In the digital age, the customer is king. Customers have never been better informed and better able to take advantage of the wide range of choice that is open to them.
In order to maintain their competitive edge, businesses of all shapes and sizes in a wide range of industries must understand the importance of a customer-centric approach. The alternative, the business-first ideology, has rendered many a well-meaning enterprises irrelevant and obsolete.
Convenience is at the heart of most customer service interactions today. This phenomenon is known as “The Amazon Effect”. New digital technologies have put the customer in the driving seat and resultantly, the pressure is on for businesses to provide a seamless and customer-friendly journey that makes consumers happy to come back for more. The motor claims industry is no exception. Why shouldn’t customers expect the same convenience and user friendliness from their motor insurance claims process that they expect from their shopping and other online customer experiences?
In an age where consumers have become accustomed to having everything they want, from the name of a song that they can’t get out of their heads to a new sofa at the touch of a button, there’s no reason why they should have to endure lengthy and confusing digital motor claims.
If you think that providing a seamless digital claims experience for customers is the sole responsibility of a handful of forward-thinking service providers, think again. Digital convenience is no longer seen as a novelty by consumers, it’s a necessity. In the age where customers are working longer hours and commuting further to get to work than their parents did, it’s incumbent upon businesses to bring them the same convenience that they get when ordering fast food or purchasing an album.
With the cost of UK car insurance claims hitting over £7bn in 2017, the demand for more convenient services is high and will only increase as time goes on.
It’s not just about creating a quicker and easier claims process for digitally aware customers, it’s also about ensuring that they can complete the process on their mobile devices. Let’s not forget that since 2016 (250 years ago in technology years) mobile use surpassed desktop use as the most common way in which people access the Internet.
This has led to an immediacy in consumer behavior. For today’s customers, there is no time but the present. As such, providers need to offer quick and easy ways to initiate a motor insurance claim on the go.
Mobile claims handling is on the rise across the industry both at home and abroad. Insurance providers recognise the importance of collaborating with mobile app developers in order to create intuitive User Experience (UX) optimised mobile platforms. This allows their customers to initiate a claims process from anywhere at any time through their trusty smartphone.
This is intended not just to facilitate customer convenience but to empower customers and give them a feeling of ownership over their claim, keeping them well informed with regular updates at every key stage of their claim.
How does National Accident Repair Group help vehicle claims?
Businesses are already experimenting with ways to leverage virtual and augmented reality software (collectively referred to as Extended Reality or XR) in order to create more immersive customer interactions. Indeed, 84% of insurance executives are of the mind that XR experiences will create a new foundation for the way in which enterprises interact and communicate with customers across the industry.
Whatever technological changes are wrought in our industry, the onus is on delivering a seamless experience that puts claimants in the driving seat, keeping them informed throughout every stage of the claims process.
At National, automatic deployment systems are available to bolt-on to the digital claim journey. An ‘approved claim’ for vehicle repair can be deployed by the claimant within 4 simple steps using a computer or mobile phone.
National’s technology department are here to help insurance and fleet customers by implementing a full digital claim. Talk to National about their existing systems and how they can be used to create a full claims journey, from web to deployment.
