In today’s evolving digital world, our insurance partners are trying to increase awareness and consideration for their brand through digital commerce strategies such as social media platforms and third-party adjacent platforms to garner the attention of customers in a new way.
And we don’t want insurance carriers to just stop at the brand awareness and consideration stages, we want to see it through to conversion – creating brand loyalty along the way. This may seem like a lot, but there are steps a carrier can take to elevate and personalize the buying journey for their customer – and that starts by putting your customer and business objectives at the center.
Let’s look at two specific items that must be harmonized to exceed both customer expectations and organizational goals with a digital commerce mindset.
Owning the Research Journey
For customers, over 70% of all insurance purchases start with online research. In the research phase, it’s critical for you as a carrier to show the customer that you understand their problems and needs. This stage is your biggest opportunity to influence and show the insurance buyer how you can help those most.
You can leverage tools such as social media, websites, and agents to reach the customer and understand their expectations. To build your credibility and trust with them, meet them where they are by delivering digital content such as testimonials, white papers, and case studies that answer their questions or eliminate their obstacles when it comes to purchasing insurance. A study shows that businesses that understand their digital touchpoints such as these can greatly impact consumer perception and brand loyalty, with over 65% of customers saying their experience on a website or app influences if they’ll recommend a brand or not.
While the buying journey will still be a blend of online and offline methods, such as leveraging digital tools and content with the help of your insurance agents, you will still achieve meeting the customer where they are and improve their overall decision and experience in the long run.
Creating an Omnichannel Experience
As digital channels expand the opportunity to reach consumers, organizations must respond with two-way commerce communication capabilities to aid the buyer’s journey from shopping to purchasing. Many times, these are referred to as ‘omnichannel’ capabilities. To be truly effective organizations must go beyond the simple ability to execute in multiple channels, such as social platforms, partner websites, influencers, or media, and seek to optimize experiences while honoring customer preference – we may even consider this as an ‘optichannel’ experience instead.
With this approach, carriers can interact with customers in their preferred medium – agent, web, or digital, while maximizing efficiency through technology for their infrastructure and incorporating more outlets to purchase for the customer’s buying journey. Doing so creates more opportunities to meet the customers where they are and fulfill their orders from wherever they please.
Our Key Takeaways
Insurance policies can be complicated, but the process of purchasing them no longer has to be. Carriers must remain proactive in understanding the evolution of the digital world and the needs of the customer to remain a successful, yet customer-focused organization. For more information on how you can elevate your customer’s insurance purchasing experience, download our guide, Commerce Experiences and the Rise of Digital-First Insurance today.
