Leading The Way In Trust: How Insurance Providers Can Ensure Transparency For Customers

It is becoming ever more evident that providing transparency in the insurance industry is vital for building and maintaining consumer trust. Although this has been discussed many times in recent years and improvements have been seen, there are still many ways that insurance providers can lead the way in trust when building customer relationships.

Lack Of Understanding Leads To Distrust

The issue of transparency has always been somewhat of an ‘elephant in the room’ when associated with the insurance industry.  It comes as no surprise that for many years, this industry has been battling with developing trust among prospective and existing customers. Due to the nature of insurance and the complex products and pricing models which are involved, it has fostered a sense of distrust among many individuals across the globe. Yet, how can you as an insurance provider overcome this natural instinct of mistrust to establish long-lasting, honest relationships with customers?

From the customer perspective, the underlying reason why many individuals are distrusting of the insurance industry is due to a lack of insurance education. Regardless of what area of the insurance industry you are involved in, be it automotive insurance or property insurance, if a customer doesn’t have a clear understanding of the policies and products that you are offering the issue of trust will continue to prevail. Sadly, due to the nature of policies necessitating the inclusion of contractual provisions and layered information, insurers are always at risk of appearing to be misleading their customers.

As consumers have readily available access to stories of insurance companies failing to pay out life insurance claims or not covering in the event of a property being flooded, this leads to them having feelings of suspicion or fear when taking out an insurance policy. When the majority of cases in which an insurance claim payout has been refused is attributed to a form being filled out incorrectly or a case of misunderstanding, this highlights the need of insurance providers to take action. Limiting the questions, the complexity of the questions, and the number of times the same forms need to be filled out can alleviate many of these denied claims.

With so much negativity surrounding the industry, building trust may seem impossible. However, this is not the case. For insurance providers, leading the way in trust by becoming more transparent with their customers is the way forward.

What Customers Need Regarding Transparency

The term ‘insurance’ is essentially a promise to your customers that you will protect them in the event of a loss or an accident. However, no promises can fully be made without understanding exactly what it entails. The language that when purchasing an insurance policy and the qualifying questions involved need to be clear, written in plain language and transparent. Without this, misunderstanding and confusion can occur.

Today’s consumers expect insurance providers to have their best interest at heart and to do what is right for them. But, in order for them to feel safe in this knowledge, they need transparency. The ultimate goal that consumers wish to achieve from transparency is a clear and concise understanding of all insurance product information in a way that allows them to understand the cover, compare it to other products and give them the tools to empower their purchasing decision.

There are multiple ways that insurers can ensure that they are becoming more transparent when building relationships with their customers. Among these are using plain language in the policy and terms and conditions, using hassle-free policy documents and providing a consistent user experience.

A ‘Self-Service’ Seamless User Experience

Consumers of today’s generation want a user experience that is accessible and easy to use. When a consumer is buying an insurance product, they wish to have the same seamless experience that they receive when buying any other kind of product. Most individuals now prefer a purchasing process that allows them to complete a transaction or fill out a form easily from their own smartphone or tablet devices without the need for human interaction.

Although there are some instances of complicated and individualized insurance coverage, such as life insurance, where conversations with clients are needed. Other types of coverage such as travel and small business liability where qualifying information doesn’t change as much, if written in plain language and transparent, cuts out the need for customers to speak with an insurance agent. Providing a user experience that allows customers to purchase an insurance policy in a smooth and accessible way will aid insurance providers in building trusting relationships.

No Jargon, Hassle-Free Policy Documents

Insurers need to make their documents more engaging in order to entice customers to read them. It is no surprise that when individuals are presented with policy documents that contain small print and jargon-heavy language they are often put off reading them fully.

By making your policy documents easier to read with larger text, shorter sentences and more conversational and informative language there is a higher chance that a consumer will read it. In a digitally obsessed world, it is also time that insurance providers start making documents available in a digital and mobile format so that they can be easily found and read online, or on their smartphone.

Why Honesty Is An Insurer’s Best Policy

When it comes to building trust with your existing and prospective customers, honesty truly is the best policy especially in regard to providing full information of the details of products, how products are priced and how claims and premiums are calculated.

According to research carried out by Mintel only 26% of women, especially those who are considered millennials, believe that insurance companies are more trustworthy now than they were five years ago. Without committing to being transparent and making the effort to create and establish personal connections with customers this trend won’t be changing any time soon.

There have been instances in the past where customers have stated that insurance companies denied them valid claims, delayed claims, intentionally confused customers and discriminated by credit score. This inevitably led to the widespread wariness that individuals had of insurers for so many years. Although that trend is slightly turning around, we can see from the statistics mentioned above that there is still a long way to go until insurance companies and providers can fully gain back the trust of some of the individuals who need insurance most.

Modern day customers want to have meaningful digital engagements and relationships with the companies that they interact with. An insurance provider will have a much higher chance of achieving this if they can actively enter into a customer relationship providing only truth, honesty and customer support.

Ensuring Satisfaction For Your Customers

To provide satisfaction for your customers you need to provide them with an exceptional customer experience. This can be achieved by listening to the needs of customers, simplifying their experiences online and offline, supporting them 24/7, empathizing with them and creating a cohesive journey.

Adopting and ensuring that you are completing all the above while providing honesty and transparency will undoubtedly impact the views that individuals have of the insurance industry as a whole.

What JAUNTIN’ Can Do To Help

JAUNTIN’ recognized the need for insurance providers to be given a platform where they can not only build long-lasting and trusting relationships with their customers but also allow them to participate in the emerging world of insurtech with simple integrations. The ease of use of the platform guides customers through the insurance buying process and provides them with all the information that they require to make an informed purchase. The customer no longer needs to fill in complicated forms every time they want to be covered, alleviating many of the simple reasons they may be denied a claim, which in turn alleviates negative press the insurer may get. JAUNTIN’ works with their insurance partners to simplify and streamline the process of purchasing easily repeatable products such as travel insurance, commercial general liability for gig-workers, and many more.

If you are interested in finding out more about how our platform can benefit your company, contact us today.