Today, chatbots are integral to many enterprise initiatives directed towards business modernization and digital customer experience. And the insurance sector is no different. With many serviceable areas in insurance processes and a continually rising demand for better customer experience, insurance chatbots are poised to become instrumental throughout the value chain.
Insurers are not only shifting from product-based models to more customer-centric ones but also want digitized operational capabilities to replace traditionally manual processes. As agents cannot always go and personally interact with end-customers, agencies want to create a personalized, digital experience for existing and new customers.
Be it the explosion of the app ecosystem, advancements in AI and related cognitive technologies, or the broader reach of automation – chatbot for insurance have become the new norm for customer satisfaction. But above all is the age-old need to ease the complexity of insurance transactions – manual form-filling, elaborate questionnaires, time-consuming background checks, staff shortages, and cumbersome customer service – that has pushed insurance players towards this revolutionary technology.
As per Future of Chatbots in Insurance by Cognizant Insights, 69% of consumers prefer chatbots for receiving instantaneous responses. The acceptance of chatbots in the insurance industry is already up to 15% – and is consistently rising. Furthermore, as messaging becomes the preferred communication medium for millennials and baby boomers alike, insurance companies need to integrate chatbots across the different processes quickly. Case in point, there are many insurance chatbot use cases that are gaining traction in today’s market-
- Customer awareness & education – Chatbots can easily take up the task of introducing prospects to different policies and help them pick what’s best for them. That includes answering static queries and FAQs and walking them through various processes. It reduces the time of manual research and relieves agents from repetitive tasks.
- Lead profiling & conversion – Chatbots can also profile users based on questions and preferences. Once that is done, and a user shows interest, the bot can assign an agent to help with further decision making (Human-In-The-Loop algorithm). This way, chatbots identify leads and pave the way for conversion.
- Pre-sales & sales – Bridging the gap between potential customers and the brand, chatbots connect with an indefinite number of customers at once while distinguishing them based on purchase intent. The leads that lie further down the purchase funnel can be assigned higher intent scores as qualified inbound leads. Lead qualification in this manner can bring down the sales costs and drive more effective results.
- Policy-related queries & suggestions – Chatbots can also help customers select the right insurance policy. This is done by collecting massive amounts of data and solving questions on how the process works, comparing as well as suggesting optimal policies, and basing the conversation on the customer’s profile and inputs.
- Claim processing, renewals, and payment assistance – From checking coverages to understanding how to file for a claim or even track the status of claims – everything is possible via a chatbot. Bots can be configured to help in renewal processes, follow up for existing claims, and also prompt customers for upcoming payments with simplified payment mechanisms.
- Customer feedback – Chatbots can quickly answer the customers’ questions in the most straightforward way possible. Moreover, they are available 24/7 and can help with the queries that are mostly asked by the customers online.
What kind of results can you expect?
Benefits of chatbots in insurance industry include overall increase in the efficiency of processes achieved by assisting people faster, easing manual labor, and building better customer relationships.
- Better engagement – They engage visitors on the channel of choice and keep them hooked by asking relevant questions, recommending policies, and providing details.
- Enrich customer database – Chatbots can collect customer details and insights on purchasing patterns for driving personalized engagement and relevant suggestions. Chatbots can build an extensive database of customer profiles and preferences.
- 24/7 support – Consumers can interact with chatbots at any given time, make claims, renewals, or even find details on the policy at any given time. The easy-to-reach and round-the-clock availability make chatbots the best tool for automation in the insurance sector.
- Customer analytics – Capable of reading and memorizing user data, chatbots are capable of tailoring products according to each consumer’s needs. They can unlock insights from data to create the right AI-powered conversational experiences for customer service.
Disrupting the insurance landscape
Chatbots are already making a difference in the market. Here are few of the best insurance chatbots available in the market-
- Lemonade – This property and casualty insurer relies on its app-based chatbots to craft personalized insurance policies and quotes for customers and respond quickly to a variety of customer queries and process claims.
- NEXT Insurance – With a chatbot infused with Facebook Messenger, NEXT Insurance allows small businesses to obtain quotes and buy insurance online. It delivers tailored insurance policies and quick and precise responses that drive customer engagement.
- Max Life Insurance – With completely automated email-based customer support, Max Life Insurance ensured an 80% reduction in response times. Senseforth built an email bot that could not only auto-respond to 1 in 4 customer emails but also automatically segment queries and send it to the right stakeholders within the organization. In the end, the insurance agents were able to process twice as many mails with the help of the chatbot.
- Trōv – A mobile platform for on-demand insurance of personal items, Trõv has integrated a chatbot into its app to handle customer queries and claims by asking customers about the incident.
- Birla Sun Life Insurance (BSLI) – With an intent to deliver enhanced customer experience, provide instant premium quotes, and resolve issues on the go, BSLI allows customers to ask any question from anywhere through an insurance chatbot.
- PFI Mega Life Insurance – Meli, PT PFI Mega Life Insurance’s AI chatbot is part of the Online Services provided by the company available on Web as well as WhatsApp. The information provided by the bot is in both English and Indonesian Bahasa for user’s convenience and understanding before making any financial decisions.
Insured by AI
Conversational interfaces have already started to generate returns for many market players. Their ability to handle user information and provide instant help confirms that the future of chatbots the insurance industry is significantly bright. They will soon streamline the customer experience, drive cost savings, and shift entire processes from reactive to proactive. The time for companies to adopt bots and unleash new levels of digitalization is now.
