Kubra: CX is Key to Choosing Insurance Provider
Customer experience is the most important factor for those choosing an insurance provider, according to the new Insured Billing and Payment Report 2022 from Kubra, the Arizona-based provider of CXM solutions. Of the 1,134 US consumers surveyed for the report, 46% cited CX as the primary consideration in their choice of insurance provider, but only 18% rated their online experience with insurance agencies as “excellent.”
Respondents were also clear in identifying the challenges that they encountered on a regular basis when interacting with insurers. The top issues included little or no communication (42%), securing data (18%), slow payment processing (17%), and the lack of digital capabilities (14%), results from the survey showed.
The industry is also seeing demand rising for more modernized solutions since the onset of the pandemic. At least 81% say it is important that an insurer offer online or mobile payment options, and 34% prefer to manage insurance policy claims and payments via a mobile app.
Kubra, a subsidiary of the Hearst Corporation, provides CXM solutions to some of the largest utility and government entities across North America, with a portfolio that includes billing and payments, mapping, mobile apps, proactive communications, and AI solutions for customers. The company handles more than 1.5 billion customer interactions annually, and its services reach more than 40% of households in the US and Canada.
Genesys: In Banking, Personalized CX Matters
Financial institutions that provide personalized services to consumers will be the ones that outpace their competition, states the new banking study from CX solutions provider Genesys. In its new report The Challenge of Customer-Centric Banking, Genesys says CX leaders are advancing their strategies to connect with consumers by focusing on personalization and by building trust.
To do so, they have embarked on various personalization measures, the report notes, compared to industry peers who chose otherwise. For instance, CX leaders personalized services by tailoring products to the real-time needs and life stages of their customers in higher rates (38% vs. 26%). Leaders also more frequently matched advisors to the correct customers (45% vs. 26%), were twice as likely to be available on the channel customers wanted and when they wanted it (49% vs. 25%), and used individual data patterns to drive offers or experiences (39% vs. 24%).
Related Article: At Bank Customer Experience Summit, Four Experts Share Digital Banking Insights
Investing in technology that increases personalization is the most important priority for improving customer experience, with 72% of CX leaders saying that more personalization leads to greater customer loyalty. However, the two biggest obstacles in providing consumers the experiences they expect are the internal silos within a company that prevent integrated agent views of customer journeys (64%), and the combination of high turnover and low engagement among customer-facing employees (48%). The lack of a budget, the report notes, was the least important issue (6%).
Forrester: US Customers Have Minimal Trust in Their Financial Services Providers
More than half of all US financial services customers have low trust in their providers across the banking, credit card, insurance, and investment industries, reveals new research from Forrester, and financial firms are unsure of what drives trust and are unsuccessful so far in their efforts to earn it.
The results from Forrester’s first Financial Services Customer Trust Index report also show that banks possess the highest disparity gap in trust, earning the widest score differential of 18 points in their ability to earn and keep customer trust. Meanwhile, credit card issuers are mostly undifferentiated, with only one credit card brand in a field of 13 earning a “strong” Customer Trust index score. The lowest level of trust, however, is reserved for auto and home insurance providers, with 8 out of the 12 surveyed providers falling into the “weak” category for trust. In contrast, trust in investment firms is high,even though no brand reached the “strong” category.
The top-scoring financial services firms in the Trust Index, such as the USAA and the Navy Federal Credit Union, also happened to be those that performed well in the Forrester Customer Experience (CX) Index—another benchmark measurement developed by research and advisory group Forrester, but used instead to gauge outstanding customer service and CX. Often the CX Index and the Trust Index scores dovetail for the top-scoring performers in the two categories because a company that can deliver excellent CX is often also one that is able to earn the trust of customers, Forrester explains.
Infinity: 84% of UK Consumers Will Not Return to a Brand After Poor Contact Call Experience
A hefty 84% of all UK consumers are less likely to return to a brand after a poor call center experience, according to the results of a new survey by Infinity, the provider of a call intelligence and speech analytics platform.
The research, which canvassed 2,000 UK consumers, demonstrates the impact of negative customer call experiences on consumer behavior and the resulting fallout for brands in the UK. The survey also disclosed that 46% of UK consumers have been on the end of a poor call in the last six months, that 77% would hang up after being put through to an automated chatbot, and that 60% would wait on hold for no more than 10 minutes before hanging up on a brand.
Related Article: Zoom Launches New Contact Center CX Offering
Warren Newbert, CEO at Infinity, says the customer call experience is moreimportant than ever. “As the world plunges deeper into financial turmoil brought on by the pandemic… consumers will actively seek out customer call centers for the reassurance only the human touch can provide.”
Mitto: SMBs Say Omnichannel Messaging is Essential for Positive CX
More than two-thirds (68%) of small and medium-sized business (SMBs) owners believe that omnichannel messaging is a critical tool for companies to achieve positive CX and that access to the technology is vital, says global communication solutions provider Mitto as it announced the results of a new survey. And next year, more than half (55%) of SMBs are preparing to incorporate the new technology to deliver messaging in an integrated fashion across all channels, including in-store, mobile, and online, to provide customers with a seamless shopping experience, Mitto adds.
For brands that remain unprepared to deploy omnichannel messaging, the most common barriers are a lack of knowledge about the technology (31%), and uncertainty on which channels to prioritize (28%), the survey results indicate. Many businesses also believe the technology is out of their reach owing to the lack of a budget, insufficient skills, or inadequate training.
Even so, most SMBs (59%) believe their CX matches up with—or exceeds—the CX provided by enterprises and larger organizations, the survey discloses.
Author Information
Alex is responsible for writing about trends and changes that are impacting the customer experience market. He had served as Principal Editor at Village Intelligence, a Los Angeles-based consultancy on technology impacting healthcare and healthcare-related industries. Alex was also Associate Director for Content Management at Omdia and Informa Tech, where he produced white papers, executive summaries, market insights, blogs, and other key content assets. His areas of coverage spanned the sectors grouped under the technology vertical, including semiconductors, smart technologies, enterprise & IT, media, displays, mobile, power, healthcare, China research, industrial and IoT, automotive, and transformative technologies.
At IHS Markit, he was Managing Editor of the company’s flagship IHS Quarterly, covering aerospace & defense, economics & country risk, chemicals, oil & gas, and other IHS verticals. He was Principal Editor of analyst output at iSuppli Corp. and Managing Editor of Market Watch, a fortnightly newsletter highlighting significant analyst report findings for pitching to the media. He started his career in writing as an Editor-Reporter for The Associated Press.
