When was the last time you heard from your insurance company? The answer for approximately a third of consumers who haven’t needed to report a claim is more than a year ago.
According to research from our partner, Duck Creek, 32% of policyholders reported never hearing from their insurance provider on an annual basis, outside of reporting a claim.
Insurance companies are missing out on opportunities to engage policyholders across the board. From proactively reaching out to prospective policyholders, to engaging current policyholders, to offering more communication during the claims process, insurers have an opportunity to improve their outreach.
SMS text messages can be the perfect mechanism for insurance companies to actively engage policyholders and prospective customers, boosting policyholder retention and driving new business.
How is SMS Being Used By Insurance Companies?
There are great use cases for insurance carriers to leverage SMS text messaging to drive interactions with their policyholders, including:
- Claims status updates
- Quoting for carriers who sell direct to consumer
- Billing and policy updates
Let’s review each of these use cases in a bit more detail.
Claims Status Updates
Approximately 95% of claimants say they would like to hear about the status of their claim. While this number is likely unsurprising—odds are your call center is inundated with claims status inquiries—this is a tremendous opportunity to deflect call volumes by proactively sending out text messages to claimants.
You can conduct A/B testing to determine the optimal frequency for these status updates, but generally speaking, consumers report wanting more updates when it comes to the status of their claim, and not less. Transparency in the claims process can help elevate claims satisfaction scores and boost policyholder retention rates.
Re-engaging Abandoned Applicants
Less than 5% of online insurance applications convert, meaning carriers that write direct are missing out on significant new business opportunities. Most insurers, though, collect personal information, including phone numbers, at the beginning of the application process. This provides insurers with the opportunity to nudge prospective policyholders to continue where they left off in their application. Today, this is mostly done via email.
Rather than sending emails to applicants who abandon mid-quote, knowing open rates will be low, carriers should consider sending text messages to re-engage applicants. Pairing SMS with Glia’s Digital Customer Service solution enables insurers to seamlessly begin a live engagement with applicants, improving conversion rates.
Billing and Policy Updates
Bill pay notifications and renewal reminders are another great use case for SMS. According to the consumer research referenced earlier, 14% of policyholders said they did not receive a renewal reminder from their insurer. By issuing these notifications via SMS, carriers can ensure higher open rates and engage in 2-way conversations when needed for potential upsell and cross-sell opportunities.
Keep in mind that as a standalone channel, SMS can pose a security risk as there is no encryption. Glia allows users to transition SMS conversations into richer and more secure channels, providing stronger security and offering both operational and administrative efficiency benefits.
To learn more about Glia’s text message offering, visit our SMS webpage or request a demo to see how SMS can be an integral part of your customer interaction strategy.
