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Call center efficiency in insurance: digitize your top call drivers into self-serve digital journeys

Call center efficiency in insurance: digitize your top call drivers into self-serve digital journeys | EasySend blog
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4 minutes

Did you know that most insurers' top call drivers are claims reporting, payments, and status checks? In other words, calls that customers themselves could easily handle if they had the right information at their fingertips.

But most call centers don't have the time or resources to digitize all of their call drivers into self-serve digital journeys. So they're stuck handling these calls the old-fashioned way - with a live agent.

There's a better way. By digitizing their top call drivers into self-serve digital journeys with no-code tools, insurers can improve call center efficiency and the customer experience at the same time. It's a win-win.

Why digitizing your top call drivers is crucial?

For most insurers, the call center is one of the biggest operational expenses. It's also one of the most important touchpoints with customers. So it's essential to get call center efficiency and customer experience right.

If you're like most insurers, a large portion of your calls come from customers wanting to do the same few things - report a claim, check on the status of a claim, make a payment, etc. One way to do this is to digitize your top call drivers into self-serve digital journeys. This means creating digital versions of common call center tasks - such as claims reporting, payments, and status checks - that customers can complete on their own without needing to call a live agent.

Not only will this reduce call volume and the call center's handle time, it will also save you money. And it will improve customer satisfaction by giving them the ability to resolve their issues quickly and easily, on their own terms.

What are the benefits of digitizing your call center?

There are many benefits of digitizing your call center, including the following:

  • Cost savings: The average savings per call is $15-20.
  • Improved customer satisfaction and loyalty: Customers who use digital channels are 30% more likely to be highly satisfied with their insurer.
  • Reduced call volume: Some insurers have seen call volumes drop by as much as 60%.
  • Improved call center efficiency: Digitizing call drivers can free up call center agents to handle other tasks.

So, if you're looking to improve call center efficiency and the customer experience, digitizing your top call drivers into self-serve digital journeys is a great place to start.

Why digitize your claims experience?

As the saying goes, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. The same is true when it comes to call center efficiency. By digitizing your top call drivers into self-serve digital journeys, you can prevent a large portion of calls from ever coming into the call center in the first place.

This is especially important when it comes to claims. By digitizing the claims experience, you can allow customers to report and track their claims online without ever having to call a live agent. Not only will this reduce call volume, but it will also improve customer satisfaction by giving them more control over their claim.

Traditionally, customers would have to call the insurer and wait on hold to be connected to a representative. The representative would then ask the customer for all of their information - policy number, date of loss, etc. - and input that information into the claims system. The customer would often then be transferred to multiple representatives during the process and would have to provide the same information - their policy number, date of loss, etc. - multiple times.

Consider this scenario: a customer is trying to file a claim. This is what it often looks like:

  1. The customer calls the call center and is put on hold for an average of 2 minutes.
  2. The call center agent tries to collect all of the necessary information from the customer, which can take another 5-10 minutes.
  3. The customer is often transferred to another agent multiple times during the process, and the customer has to provide the same information multiple times.
  4. The call center agent then has to input all of this information into the insurer's claims system.
  5. If the customer has any questions, the call center agent has to research the answer and get back to the customer.
  6. If the customer doesn't have all the necessary information on hand, the call center agent has to follow up with the customer.
  7. Once the claim is filed, the customer must call in to check the status of the claim, and the process starts all over again. This process is not only time-consuming and frustrating for the customer, but it's also very costly for the insurer. In fact, this one call - from start to finish - can cost the insurer upwards of $30.

Now let's take a look at what the process looks like when the process is digitized.

  1. The customer goes to the insurer's website or app and reports the claim via a digital form. The form is quick and easy to fill out, and it only takes a few minutes.
  2. Customers can enter their policy number and date of loss into a digital form and have that information automatically populated into the claims system.
  3. The customer then receives real-time updates on the status of their claim, and they can check the status anytime, anywhere.
  4. If the customer has any questions, they can easily find the answers on the insurer's website or app or reach out to the call center for assistance.

This process is not only much easier and faster for the customer, but it's also much cheaper for the insurer. The average savings per call is $15-20.

[.figure]$15-$20[.figure]

[.emph]average savings per call[.emph]

Digitizing top call drivers in insurance call centers

There are many other call drivers that could be digitized in a similar way - from making a payment to checking on the status of a claim. And by digitizing these call drivers into self-serve digital journeys, insurers can improve call center efficiency and deliver a better customer experience. Some insurers have seen call volumes drop by as much as 60%.

  1. Reporting a claim
  2. Making a payment
  3. Getting a quote
  4. Changing policy details
  5. Changing payment details

There you have it - 6 top call drivers that you can digitize into self-serve digital journeys. This will not only improve the call center experience for your customers, but it will also drive efficiencies and KPI improvements in the call center itself.

How can insurers digitize their top call drivers?

  1. Start with a comprehensive list of your call drivers. Which calls are coming in most frequently? What do customers want to do when they call?
  2. Evaluate which call drivers can be digitized. Not all call drivers will be candidates for digital self-service, but many of them will be.
  3. Create digital customer journeys for your top call drivers. This means creating a self-serve process that allows customers to complete tasks without speaking to an agent. There are multiple ways to do that, from traditional in-house development, and outsourcing, to no-code solution providers. The best approach would depend on many factors, including the call driver being digitized, the insurer's resources, and the budget. Here is a useful guide to help you select the right digital transformation solution for your use case.
  4. Implement your digital call drivers and track the results. As you roll out your new self-serve digital call drivers, pay close attention to call volume, call abandonment rates, first-call resolution rates, and other key call center metrics.
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About EasySend

Transform the entire policy lifecycle, from quote to renewal, with EasySend. Trusted by Fortune 500 insurance companies, our no-code platform revolutionizes data collection processes. Effortlessly capture customer information, generate quotes, facilitate policy applications, streamline claims management, and simplify policy renewals to deliver a seamless, user-friendly experience.

Vera Smirnoff
Vera Smirnoff

Vera Smirnoff is the demand generation manager at EasySend. She covers digital transformation in insurance and banking and the latest trends in InsurTech and digital customer experience.