Modern digital products dominate an ever-growing list of industries providing people with a comfortable customer experience (CX). Given the prevalence of mobile devices that will increase, it is mobile apps that carry the day among numerous high-tech solutions. However, when in some domains (like banking or medicine), this software type lives up to users’ expectations, other fields remain behind. Yet consumers count on the same level of CX from apps in other niches, and insurtech products are no exception.
Addressing challenges in insurance via mobile apps
Many insurance companies find it hard to keep up with the fast pace of contemporary IT-driven civilization and adequately respond to the challenges that crop up nowadays. What obstacles do they often face, and how can mobile apps help overcome them?
- Underutilized mobile channel. Unlike its close relative banking industry, the insurance sector largely neglects mobile apps. Few companies have them (for instance, in the USA, this number doesn’t exceed 11%), and the CX they provide is substandard in many cases.
- Cumbersome workflow. The insurance sphere is one of the most regulated industries in the world. It relies on tons of paperwork for the internal routine and servicing clients. Digitalization of shop floor procedures will help streamline the former. Launching mobile apps will drastically enhance the customer experience – from contracting to quoting both in life and health insurance.
- Dependence on legacy know-how. Like in many other fields, insurance organizations tend to stick to the software they are used to, being reluctant to take innovations in their stride. Yet, the mobile experience can’t be ignored today, so developing a mobile app is a must-have measure needed to stay afloat in the smartphone-reliant world of the early third millennium.
- Absence of a connected ecosystem. Often, the insurtech solutions an organization employs are standalone on-premises endeavors. Yet, to make the most of digitalization, it is vital to unite them all into one framework and migrate it to the cloud. A mobile app can become a part of this system with a major focus on obliging the clientele.
As you can see, mobile apps can be a game-changer in the insurance services market. However, it is not only the fault of insurance companies that they are currently underrepresented in the industry. Consumers are also lukewarm in employing them on a large scale. How come?
Learn more about how you can improve CX with other digital tools for insurance.
Why insurance consumers don’t like to use mobile apps
Having sufficient experience in building insurance solutions, we at DICEUS see six main reasons consumers may give insurtech apps the cold shoulder.
Reason 1. Issues with understanding how an app works
People may fail to get to grips with them. The causes may be numerous, from onboarding problems to poor UX due to the UI being too complicated.
Reason 2. Issues with using a mobile app
These may cover various aspects of the app’s operation: problematic sign-ins and sign-outs, absence of status notification, unclear bill payment procedure, etc.
Reason 3. Lack of necessary functionalities
The app doesn’t provide access to helpful resources and has no electronic ID storage or in-app claim reports. Sometimes, apps fail to navigate customers through their journey to the end. For instance, offering e-signature collection, they can’t provide copies of government-issued IDs and other documents from multiple sources or don’t grant binding consent to policy agreements. Thus, clients can’t complete their claims through the app.
Reason 4. Bad UI and UX
The second is often the consequence of the first, but sometimes, the app’s interface may look unattractive, so it will just not appeal to people.
Reason 5. Exaggerated UX expectations
In our digitally-fuelled age, people interact with other IT products a lot. Being used to the experience they get there, they expect the same from insurtech apps and are disappointed to see no recommendations or options coupled with old-school interfaces. Moreover, PDF-based forms many insurance apps rely on are very inconvenient to read for small smartphone users, to say nothing of filling them out.
Reason 6. Personal preferences
Even the most tech-savvy customers may opt to contact a call center instead of using an app. Sometimes it can be explained not so much by personal tastes as by the inadequacies of apps that send no notifications or turn inquiry processing into a lengthy procedure.
Despite the unenthusiastic attitude of some consumers and insurance companies, insurtech apps can usher numerous boons to all stakeholders.
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Benefits of insurance mobile applications
What do insurance companies get by launching a mobile app?
- Workflow automation. Thanks to apps, numerous shop floor activities are critically accelerated and simplified. Now, it doesn’t take much time and effort to take orders, process bills, collect payments, handle claims, generate insurance quotes, or finalize deals.
- Augmenting expertise of insurance agents. As a representative of the insurance company, the agent must have all the required data at their fingertips. The app is a second-to-none crutch when they must communicate with customers regarding claim processing, quotes, special offers, and other job details.
- Personalization of services. Having collected all client information via the app, companies can make targeted offers and unique pitches. In this way, customer retention and loyalty are significantly improved.
- Reaching out to new generations. For modern people, a smartphone is the ultimate tool for interaction with their environment. They leverage it to do almost everything – from working and shopping to learning and having fun. There is no reason why ensuring their life or property can’t be performed along the same lines.
- Gaining a competitive edge. The previous benefit translates into this one. If you aim not for precarious survival but for a thriving insurance brand today, going mobile is the imperative of our time. Launching a mobile app will allow you to stand out among competitors, get more leads and converts, sell more policies, and increase revenues at the end of the day.
More insights on the topic: Interview with the former CEO of Willis Nordics on how technology impacts insurance.
What are the perks of insurance mobile apps for policyholders?
- Real-time service. People can get in touch with agents whenever necessary via the communication channel they find convenient. This ability is mission-critical after an accident when the client can upload photos of the damaged car or house and submit a claim in no time.
- Instant access to policy details. Customers can look through the document anywhere at any time to ensure what the policy covers, what payments are due, when the policy expires, etc.
- Helpful guidance. A person may be interested in other related things, like how to file a claim, what to do after an accident, etc. All such information can be furnished through the single interface of the app, even in the form of step-by-step instructions.
- Online consultations. If something isn’t clear, people can apply for the consultation without visiting the brick-and-mortar insurance institution.
- Seamless policy changing. Thanks to the app, people can notify the company in one click about their wish to alter the policy, which immensely facilitates the entire process.
- Keeping abreast of updates. Insurance organizations can inform their clients about the latest news, new offers and discounts, changes in pricing, and other developments to keep them in the know 24/7.
All these assets can be maximized when you know what features an insurance app must contain.
Learn more: How to improve customer experience in the insurance industry
Sample features of an insurance mobile app
The roster of features depends on the subject matter of insurance.
Health insurance functionalities
- Buy different health insurance plans
- File a claim and track the status
- Save diagnoses and doctors’ reports in Medical Records
- Get telemedicine services
Vehicle insurance functionalities
- Buy vehicle insurance
- File and monitor claims
- Send photos/video of damages
- Make an appointment with the technician for vehicle repair at the nearest car service
Travel insurance functionalities
- Select coverage and buy travel insurance
- File a claim and track the status
- Use self-service capabilities
- Get 24/7 customer support
Home insurance functionalities
- Select coverage for damages and liability
- Buy property insurance
- File a claim and track the status
- Renew policy automatically
Whatever features you need for your insurance app, you should pay close attention to the CX the solution provides to oblige the policyholders and bring you the most value for your money.
Learn more about our services for insurance.
10 essential steps to improve CX for insurance companies
As a seasoned developer of mobile apps across various industries, DICEUS recommends following the algorithm of app creation honed to encourage more people to use insurance applications.
Step 1. Set up business goals you’d like to attain with the app
If you decide to create an app just to have it, the endeavor is doomed to defeat. Instead, you should have a clear vision of what you are going to improve in your business by launching the app.
Step 2. List all the problems you have to solve
These may relate to the workflow aspects that need reinforcement of the existing solutions whose performance isn’t adequate to solve issues you encounter. Or they may focus on CX to remove the bottlenecks in people’s interaction with the service provider.
Step 3. Interview customers to get their side of the story
Since customers are your chief priority, you should understand the pain points, needs, and frustrations they experience while being involved in ensuring their life or property.
Step 4. Create buyer personas and customer journeys
Once all information is collected, you can shape an image of your client with their demographics, habits, tastes as well as expectations they have while using an insurance app. Customer predictive analytics can be highly instrumental in making this picture as complete as possible. After that, you can chart a roadmap where all moves a user makes running the app are listed.
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Step 5. Create requirements for the insurance mobile app and its wireframes
Armed with the knowledge received before, you come up with the requirements for the app that relate to the tech stack, resources, functionalities, etc. These become a ground for creating a wireframe that is the scheme that presents the screen layout and the hierarchy of information it contains.
Step 6. Audit and rethink data flows and architecture
All the information obtained at the previous stage should be leveraged to introduce changes to the app architecture to align it with the projected scheme of customers’ interaction with the app. Ideally, they should face a minimal number of screens on their user journey. Thus, developers must envisage what actions trigger certain screens and what the consequences are when some button is pressed.
Step 7. Develop the features
When developers implement the devised plan to get a working prototype, now is the time for coding.
Step 8. Get feedback from users
This stage is known as usability testing when colleagues, friends, and family try the prototype. It provides an independent opinion of users who test how the app works and feels.
Step 9. Use metrics to evaluate customer satisfaction
In case the testing audience is large, you should apply specialized metrics that will enable you to gauge how positive the CX of users was.
Step 10. Build an app
When you have a functional sample and know what to aim for, you can tackle the app development process hammer and tongs.
Final thoughts
Keeping in step with the global advent of mobile devices, organizations across a number of industries launch enterprise apps that allow them to streamline their workflow and extend their customer reach. Unfortunately, insurance companies are still slow in the uptake of this trend, so you have all the chances to become a trailblazer in the niche.
The DICEUS team has the experience and skills to build a custom insurance app for your organization containing the range of features you need with excellent CX. For those companies that would like to quickly improve insurance CX, we offer our ready-made mobile app for various business lines: health, investment and life, car, and more types of insurance.
FAQ
Why is improving customer experience (CX) important for insurance companies?
With positive CX, policyholders feel valued and are more likely to renew their policies and recommend the insurance company to others. Insurers providing clear and user-friendly CX will differentiate from competitors offering similar products. A well-thought-out CX can reduce customer complaints, enhance operational efficiency, and increase the company’s brand awareness. Besides, a smooth and transparent process when submitting claims will strengthen customer relationships.
How can mobile apps help insurance companies enhance customer experience?
Using a mobile app, policyholders can purchase policies, file claims, and access documents anytime. With advanced features for various insurance business lines, users get a new-level experience. For example, our Vitaminise mobile app for health insurance companies offers a self-service symptom checker (Avatar) for policyholders. The latter can make an appointment with a particular doctor based on the recommendations after entering their complaints and symptoms either on the body avatar or selecting those from the list.
What are the key steps to improve insurance CX with mobile apps?
First, an insurance company should contact a vendor specializing in CX for insurance. Here at DICEUS, we start any project with a discovery phase that includes CX research comprising of competitor analysis, hypotheses generation, user interviews, buyer persona descriptions, customer journey mapping, etc. After that is done, we proceed to discover functionalities that could help improve CX based on our research.
How can insurers tailor mobile app features to meet customer needs?
CX/UX research is the most effective way to understand which functionalities lack, what challenges and frustrations about the current software products your policyholders face.
How can insurers ensure data security and privacy in mobile apps?
Security and privacy can be ensured by implementing strong encryption, secure authentication methods like biometrics or two-factor authentication, and regular app security audits. Our ready-made mobile app for insurance companies complies with the latest security standards.
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