Bar none, the most popular form of communication on the planet right now is text messaging. Capitalizing on this, forward-thinking businesses have leveraged the power of its speed and engagement for years to directly connect with customers on a channel they have increasingly come to prefer.
Despite its prowess, however, text messaging is relatively absent from the insurance industry. Whether because their legacy structures are resistant to change or they simply lack clarity on the actual vast number of use cases of this channel, insurance providers have so far not taken advantage of text messaging as an effective communication tool.
Text messaging is a personalized, instant, and easy-to-use way of communicating with any customer, and insurance agents can employ it in a variety of different ways to simplify the claims and underwriting process, as well as improve customer service.
So while the industry is just slightly behind the curve, the good news is that it’s easy to catch up.
In order to explain how text messaging can be a profitable client communication channel, let’s look at the 3 major reasons why insurance companies need business text messaging.
Personalized service
People have increasingly come to expect a more personalized customer experience tailored to their unique circumstances, and this is no less true for insurance. In fact, 71% of consumers would trust an insurance company more if it provided personalized service. And it’s not hard to see why.
In most insurance cases, interactions are issue-driven, as customers often only reach out to their providers when faced with a problem, one that may be quite significant and very personal. They want answers to their unique situation, now.
In this situation, when clients are emotional or already frustrated by their situation, the insurance agent should work on making the communication as smooth and hassle-free as possible.
But if they ask customers to wait on hold or answer a series of generic, gatekeeping questions, customers will become even more frustrated at a time when they are primed to react negatively, which can have a significant impact on how they feel about or rate the whole transaction.
Text messaging circumvents these challenges by allowing insurance agents to personalize conversations and answer instantly, and so it’s critical for customers to have the option of texting when they need answers to their specific problems rapidly.
Channel preference
Given its ubiquity and ease of use, it’s no surprise that 70% of consumers say they want the ability to securely text or message with their insurance company.
When customers can meet you where they already are – directly on their phones, with the push of a button – on a channel they already prefer, you not only meet their expectations but are able to also provide a great customer experience.
And this doesn’t just apply to consumers having the option to text out. More than half (54%) of consumers say they would find it more convenient if an insurance company proactively reached out over messaging, whether to notify them about payment relief policies and inform them about new services and offers.
Text messaging is increasingly becoming the channel consumers use to conduct a wide array of business, and those insurance providers that can’t accommodate this may see their clients migrating to those companies that can.
Building trust
Baked directly into text messaging is arguably one of the most important factors in insurance, for all current and future business: trust. When 70% of consumers say they trust an insurance company more if associates are readily available via messaging to give advice, answer questions, and help with purchases, it speaks volumes to texting’s ability to instantly develop a personal rapport.
Part of this trust, of course, has to do with the humans behind it. While not face-to-face, when insurers take advantage of one-to-one texting and craft personalized messages tailored to a customer's needs, the customer knows that there is a real human behind it. Feeling they are being acknowledged by a person lays the foundation for building trust with clients, critical at a time when 49% of insurance consumers trust a human advisor when making a claim, compared to 12% that trust an automated phone/web/email service and 7% that trust a chatbot.
Again, it doesn’t take any stretch of the imagination to see that people prefer and trust other people when dealing with significant and personal issues like insurance, as opposed to generic and automated services that fail to connect at a time when people want connection the most.
Text messaging: where expectations meet solutions
Customers now expect the personalized service that text messaging can easily and effectively provide; at the same time, they want to be able to text their insurers because they prefer that channel for its convenience and trustworthiness.
So let’s break this down. Customers want texting for insurance, trust it, expect it. They prefer it, they find it convenient, they find it meets their specific needs.
It is rarely clearer than this.
Text messaging is the most effective and convenient way for insurance companies to stay in touch with their customers, while building trust along the way. And with its inherent versatility, they can leverage it in a variety of ways that always meets and then exceeds customer expectations, whether personalizing conversations with existing policyholders, updating them about changes to their insurance plans, answering queries to their specific problems, or completing transactions over text messages.
To learn more about how Statflo helps insurance companies leverage one-to-one text messaging to retain and grow their consumer base, talk to our sales team.
