Best Insurance

• Carriers must continue to invest in understanding
consumer and policyholder expectations. The
industry’s long history of designing products and
services based on underwriting’s, producers’ and legal
expectations has made it a challenge to change insurance
to a customer- focused business. Making the change is
complex and often wrenching, but an enhanced consumer
analytics program that can help determine ways to attract
and retain more customers is a good first step in meeting
this challenge.
• Revisit your customer experience programs. Candidly
assess your organizational commitment. Are your actions
aligned with your slogans? Are you measuring what’s
important, holding people accountable, and rewarding
them for improving the customer experience?
• Change traditional distribution platforms. Most
carriers have been hamstrung by their existing
distribution platforms and have been nervous about
disrupting them. This is a rational concern, but we
believe change has to occur to promote future success.
Taking a long-term view can facilitate this change;
organizations that view the ideal distribution model of
ten years from now (versus just next year) tend to be in
a better position to align distribution with the market’s
changing expectations.
• Design products for consumers rather than
producers. Obviously, you can’t generate revenue
from a product that a producer won’t sell, nor can you
meet changing consumer needs if you only offer what
producers will sell. Accordingly, test a new product aimed
specifically at a consumer need and design it for the web,
which will maintain simplicity.
• Differentiate your value proposition through
thoughtful advice. More and more consumers don’t have
a good understanding of how to protect what’s important
to them. Prescient carriers will develop new ways to
provide them helpful advice, including by utilizing
technology to deliver personalized insight.