Great Customer Experience Is One Way To Attract Millennials to Insurance

If you’re like me, you go to the website and social media pages of potential companies that you want to get services from to have a feel of how they interact with their clients; if they answer online queries in good time and to find out what their clients are saying about them. I scrutinize the page to see if they’re more complaints than compliments and that tells me something about your customer service. What I find can either persuade or dissuade me from seeking out the company’s services.

A sure way to increase the uptake of insurance among millennials is by giving a great customer service experience. Customer behaviors and trends have changed. Millennials don’t want to fill forms or be put on hold. They want quick, easy, and personalized services when placing inquiries, be it via a call center, social media, or one on one interactions with the sales agents. When the customers approach a company for inquiries, they expect prompt feedback – and when done online, the waiting period is even shorter.

Social media is an integral part of our lives today. If insurance companies want to attract millennials to take up more insurance policies, beyond motor insurance, which is a requirement by law, then they need to employ strategic customer service experiences to capture this group.

For this group, instant feedback is a necessity. Jubilee Insurance last month integrated Artificial Intelligence into the online user experience through the launch of their chatbot Julie – the Jubilee Insurance Live Intelligent Expert. Julie assists clients who interact with the company’s Facebook Page and website, to receive real-time services that include the end-to-end purchase of insurance products without any human intervention. She’s the first point of contact when you inbox the company page and she gives you accurate and prompt responses.

When an inquiry is more specific, she’s intelligent enough to transfer you to a customer care representative who will take over and help you sort out your query. Her launch was all the buzz through the hashtag #MeetJulie. Julie has a persona, is intelligent, witty, funny, and caring. She understands that people are emotional beings and they expect customer service to be authentic and humane and she has developed unique approaches when dealing with different emotions across customer segments.

Millennials use social media to conduct business, make online purchases which go hand in hand with texting or chatting with the customer representative online until the service is rendered or the product is delivered. So if they are not satisfied with the level of customer care rendered, they will altogether avoid you or become disgruntled.

A disgruntled customer could cost you reputational damage before they exit the relationship – they call your helplines, flood you with messages, and potentially cause negative publicity on your social media pages. On the other hand, if a customer is happy with the level of service received or products purchased, they become your promoters and these are the types of customers insurance companies should nurture. People who tell people about how much they love your company and how great your insurance company’s customer care team is. Promoters happily recommend you to family, friends, and colleagues, and even strangers through their personal networks.

Insurance companies just like banks are in the business of trust and should commit themselves to offer an excellent customer experience and earn the trust of the customer. That is how they can capture the millennials to take up insurance products that resonate with their needs.

When we get this right, they are less likely to defect (even when there have been serious issues) and are more willing to provide constructive feedback that could help you to improve your business and directly contribute to increased revenues or decreased costs.

Cynthia Kimola is a Corporate Communications Officer at Jubilee Insurance.

By Jubilee Insurance