The Power of Modernizing Your Digital Insurance Experience

The insurance industry has done the same ol’ same ol’ for quite some time now, but with digitization impacting everything, the insurance industry is feeling a push for a modernized experience. Insurance agencies can now‌ compete with other agencies by providing prospects with ‌a digital experience—because consumers are looking for the easiest purchasing journey. This desire for a more modern experience is creating a divide between agencies that adapt to the changes and ‌those that are left picking at the scraps. To attract modern customers, insurance agencies need to embrace the digital experience.

The digital insurance experience moves customer touchpoints and services online. It also addresses the internal workflows of a company by incorporating important digital tools like automation, data analytics, artificial intelligence (AI), content personalization, and application programming interfaces (APIs).

Insurance agencies that improve their digital processes can provide a more pleasant experience for prospects and customers. They’ll be able to optimize offerings and workflows with valuable insights. Most importantly, they’ll maintain relevance by gaining the agility to adapt to new technology.

Understanding the Modern Insurance Customer

The digital insurance experience is all about catering to the desires of the modern customer. So what exactly do consumers want from their insurance agency? The average person has a few expectations when interacting with an agency.

Customers increasingly require the option to conduct their business online with their insurance agent. A growing number of customers want to manage simple interactions like obtaining quotes or submitting claims on their computers or smartphones instead of making calls. Even a chatbot feature to submit inquiries can feel less taxing than looking for the customer support email on a site. 

Modern insurance customers expect efficiency and simplicity across the board. Customers are used to lightning-fast processing speeds, and they’ll hold their insurance agency to this standard. Clunky legacy systems simply can’t keep up with the modern pace. A fast and functional website can make-or-break a prospect deciding to do business with your agency.

Finally, customers expect personalization in terms of offerings, interactions, and marketing. Insurance agencies need to leverage the data they collect on customers to shape buyer personas, develop customer journeys, and meet evolving needs.

These are a few values to consider when looking at which tools to implement in crafting a modern digital experience. Although the main objective is to make the buying process easy for both customers and prospects, streamlining it from your perspective will also be advantageous to them. 

Best Digital Tools for Insurance Agencies to Use 

While we’d recommend browsing a few forums to see how other agencies in similar positions are updating their processes, we’re gonna break it down into a few essential tools to keep in your digital toolbox. 

• Customer Relationship Management (CRM): The most widely used digital tool for insurance agencies. A CRM serves as a central hub for managing clients, quotes, policies, and other important information. 
• Comparative Raters: Compare data from multiple insurance carriers to quote quicker and give your prospects the best quote.
• Insurance Verification Tool: Underrated and underrepresented in the industry—instantly verify your prospect's insurance information from the source (read: real-time data). Insurance verification is somewhat the new kid on the block, but take it from us, not to be skipped in your digital insurance process.  
• Chatbots: We can all appreciate a chatbot for a quick fix. Use this as a resource for customers and prospects to get answers to their FAQ’s and simple issues—but we’ll always preach that the best customer service is person-to-person.  
• Reporting Software: It’s hard to know what to fix in your strategy if you don’t have the insights to see the areas your agency can improve on. Whether it’s reporting for your social media or ad campaigns, consider a few reporting options to understand how your agency is performing. 
• Electronic Signature Software: If you’re getting signatures in any other way, make this a top priority. 
• Project Management: The tool that keeps you on track. Project management software can be a great way to see the big picture and keep your team on task. 

Overcoming Challenges in Implementing a Digital Insurance Experience 

In competitive markets, there's a continuous need to evolve. Digital-first agencies are getting ahead with integrations that meet the exact needs of the modern customer. 

The task of introducing a new tool may seem like an uphill battle, and to that we say: take it slow. Choose the tools that are easiest to integrate with—tools that are too complex aren’t going to serve your agency if they're causing more headaches than benefits. There might be a few snags in the initial roll-out, or agencies may need additional time to train employees on the new tools, but these few hiccups will be worth the modern process that comes from partnering with technology. These challenges can be overcome with clear communication, training, and looking into employee and customer feedback to improve your process. From there, it’s just rinse and repeat. Try a new technology, get feedback, update your process again. 

2024 Trends for Insurtech

While these things might’ve been a “future trend” in 2020—it’s 2024, and this is where the industry is headed. Becoming an early adopter of industry trends can help an agency grab hold of a competitive advantage. 

Here are some tools that are shaping the future of the digital experience:

• AI: What's AI not involved with at this point? AI is involved in decision-making processes for claims and underwriting. It is commonly used to determine appropriate coverage, detect fraud, and develop strategies for handling legal disputes. We have yet to fully see the potential of AI integration within the insurance industry. 
• API: An application programming interface (API) allows multiple types of software to communicate with each other (like our insurance verification solution). The goal is to seamlessly integrate different tools and communication touchpoints to provide an omnichannel experience. Emphasis on seamless—these are an easy tech’ tool to include in your digital process.
• IoT: The internet of things (IoT) describes an ecosystem of devices that transmit data. This can be leveraged in the insurance industry to improve risk assessment and prevention.
• Embedded Insurance: Many companies offer insurance directly with purchase. This means that customers can buy, for example, car insurance directly from the car seller, which presents an opportunity for insurance companies to become a party to this arrangement by partnering with other companies.
• Customer-Centric Design: Elements like user interfaces, automation features, and streamlined workflows will all be incorporated to create more positive interactions with customers.

Canopy Connect: a Quick Win for Insurance Agencies

Improving the digital experience for customers should be a top priority for insurance agencies in the next few years. As agents and customers adjust to the change, digitization will present some challenges, but integrating digital solutions will improve satisfaction in the long run.

Start your digital transformation with a win by streamlining the process for verifying and gathering insurance information. Canopy Connect offers an easy link or QR code that enables your clients to import their insurance information directly from their current carrier in less than 30 seconds. Information is delivered to your dashboard with structured data, declaration pages, and other insurance documents, which you can quickly access to make informed decisions. 

‍Get in touch with Canopy Connect and boost your digital experience today.