In this article Alex Laurie, SVP Global Sales Engineering and Go-To-Market Programs at Ping Identity, takes a look at digital ID and how it can help insurance brands personalise their offer.
With the insurance industry facing headwinds due to the shrinking global economy, pressure has been on. As such, companies looking to survive in this treacherous market have been grappling with the decision to either drive up reinsurance rates or become user-centric to better set themselves apart from the competition.
Postivitely, we’re seeing the scale tip towards improved customer experience and the industry transforming from its low-interaction roots into a high-touch, multi-channel distribution industry. Given customers expect seamless and secure experiences across all channels and interactions in exchange for their loyalty, the ability to deliver on this across the entire customer journey isn’t a nice-to-have feature, it’s a must.
Leaders are investing significant time, effort and money into improving customer experience across every part of the user journey. Yet very few are successful. It’s time for insurers to start thinking outside the box for solutions to this challenge – in fact, security and authentication might just be the unlikely heroes for improved customer journeys.
Digital innovation as a differentiator
Customers are demanding personalised pricing but instead getting a fragmented user experience from their insurers. It’s an issue which could be solved through digital innovation.
We know digital innovation is fast becoming a differentiator in the race to beat the competition and undercut margins. In fact, 41% of insurance customers are likely to switch providers due to a lack of digital capabilities, while digitally agile insurance providers see an improvement across their Net Promoter Scores of 20-30 times.
Insurers then should build the foundational blocks of their digital transformation on digital identity, specifically Customer Identity and Access Management (CIAM). By unlocking the power of digital identity, insurers can improve end-to-end customer experiences to increase conversions, renewals and average product holding rates.
CIAM as a solution
CIAM not only helps organisations identify their customers, but also create personalised experiences. Its centralised customer directory collects customer data and shares it across sales, marketing and business systems, creating a real-time view of a customer across online and offline channels. This can be analysed to gather important intelligence on customers’ exact needs and wants.
Alongside this, CIAM gives customers the tools necessary to self-serve and manage what data they do and do not share with third parties, as well as manage their account profiles and settings on their own. The significance of this is far-reaching; delivering a streamlined registration experience that allows the customer to remain in control of their data reduces friction and builds privacy-based trust.
Beyond this, CIAM is often the first line of defence when it comes to cybersecurity. It helps prevent new account fraud, account takeover attacks and stops unauthorised access. While many might not deem this necessary to customer experience, this couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, it is vital for customers to know the personal data they share with their insurer is secure – it builds faith and loyalty in the brand especially at a time when so many organisations are falling victim.
Ensuring investments are profitable
The current economy has seen insurers pressured to make greater use of data to drive underwriting, personalised pricing, as well as digital investments increasingly focused on empowering customers to use self-service. While this is driving upsell and accelerating technology modernisation it’s – most importantly – driving differentiation through improved customer experience. This is a great starting point for insurers looking to survive, but only if these mentioned investments reap bottom-line profitability.
Positively for insurers, CIAM modernisation not only improves security and customer experiences, but it can also drive total cost of ownership savings and ensure compliance – for example, with the GDPR – reducing the risk of potential monetary penalties. Digital identity is key to securing sustained profitability.
Final thoughts
We know delivering a first-rate customer experience at every stage of the journey drives customer acquisition, conversion and renewal rates. Nowhere is this more important than in the insurance industry.
With digital identity critical to a differentiated insurance industry, leaders need to become more proactive, innovative and customer-centric when it comes to implementing digital innovation and CIAM. Those who do will both stand out from competitors and improve their overall bottom line.
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