The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in higher customer expectations and, so far, it appears that property and casualty (P&C) insurers are rising to the challenge, reports J.D. Power.
The ninth edition of J.D. Power’s U.S. Insurance Digital Experience Study, shows that overall, the P&C industry has made across-the-board improvements in clarity of information, although many firms still need to find the balance between too much information and too little.
The study is designed to evaluate digital consumer experience among P&C insurance buyers seeking quotes and existing clients undertaking typical policy-servicing activities.
The 2020 edition has been released mid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which it says has altered the needs of consumers and raised expectations.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has thrust digital shopping and customer self-service solutions into the spotlight. Even before the pandemic, P&C insurers were investing heavily in digital to capture the growing legions of customers and prospects who are experiencing their brands largely via web and mobile.
“Across the board, we’ve seen the fruits of those investments: overall satisfaction scores for both new insurance shopping and existing account servicing have risen sharply during the past year,” said Tom Super, head of property and casualty insurance intelligence at J.D. Power.
Conducted in partnership with Centric Digital, the study explores the functional aspects of desktop, mobile web and mobile apps based on ease of navigation; appearance; availability of key information; range of services; and clarity of the information.
One of the key findings of the 2020 study, says J.D. Power, is that the P&C sector is meeting customer digital expectations. When compared with the previous year, overall customer satisfaction with the P&C insurance customer service experience improved 9 points, while the overall satisfaction with the shopping experience improved 18 points.
The study finds that the ability to provide just the right amount of information is a key driver of customer satisfaction, an area in which many P&C players are still struggling with, providing either too much or too little information.
Michael Ellison, president of Corporate Insight, said: “The line between brand and digital brand is rapidly disappearing as the lion’s share of insurance shopping and customer support interactions move to digital platforms.
“Increasingly, insurers’ ability to balance providing the right information at the right time in a format that represents their unique identity will be the key differentiator that separates industry leaders from the rest of the pack.”
