Auto Insurance Churn Is Up – Digital Claims Payments Can Help
Auto insurance customers know they have options. They won’t stay with an insurance company unless they think they’re getting a good deal – and the premium isn’t the only thing that matters. More and more, offering digital claims payments is an essential piece of the insurance customer satisfaction puzzle.
Changes in Auto Insurance Shopping Patterns and Expectations
The 2020 Insurance Shopping Annual Report from TransUnion shows that insurance shopping rates increased in the first half of 2020. Although shopping dropped at the very beginning of the pandemic, shopping rates quickly recovered and ended up surpassing 2019 rates.
The pandemic has changed a lot of things in the last year, but the internet has been changing things for a couple of decades now.
First of all, the internet has made auto insurance shopping easier. Consumers know that if they’re unhappy with their current carrier – or if they think they might be happier with a different insurance provider – they can go online to get a quote with a different carrier in a matter of minutes.
But it’s not just the premium that matters. The claims experience is important, too – and if policyholders aren’t happy with their claims experience, they can go online to voice their complaints. The rise of social media and online reviews means that people aren’t just sharing their bad experiences with their closest friends and family – they’re sharing their bad experiences with the entire world.
Finally, the internet has changed people’s expectation. Speed is measured in minutes, not hours. People have come to expect immediate replies. More and more, they also want immediate payments. These expectations are especially important during the claims process.
The High Stakes of the Claims Experience
The claims process has always been a pivotal point in the insurance customer/insurance carrier relationship. Accenture’s Claims Customer Survey found that 83% of policyholders who were unhappy with the last claims experience had either switched insurers or planned to do so.
So what makes a claims experience satisfactory? Speed is a huge part of it. Claimants want to get back to normal as fast as possible. Digital claims payments can help with this.
Digital Claims Payments
Metabank’s Study of Consumer Disbursement Preferences found that 71% of survey respondents prefer to receive payments through paperless options. It makes sense – paper checks can take a long time to receive, and then they need to be deposited. It’s a pain.
And it’s not something people want to deal with when they’re going through an insurance claim.
The Metabank survey also found that 42% of respondents would be more likely to stay with an insurance provider that can pay approved claims within minutes, while 13% of respondents would switch to an insurance provider that can pay approved claims within minutes.
To prevent customer churn, insurers need to keep their policyholders happy by providing fast, excellent service. Offering digital claims payments is an essential part of this.
Want to take the next step? Review Silvervine’s suite of digital payment options here.