Chatbots in insurance — the challenges:
The challenges in the insurance sector are different and usually more complicated than in other industries. Inquiries received by insurance companies are diverse and the range of topics and the motives of the inquiries vary greatly. Apart from that, today — especially by digital natives, but also by other generations — an immediate, digitally accessible solution to problems is expected.
If an insurance company does not meet this claim, the risk of losing customers is high. This is because the exchange hurdle is low, particularly in the insurance sector. As a result, online services are no longer a luxury, but are required by customers. Neither in the past nor much less in the present do customers want to rummage through sub-pages, hang in perpetual telephone loops or read through multi-page documents in order to get the desired information. If an insurance company wants to satisfy its policyholders and retain them as customers in the long term, 24/7/365 communication is essential in the highly competitive environment of the insurance industry.
Are chatbots displacing insurance employees?
Especially when it comes to chatbots and artificial intelligence (AI), the question of whether the self-learning bot would not outsource employees is mandatory and recurring. This question is important and directly relates to a relevant effect of chatbots. Since recurring questions demotivate a customer service employee in the long run, an artificial intelligence chatbot can answer these questions infinitely times per minute without getting tired. This does not displace employees, but relieves them. Recurring questions cost customer service employees valuable time. Time that should ideally be spent on complex inquiries and revenue-oriented service, where a chatbot is reaching its limits. Because despite advanced technology — human communication remains irreplaceable. However, a self-learning chatbot helps decisively to reduce customer service costs and get happier customers through quick response solutions.
At the same time, however, there is a clear movement in the labor market, which shows that finding competent customer service employees is not easy. And with regard to the insurance sector, too, the declining number of insurance brokers is clearly visible. According to this, chatbots can support an industry that needs additional support more than ever. Loud computerwoche.de There is a constantly growing number of customers for every insurance broker, with the number of consultants continuing to fall. In future, it will therefore be almost impossible for an insurance broker to be able to personally advise all its customers. However, advice remains essential — especially when it comes to various insurance products, which usually require assessment and explanation.
However, thanks to chatbot systems, this assessment does not always have to be carried out personally. In many cases, digital advice from the customer would be sufficient. And this is exactly where digital contract folders and systems come in, which deal with a customer's data and can provide ongoing advice and support. So-called Robo Advisor are intelligent systems that, thanks to algorithms, can make recommendations for financial products and master this during the process without human intervention. This is because processes that are based on recurring audit schemes and present solutions that can be precisely identified, analyzed and broken down into steps can be learned by AI bots.
Best practices in the insurance industry
Doubtful voices say that chatbots provide precise and useful answers in a few cases. This is what an interviewed professor said in a FAZ article very critical of chatbots. In his opinion, call center frustration would simply be shifted to the chatbot. However, this statement can be refuted with the following practical examples.
Lemonade
With regard to the insurance industry, chatbot systems certainly pay off, do not cause customer frustration, but rather solve deficiencies in customer service by being available around the clock and taking effect in various use cases. The insurance company Lemonade uses three different chatbots and aims for a complete one of Conversational AI-driven customer support at. The insurance company from the USA is a pioneer when it comes to AI chatbots: All customer services are offered using AI chatbots. In the last year alone, the insurance company sold 100,000 insurance policies (household contents or personal liability) — and that without human intervention. The frustration of customers and website visitors cannot therefore be that high.
But that's not all — Lemonade It even set a world record in the fastest claims processing. The self-test shows: You've rarely clicked through an advisory “insurance talk” so easy, nice and quick.The co-boss of Lemonade, Daniel Schreiber, is interviewed by Handelsblatt.com The opinion that he has identified a gap in Germany and now wants to make a change in the German insurance market: “[...] there are many digitally savvy customers here who manage their lives with smartphones, but the majority of German insurers continue to operate primarily in an offline world.” He also explains that Lemonade is a pure digital insurer, but it of course has a dedicated team that can get in touch with the customer just in case.
AdmiralDirect
Another positive example is the direct insurer AdmiralDirect. By integrating a chatbot, call volume was reduced by twelve percent. AdmiralDirect insures around 220,000 vehicles and therefore receives a large number of inquiries every day. It is difficult to meet these requirements, especially during peak phases. In addition, manually answered inquiries are often monotonous “time wasters.” Human cooperation is actually not required, especially when it comes to repetitive issues — this is how this challenge must be overcome economically.
The solution in this case was: a self-learning chatbot. Natural language processing makes it possible to read out the intentions from customer inquiries and to answer or forward them in a qualified manner. In order for this to be successful, the AI chatbot was first trained on the most relevant questions — in addition, the chatbot learns with every conversation and thus optimizes itself without human intervention. The results of integrating the chatbot were therefore, among other things, increased customer satisfaction due to immediate responses from the insurance company, improved availability in the peak phase (4th quarter) and the reduction of inquiries by telephone and e-mail.
Conclusion: A win for insurance companies in many ways
The qualitative and quantitative results show that chatbots are an asset for the insurance industry and its customers. Chatbots are real all-round talents — this is also shown by the best cases presented here. They take on a wide variety of tasks in various departments, areas and processes. At the same time, digital assistants ensure an improved user experience. Users' inquiries are answered quickly and easily. This is particularly important in times of digital sensory overload and an oversupply on the Internet.
More benefits and ongoing information about AdmiralDirect Are in the Case Study Read up.
