How insurers can improve customer engagement with personalization

A few weeks ago, I was in line at a coffee shop behind two women. One got out her phone to pay for the coffee. Her friend instantly sent her five bucks by Venmo. As they were walking away, I overheard the first woman tell her friend, “Oh yeah, I forgot I wanted to make an appointment at the eye doctor’s.” 

I watched as she opened another app on her phone, tapped the screen a few times, and then, just as quickly, put it away. Just like that, within a matter of seconds, she had set her appointment and was back to enjoying her coffee.

That interaction struck me because it perfectly exemplifies the expectation of today’s health insurance customers. To engage customers, health insurers have to be quick, intuitive to reach, and available digitally. 

Health insurance is not a sexy topic. As such, most health insurers know, on some level, that customer engagement is vital to stay alive in the industry.  It needs to be bolstered with innovative services that get folks to buy in. Of course, it’s one thing to know this and another to take action by eschewing the traditional ways of doing things and implementing cutting-edge services that are inviting to customers, old and new. 

The interaction I observed at the coffee shop demonstrates the exact kind of innovation customers are looking for: flexibility, transparency and convenience. 

This is becoming the case not only in the insurance field, but across all industries; Banks are finding they can no longer ask customers to wait three to five business days to transfer money because Venmo does it instantly; Marketing companies can’t charge clients exorbitant prices for a bloated slate of services when Facebook’s self-serve is faster, cheaper, and often better at providing immediate access to consumers. You get the idea.

At this point in time, health insurers are lagging in this new frontier. Recent research from Wellframe shows that 60% of respondents felt the information and care they received from the healthcare system wasn’t personalized to them.

So, as a health insurer, how do you use this to your advantage to meet current demands head-on and become an industry pioneer in this rapidly evolving digital age?

Personalization

I loved how Uwe Stuhldreier, an executive at HUK24 (Germany’s largest fully digital direct insurer) described personalization in the insurance industry:. “It’s quite simple; many people find insurance difficult to navigate and hardly enjoyable. A personalized insurance engine enables quicker and simpler interaction and ensures each customer gets the most suitable product in line with [their] situation.”

Stuhldreier touches on two key challenges for insurance today: differentiation and customization. Although he was talking about insurance as a whole, I believe these are also key to health insurance specifically. Every customer has different needs to be met. Personalized health insurance addresses this by offering each customer the specific coverage that suits their particular health care needs. 

Of course, pivoting large-scale approaches can be a daunting task; it’s often challenging to know where to even begin. To simplify the process, many insurers are looking to third-party providers.

Personalization isn’t so much a trend as an expectation. And because health care is intrinsically personal, integrating this expectation into the customer experience can be a seamless process. This is especially true with the use of third-party providers that are already offering high-level personalized health care tools.

Today’s customers are different from yesterday’s. That means their needs are different, too– they want the option for digital engagement, personalization, and instant service. If you’re a digital health insurance company, consider if your policies still offer your customers the best coverage for their individual needs? What needs might they have that are being neglected? And which third party services are currently offering solutions for those needs?

To avoid being trounced by newer health insurance companies, or those that are actively making the necessary changes, insurers should begin exploring how they can offer a more engaging and customized experience for their customers. And, to provide these revolutionary offerings sooner rather than later, finding appropriate third-party services that meet market demands just might be your shortcut.