Insurance call centers are experiencing extreme call volumes. Whether it’s from healthcare claims from COVID-19, life insurance claims, or business interruption claims, more policyholders need to be able to talk to someone right away. Also, considering that people who are having financial struggles may be thinking of canceling their policies,  now is the time to create a valuable experience and provide flexibility.

For health insurance especially, the customer experience is now even more important. Before the Affordable Care Act, they didn’t have much interaction with customers. ACA caused an influx of those who would have remained uninsured to apply for coverage. With mass layoffs, those who used to have insurance through their employer will have to be on COBRA, which is for a limited amount of time. That alone will cause a great deal of questions and inquiries. It is estimated that 31 million adults now don’t have health insurance. A chatbot can help with the influx of customer service and receiving payments in whatever method is necessary and convenient for prospective policyholders. And, if desired, a chatbot can help with enrollment.

An easy way to lessen the burden of call volume is to implement an AI chatbot on your website. Rather than have staff accept bill payments and answer common questions, the conversational AI can allow customers to self-service their accounts using natural voice commands. Your chatbot can go beyond bill pay to answer commonly asked questions to address queries and resolve issues. With direct website integration, there is nowhere new that your customer has to go to access the chatbot. A huge opportunity also is the extension of your customer service hours. Rather than your staff coming into a large volume of requests when they come in, a chatbot can handle issues even while they’re off.

Jose was laid off of his job but luckily found something else that he can start within two months. Fortunately, his homeowner’s insurance company offered an option due to the pandemic to extend his premium deadline by paying a fraction of the payment. Instead of having to wait until normal business hours, he was able to talk to his insurance company’s chatbot and use the extension.

Reducing call volume is a huge efficiency for your insurance company, but it also comes with a great experience for the customer. Shorter hold times for speaking with staff will be appreciated. But also, a chatbot will transform how you engage with your customers. Your customers can now communicate with you from channels they already use and enjoy, such as Facebook Messenger, Amazon Alexa, and Google Assistant.

If you’re not already considering leveraging technology to improve your customer experience, consider that the insurance industry as a whole is investing more in technology. 2019 InsurTech investment (~$6.4 billion) was a 63% increase over 2018 spend. This funding has gone down by 54% in the first quarter of 2020. However, currently, 28% of insurers are accelerating their digital transformation plans, and only 5% are downscaling. Now, a better customer experience is all the more important for insurers.

Alacriti created Ella, an AI-powered chatbot that facilitates seamless, personalized, and context-aware interactions between you and your customers through messaging apps, intelligent personal assistants, and directly on your website.

To find out how Ella can transform how you engage with your customers contact us at (908) 791-2916 or info@alacriti.com.