Thompson said that the move was despite efforts the insurance industry has made to improve the online claims experience for customers, and a significant uptick in adoption of such services as a result of the pandemic. Travel insurance, though, was not among the areas of insurance he listed as one of those seeing a return to in-person claims.
He adds: “We’re seeing some customers are heading back towards saying ‘I was willing to do that during lockdown, but I want to go back to a place where I can see people and speak to them directly’.”
Multiple channels are key to customer satisfaction
Insurers, then, need to ensure they are giving their customers the right options for making claims. Some will be keen to speak to a real person again, while others will be content with their online experience – as long as the UX is good enough and the insurer has invested enough to make the process smooth and easy to understand.
According to Thomson, in the pre-pandemic era, many companies were focused simply on having an app, which gave customers just that one channel through which they had to communicate. Now, though, there is a push for multiple channel options customers can use to access an insurer’s services. Insurers, Thompson concluded, are making efforts to ensure the service they offer has a more ‘human touch’ element: “You hear the dog barking or a child playing in the background and you start talking about what our realities are like, not just what is your policy number. Service is important but it’s about making it a human experience.”
