How Digital Tools Can Improve Insurance Transparency and Trust

Trust is a significant problem for insurers. There is no shortage of stories related to surprise medical bills, denied claims and policies that are canceled after the filing of a claim.

Many examples are health-related, but the problem of trust extends to all lines. On one hand, insurers are there to save you when things go wrong; that’s good. On the other, there’s an all-too-common perception that they overcharge on premiums while shortchanging payouts (a pattern that Insurance Journal pointed out last year).

Perhaps that explains why in 2017, Statista found that 38 percent of American consumers trust insurance companies just a little – and that’s the good news. More than one in five (26 percent) said they don’t trust insurers “very much,” and 17 percent said they don’t trust at all.

What’s to be done? To improve perception among your policyholders, we suggest you focus on two improvements: transparency and experience.

Use your mobile app to reduce confusion

Insurance is complicated. Products aren’t easy to compare, and the logic behind underwriting decisions isn’t easy to see at a glance. This raises a trust issue: if your customers don’t understand what you’re offering, why it works the way it does, or how claims decisions are made, there’s plenty of room for doubt to grow.

Your mobile app can help to alleviate this concern.

For starters, it can put the information in your policyholders’ pockets, providing access to a plain-language fact sheets on their policy, for example, or a claims workflow infographic illustrating the process, so these details are comprehensible and perceived as fair.

Additionally, your app can provide customization options to allow policyholders to individualize coverages to suit their needs. It’s easier for people to trust when they feel personally empowered and in control.

Make the process of doing business easier

These days, insurance customers expect certain things to be effortless. When the act of doing business is simple and easy, the entire relationship feels more positive, and by extension, more trustworthy.

That’s because trust isn’t always the result of a rational line of thought. Yes, there’s a clear line between the transparency offered by a mobile app and the trust that may result, there are also lines to draw – less obvious but no less meaningful – between satisfaction and trust. The overall happiness that a customer feels with their experience can affect how well they trust their insurer, simply by building positive associations.

This is why, as you update your mobile experience, you should also be looking at the other points of customer contact; do your best to refine those experiences, and you will be doing your part to build a more positive perception among your policyholders.

Want to improve your policyholders’ experience? Silvervine can help. Ask us about our mobile app, payment processing and print/mail fulfillment capabilities.