that the product didn’t make economic sense to some prospects during onboarding (although the experience itself was amazing!).

This segment-specific insight is what you’ll need to design interventions and scale empathy.

4. Encourage the behavior you want

Empowered with behavioral detail and emotional context, you can now scale empathy by designing hyper-personalized, real-time digital interventions and nudges to guide certain behaviors. An informational engagement may offer important information at a step in the onboarding process, or a chat may encourage portal registration, or market add-on services at the appropriate time.

5. Fine-tune for success

Review the success of strategies in a closed-loop, iterative and ongoing manner. Did digital nudges boost onboarding conversion? Did you achieve the implementation ROI that was targeted? Were intervention strategies effective during the claims process, ensuring loyalty and better lifetime value? Make small updates to further improve goal achievement.

How Customer Journey Management addresses your biggest challenges

Why it’s difficult to get policy holders to sign up
Complicated quote processGuide customers through onboarding with a mix of informational prompts, reminders and personal assistance, at every step of their journeys. Addressing confusion protects momentum.
Poor understanding of products, and lack of ability to compare productsCommunicate value of cover and benefits in a way that is personal and contextual, at the moments when policy holders need the information.
No personalized adviceKnow customer behaviour, preferences and sentiment. Leverage this insight to assist in ways that are contextual and hyper-personalized. Allow policy holders to signal for personal assistance at any step.
Brand and industry trust issuesDeliver on brand promises from the first step and scale empathy systematically. Display that you truly know the policy holder by leveraging their context.
Why it’s difficult to keep policy holders
Poor communicationDeliver relevant, personalized engagement by understanding and using policy holders’ full context in the journey, in real-time.
Poor serviceDeliver great service by understanding where your policy holders are and what they need, and then acting on that information in the moment.
Value of coverInsurance is a low-touch product until it’s important, and value is perceived differently per segment. Communicate relevant value and benefits continuously by understanding your segments.
Denied claims, no cover as expectedPolicy holders’ surprise around denied claims is often a communication failure. Engage segments at every step of their journey about benefits, limitations and policy requirements.

Use case coming up!

Look out for our forthcoming newsletter and post where we’ll be looking at how a leading insurer improved conversion during sales and onboarding – and ensured that their policy holders had positive experiences. You’ll learn more about customers’ journeys were orchestrated and nudges were used to improve conversion and other important business metrics.

We would love to understand your business challenges and the problems you’re trying to solve. Reach out to us and we’ll set you up with an expert for a no-obligation discussion.

Guide customer behavior with inQuba Journey Management

Download our product paper now

Read the full 4-part Insurance series now.

 

© Copyright inQuba 2024. All Rights Reserved.
Web Privacy Policy
POPIA Data Privacy Policy
inQuba Code of Conduct

Contact us

The inQuba team is waiting to hear from you! Please fill in your details herePlease fill in your details here and we will respond to your message within 24 hours.

Join us

Get regular updates about the world of CX orchestration by subscribing to inQuba’s newsfeeds below.

    Bruce Eidsvik

    inQuba President, North America

    Bruce is a seasoned executive with over 25 years of experience in sales and marketing mainly within the customer experience space. Bruce has held senior executive roles at Genesys, a private equity backed cloud customer experience company and OpenText, a NASDAQ listed information management company, where he led their Global Growth Marketing and Sales Development organizations. Prior to these roles, Bruce was the Managing Director for the APAC region at Genesys, based out of Singapore. Bruce is also an entrepreneur and a co-founder of Insight Venture backed VoiceGenie Technologies Inc, which was successfully exited in 2006.

    This work has led Bruce to points around the globe, helping both Fortune 100 and SMBs alike. Bruce is a frequent keynote speaker at CX events worldwide, where he is more than happy to share his experiences and best practices to help others. Bruce is a team builder, has a passion for driving creativity, developing leaders and getting stuff done. Bruce strongly believes that fun is an important component of driving great results. Outside of work, Bruce is an avid skier, road and mountain biker, triathlete and in love with the mountains.

    Bruce holds a Bachelors of Science degree with Honors in engineering physics from Queen’s University. After 14 years abroad, Bruce and his family are back in Canada and living just outside Banff, Alberta.

    Liza Rogers-Nolte

    Head: Inside Sales SA and Marketing

    Liza joined inQuba shortly after inception in 2011. She has held various roles and responsibilities during the time and has been vital to the success of the business. Since 2016, Liza has headed up inQuba’s global Inside Sales function, responsible for identifying, qualifying and nurturing new business relationships. She also plays a fundamental role within inQuba’s marketing function, being jointly responsible for all key, global marketing events. Liza also manages the relationships of inQuba Partners, specifically the Microsoft Partner Relationship for which she is the MSFT Alliance Partner Manager.

    Prior to inQuba, Liza spent over 10 years in London (UK) gaining international experience in various industries. This included working closely with top executives in FTSE 250 and blue-chip companies in industries such as banking, private equity, investment property, executive search, and others.

    Prinay Panday

    Head: BI and DevOps

    Prinay is responsible for overseeing all IT operations, technical delivery and technical strategy for inQuba, ensuring alignment with the company’s business requirements and goals. Prinay is responsible for assisting other departments within inQuba, such as Product, Development and Professional Services, in utilising technology efficiently and profitably. He also spent several years in software development at inQuba which has provided him with deeper insight into effective technical delivery and operations of the inQuba platform. Prior to joining inQuba, Prinay worked in IT operations and software development across various industries including insurance, banking and retail. Prinay holds a Bachelor of Science in Information Technology from the University of Johannesburg.

    Dasha Naidoo

    Head: Product Experience

    Dasha joined inQuba in 2013 and has held various positions over the years. Dasha found her niche when she joined the core Product team in designing the inQuba CX platform. As the Head of Product Experience, she is ultimately responsible for the overall user experience and value delivery to inQuba’s customers. Dasha has been instrumental in the product’s success, providing insight into design, customer behaviours and practical solutions to complex customer challenges. Before joining the product team, she spent 2 years guiding customers through their Customer Experience programmes.

    With a professional career spanning 10+ years, Dasha has extensive experience across CX, Marketing, Campaign management and Data management and analysis. Dasha holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Information Systems Technology) degree from the University of KwaZulu Natal.

    Kobus Snyman

    Head: Service Operations

    Kobus is responsible for overseeing all technical operations including customer support and general operations activities ensuring the inQuba’s customer platform is optimal and stable. He has extensive Systems and Business Analysis experience gained from industries such as Banking, Information Technology and Mining. He has gained solid knowledge in Project Management, Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity management as he managed the Disaster Recovery site for one of South Africa’s Big Four Banks for a significant period. In 2016, Kobus joined inQuba as a Senior Analyst and has subsequently been promoted to Head: Service Operations, bringing with him the technical platform knowledge as well as customer management experience gained through the management of large, strategic inQuba clients. Kobus holds a Certificate in IT Service Management (ITIL) and SDIP. He also holds an ‘Essential skills for the Business analyst’ certification.

    Eben Odendaal

    Head: Professional Services

    Eben is responsible for the successful delivery of inQuba’s CX solution programmes to clients. He is an experienced Business Consultant and Project Manager and has delivered multiple Management Consulting, Digital Application and Software Development programmes, across multiple industries, throughout his career. Eben holds a Mechanical Engineering degree from the University of Pretoria, an MBA from the University of Stellenbosch and is a registered Project Management Professional.

    Allan Lee Son

    Senior Software Architect

    Allan is a Senior Architect in the core team working on the architecture and development of the inQuba CX platform for over six years. As a technical lead, product designer and software architect, he is a driving force in the inQuba Product Development team, providing insight into design and practical solutions to complex software challenges.

    Previous to joining inQuba, Allan’s five years at On-IT-1, developing software solutions for the Bosasa Group, have given him broad perspective on design, development and deployment of software applications across various industries, including aquaculture, youth rehabilitation, fleet management and device integrations for biometric and programmable logic controllers. Allan brings this valuable experience to bear on the challenges of developing a globally distributed SaaS platform.

    Allan completed his treatise in 2006 and holds a honours degree in Bachelor of Commerce (Computer Science and Information Systems) from the Nelson Mandela University.

    Warren Reed

    Senior Software Architect

    Warren is responsible for high-level software design choices and selecting the best tools, platforms, and technologies for developing and delivering inQuba’s CX software platform. He helped build the inQuba platform from the ground up, including products such as Engage, Case Management, and Journey Analytics. He implemented the continuous delivery pipeline that automatically deploys inQuba’s software solutions globally. Prior to inQuba, he spent five years at Bosasa architecting and developing systems for vehicle maintenance, youth development centres, access control security, and job recruitment. He also spent two years at Korbitec developing legal practice management software. Warren holds an honours degree in Computer Science and Information Systems from the Nelson Mandela University.

    Jon Salters

    Non-Executive Director

    Jon brings with him a wealth of experience in market research and technology enabled services in the insights domain.

    Prior to being strategic advisor to inQuba, Jon spent four years at Vision Critical, the world’s leader in Insight Community solutions where he launched Vision Critical’s presence in Africa, re-launched their partner program internationally and was also integrally involved in the team that executed the spin-off of Vision Critical’s Research and Consulting business unit which became a cornerstone of the newly formed Maru Group.

    Jon holds a GDE in Engineering Management and a B.Sc Mechanical Engineering (industrial Option) for the University of the Witwatersrand.

    Antony Adelaar

    Head: Product Marketing

    Antony joined the inQuba story early, towards the end of 2011. He is responsible for the planning, design, production, marketing and release of inQuba’s CX software solutions to customers on 4 continents. Prior to managing product, Antony oversaw the account management team who in turn oversee inQuba clients using the full range of inQuba CX solutions.

    Antony has ten years’ experience in market research across the African continent and across all major industries. Prior to inQuba, he headed up digital research at an agency, Yellowwood Future Architects, which specialises in strategy, research and design.

    Antony completed post-graduate Leadership Development studies at Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS), following a Bachelor’s degree (Industrial Psychology) at the University of South Africa.

    Trent Rossini

    Managing Director

    Trent is responsible for all operational delivery, professional services engagement, product conceptualisation and delivery of inQuba software. Prior to joining inQuba, Trent was the CIO for Discovery Health and in 2003, was appointed as COO of PruHealth, Discovery’s UK joint healthcare venture with Prudential. He also spent several years consulting on various systems integration projects for Deloitte and Accenture.Trent holds a B.Sc.(Mech) Engineering from the University of the Witwatersrand and a Graduate Diploma in Industrial Engineering.

    Micheal Renzon

    Group CEO

    Michael Renzon is an entrepreneur and visionary and the driving force behind highly successful internet, technology, content and Customer Experience companies. He is an Endeavor Entrepreneur, the leading high-impact entrepreneurship movement around the world, and was named the Most Promising Entrepreneur of Entrepreneur Organization (EO) in 2006.

    Michael’s thought leadership in Customer Experience and Customer Journey Management has been adopted by leading companies around the world who use inQuba’s analyst-rated Customer Journey SaaS Platform and Methodology to drive their customer experience transformation and customer journey optimization.

    Michael holds an MBA from the University of Cape Town, an Honours Degree in Computer Science and a Bachelor of Economic Science Degree, both from the University of the Witwatersrand.

    <h4>Link to CX series</h4>

    [fc id=’16’][/fc]

    Please fill in your name and email to subscribe to inQuba’s newsfeeds.

      By submitting this form you agree to inQuba processing your data in accordance with inQuba's Web Privacy Policy.
      You can opt-out of all communications at any time. This form is protected by reCAPTCHA.

      Download inQuba Social Product Paper

        Please provide your contact details to download.

        By submitting this form you agree to inQuba processing your data in accordance with inQuba's Web Privacy Policy.
        You can opt-out of all communications at any time. This form is protected by reCAPTCHA.

        Download inQuba Case Management Product Paper

          Please provide your contact details to download.

          By submitting this form you agree to inQuba processing your data in accordance with inQuba's Web Privacy Policy.
          You can opt-out of all communications at any time. This form is protected by reCAPTCHA.

          Download inQuba Engage Product Paper

            Please provide your contact details to download.

            By submitting this form you agree to inQuba processing your data in accordance with inQuba's Web Privacy Policy.
            You can opt-out of all communications at any time. This form is protected by reCAPTCHA.

            Download inQuba CX Product Paper

              Please provide your contact details to download.

              By submitting this form you agree to inQuba processing your data in accordance with inQuba's Web Privacy Policy.
              You can opt-out of all communications at any time. This form is protected by reCAPTCHA.

              Download Customer Experience Architecture

                Please provide your contact details to download.

                By submitting this form you agree to inQuba processing your data in accordance with inQuba's Web Privacy Policy.
                You can opt-out of all communications at any time. This form is protected by reCAPTCHA.

                Download Enhancing Sales Performance

                  Please provide your contact details to download.

                  By submitting this form you agree to inQuba processing your data in accordance with inQuba's Web Privacy Policy.
                  You can opt-out of all communications at any time. This form is protected by reCAPTCHA.

                  Download Unlocking Profit

                    Please provide your contact details to download.

                    By submitting this form you agree to inQuba processing your data in accordance with inQuba's Web Privacy Policy.
                    You can opt-out of all communications at any time. This form is protected by reCAPTCHA.

                    Download Why the customer journey needs to be CXtended

                      Please provide your contact details to download.

                      By submitting this form you agree to inQuba processing your data in accordance with inQuba's Web Privacy Policy.
                      You can opt-out of all communications at any time. This form is protected by reCAPTCHA.

                      Download Reinventing Retail

                        Please provide your contact details to download.

                        By submitting this form you agree to inQuba processing your data in accordance with inQuba's Web Privacy Policy.
                        You can opt-out of all communications at any time. This form is protected by reCAPTCHA.

                        Download Digital Disruption: the Insurance of Things & CX

                          Please provide your contact details to download.

                          By submitting this form you agree to inQuba processing your data in accordance with inQuba's Web Privacy Policy.
                          You can opt-out of all communications at any time. This form is protected by reCAPTCHA.

                          Download inQuba TIBCO Case Study

                            Please provide your contact details to download.

                            By submitting this form you agree to inQuba processing your data in accordance with inQuba's Web Privacy Policy.
                            You can opt-out of all communications at any time. This form is protected by reCAPTCHA.

                            Download inQuba Ster Kinekor Theatres Case Study

                              Please provide your contact details to download.

                              By submitting this form you agree to inQuba processing your data in accordance with inQuba's Web Privacy Policy.
                              You can opt-out of all communications at any time. This form is protected by reCAPTCHA.

                              Download inQuba Virgin Mobile Case Study

                                Please provide your contact details to download.

                                By submitting this form you agree to inQuba processing your data in accordance with inQuba's Web Privacy Policy.
                                You can opt-out of all communications at any time. This form is protected by reCAPTCHA.

                                Download inQuba NSW HealthShare Case Study

                                  Please provide your contact details to download.

                                  By submitting this form you agree to inQuba processing your data in accordance with inQuba's Web Privacy Policy.
                                  You can opt-out of all communications at any time. This form is protected by reCAPTCHA.

                                  Download inQuba Kulula/Comair Case Study

                                    Please provide your contact details to download.

                                    By submitting this form you agree to inQuba processing your data in accordance with inQuba's Web Privacy Policy.
                                    You can opt-out of all communications at any time. This form is protected by reCAPTCHA.

                                    Download inQuba VitalityLife Case Study

                                      Please provide your contact details to download.

                                      By submitting this form you agree to inQuba processing your data in accordance with inQuba's Web Privacy Policy.
                                      You can opt-out of all communications at any time. This form is protected by reCAPTCHA.

                                      Download inQuba Comair Case Study

                                        Please provide your contact details to download.

                                        By submitting this form you agree to inQuba processing your data in accordance with inQuba's Web Privacy Policy.
                                        You can opt-out of all communications at any time. This form is protected by reCAPTCHA.

                                        Download inQuba B2B Telecommunications Report

                                          Please provide your contact details to download.

                                          By submitting this form you agree to inQuba processing your data in accordance with inQuba's Web Privacy Policy.
                                          You can opt-out of all communications at any time. This form is protected by reCAPTCHA.

                                          Download inQuba Telkom Case Study

                                            Please provide your contact details to download.

                                            By submitting this form you agree to inQuba processing your data in accordance with inQuba's Web Privacy Policy.
                                            You can opt-out of all communications at any time. This form is protected by reCAPTCHA.

                                            Download inQuba Hollard Case Study

                                              Please provide your contact details to download.

                                              By submitting this form you agree to inQuba processing your data in accordance with inQuba's Web Privacy Policy.
                                              You can opt-out of all communications at any time. This form is protected by reCAPTCHA.

                                              Download inQuba Liberty Case Study

                                                Please provide your contact details to download.

                                                By submitting this form you agree to inQuba processing your data in accordance with inQuba's Web Privacy Policy.
                                                You can opt-out of all communications at any time. This form is protected by reCAPTCHA.

                                                Download inQuba Momentum Case Study

                                                  Please provide your contact details to download.

                                                  By submitting this form you agree to inQuba processing your data in accordance with inQuba's Web Privacy Policy.
                                                  You can opt-out of all communications at any time. This form is protected by reCAPTCHA.

                                                  Download inQuba Coronation Case Study

                                                    Please provide your contact details to download.

                                                    By submitting this form you agree to inQuba processing your data in accordance with inQuba's Web Privacy Policy.
                                                    You can opt-out of all communications at any time. This form is protected by reCAPTCHA.

                                                    Download inQuba African Bank Case Study

                                                      Please provide your contact details to download.

                                                      By submitting this form you agree to inQuba processing your data in accordance with inQuba's Web Privacy Policy.
                                                      You can opt-out of all communications at any time. This form is protected by reCAPTCHA.

                                                      Download inQuba Healthcare Report

                                                        Please provide your contact details to download.

                                                        By submitting this form you agree to inQuba processing your data in accordance with inQuba's Web Privacy Policy.
                                                        You can opt-out of all communications at any time. This form is protected by reCAPTCHA.

                                                        var sf14gv=30203;(function(){var sf14g=document.createElement('script');sf14g.type='text/javascript';sf14g.async=!0;sf14g.src=('https:'==document.location.protocol?'https://':'http://')+'t.sf14g.com/sf14g.js';var s=document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(sf14g,s)})() */ ?>