Tag: First Notice of Loss

Improving FNOL Processes with Technology Changes

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February 1st, 2022

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First notice of loss (FNOL) represents the single greatest opportunity insurance adjusters have to set the tone for customersatisfaction. If any missteps occur, it’s incredibly difficult to turn the customer’s opinion around after the fact. Streamlining the FNOL process is vital to ensuring a positive start to the claim, but implementing effective change can be a challenge. Insurers may not know where in the process the bottleneck occurs, but technology can help illuminate and resolve those issues.

Automating for Intelligent Claims Routing

Some of the issues with FNOL can occur dependent upon which adjuster receives the claim. While insurers take steps to ensure the claim goes to a qualified adjuster, it can be hard to know upfront who is best for the job. Fields of experience, workloads, and years on the job all affect which adjuster is best for the claim. An insurer may think that a seasoned adjuster is best for a complex claim, but this isn’t always the case if that adjuster is already overloaded with work or doesn’t have experience in that type of claim.

Most insurers don’t have the time to dig down into the nitty-gritty details, which often results in changing adjusters as the claim progresses. This irritates customers because they have to repeat their story, re-send documentation, and other redundancies that hurt their overall experience and confidence in their insurer.

Artificial intelligence (AI) can prevent these repetitive tasks. AI can compare adjusters’ locations, availability, areas of expertise, and licenses to pinpoint the best adjuster for the claim without slowing down the claims process. Automating the claims assignment process saves managers time and reduces aggravations on the back end and front end alike.

Identifying key areas of slowdowns in the claims process can help expedite incoming claims, improve customer satisfaction, and boost an insurance company’s bottom line. The experts at Actec understand the frustrations insurers face when trying to overhaul their claims process. Contact us to learn how we can help streamline FNOL as well as improve your claims processes with our custom claims intake solutions.

4 Blunders Companies Make When Communicating With Customers

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January 25th, 2022

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Exceptional customer service is essential for an insurance company to succeed. Customers want to feel like a valued client rather than a file number, and they want rapid answers to their questions. They also place a premium on hassle-free claims. However, many insurance companies make several missteps when communicating with their customers. Miscommunications lead to frustration and a poor customer experience.

The following are some of the typical blunders insurance companies make when communicating with insureds:

  1. Chronic understaffing. Customers hate waiting on hold. They hate it even more when they have an urgent problem, such as a car accident or loss. It degrades customer loyalty to have consistently long wait times, as they feel undervalued. Call logs can provide actionable insight for staffing needs by determining when call volumes are highest.
  2. Limited communication options. It’s not always possible for an insured to call in a claim, and many prefer other communication channels altogether. For simple policy questions, some insureds would rather contact chat support. Others prefer email to maintain a record of communication. Customers expect to have several communication channels available to them, including phone, email, a mobile app, text, and chat support.
  3. Lack of adequate training. Customer service representatives need to be experts when it comes to the insurance products the company carries, how to answer questions about various policies, and how to navigate the claims process from FNOL to resolution. In addition to being knowledgeable, service representatives need soft skills, such as empathy and problem-solving.
  4. Not providing support 24/7. Accidents and losses don’t contain themselves to typical working hours. Insured need a way to establish first notice of loss (FNOL) wherever and whenever the incident occurs. If an insured can’t receive the help they need during a crisis, they’re likely to look for a new insurance provider. Insurance providers can meet this customer need by investing in a nearshore call center.

Nearshore call centers provide the benefits of an offshore service without the headaches. Nearshore service representatives are familiar with the customer’s culture and can respond with the appropriate empathy for the situation. Contact Actec to learn more about the benefits of a nearshore call center.

5 Methods to Improve the Quality of Your Call Center

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January 4th, 2022

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Businesses need a call center that answers customers’ questions quickly and satisfactorily while providing superior service. If customer satisfaction dips, companies can implement several strategies to enhance the quality of their customer service. These include:

  1. Ensure call center employees understand the standards. Poor quality of service reflects badly on a company. Without clear guidelines, call center employees will struggle to provide the level of service a company expects. For example, if a company’s culture prioritizes friendliness, call center employees should adopt a friendly tone rather than a strictly corporate one.
  2. Train new employees. Onboarding and training new employees are norms, but how thorough the training is affects the quality of service employees can provide. For example, allowing new employees to shadow veteran employees improves their understanding of service expectations.
  3. Coach employees often. Call centers often record customer calls, which companies can use to coach employees. Companies can recognize high performers to help new employees learn the desired quality of service. Managers can also coach employees that are struggling to meet KPIs.
  4. Ask customers for their input. Companies may believe their call center is performing well, but they can’t know for sure without feedback. Businesses can ask customers to fill out satisfaction surveys either via email, text, or on their website.
  5. Learn from negative feedback. Angry customers aren’t likely to take employees’ feelings into consideration when they leave feedback or reviews. However, it’s valuable insight into weak areas of the company’s customer service.

Providing clear standards, training employees well, mentoring them, and learning from customer feedback are critical to providing quality customer service. If your current call center isn’t performing to your standard or if you’re searching for a provider, contact the experts at Actec to learn more about our nearshore call center services.

4 Traits Call Centers Need for Effective Crisis Communication

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December 21st, 2021

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Insurance providers need a call center that can handle all their incoming calls, particularly when it comes to emergencies. When insureds initiate first notice of loss (FNOL), they’ve often experienced a high-stress incident. From house fires to car accidents, insurance call centers need to have the skillset to navigate customer crises. Here are several characteristics of call centers that communicate effectively during a crisis:

  1. High call volume preparedness. Some crises affect a significant number of customers. For example, hurricanes can damage property and vehicles. Insureds may find themselves homeless while waiting on repairs. Call centers need to have the capacity to handle a sudden influx of calls, particularly for imminent covered perils.
  2. Crisis management experience. Not every industry needs call centers with experience handling emergencies. Insurance companies need a call center staffed with agents that understand how to perform FNOL intake during a crisis and how to respond appropriately to frantic customers. Similarly, agents need to be able to identify a true emergency. What seems critical to a customer may not require immediate action. In those instances, agents need to know how to diffuse the situation and help customers navigate the next steps of their claim.
  3. Strong emotional intelligence. During a crisis, call center agents need to be able to identify how the customer is feeling and respond with empathy. Customers will likely be upset or angry during a crisis, and call center agents need to know how to contain the situation without allowing their emotions to affect the level of service they provide.
  4. Insurance providers need a call center that can adapt to meet their needs. Increased call volumes during a crisis often require additional agents to field all the calls in a timely manner. Some call centers achieve this by having agents on-call or tapping into a work-from-home network.

Accidents happen, and it’s not always possible to predict when disaster will strike. Insurance companies need a call center that can handle critical situations whenever they arise. Contact the experts at Actec to learn more about our nearshore contact center services.

4 Strategies to Improve the Digital Customer FNOL Experience

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December 14th, 2021

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Customers have high expectations of their insurance company. Providing a good customer experience hinges on how well providers understand these expectations. Quality service and competitive product prices are still important, but customers aren’t willing to tolerate friction to get them. Customers need to know they are more than a file to their insurer, and they expect frustration-free interactions. Half of the customers will seek a new insurance provider after a single negative interaction. That number skyrockets to 80% with repeat bad experiences.

Here are several strategies to improve the online customer experience:

  1. Find their pain points. Companies that identify bottlenecks or common frustration points for their customers can take steps to remove as much of this irritation as possible from digital customer service. Live chat is a great way to facilitate these conversations with insureds and allows agents to resolve customer problems in real-time.
  2. Optimize for mobile and accessibility. Customers need to have access to their provider on any browser or device. Having a responsive website for all devices is an established standard, but it’s useless if the webpage can’t function properly on certain browsers. Customers won’t bother to download or switch to another browser. With every abandoned interaction, insurance providers lose some of that customer’s loyalty.
  3. Let them help themselves. Customers are tech-savvy and often want to find solutions on their own time. Some popular self-service options include knowledge bases, frequently asked questions, and community forums.
  4. Offer omnichannel communication. Customers have diverse preferences for how they engage with their insurance provider. Some prefer traditional communication methods, such as the phone or submitting a ticket through their portal. However, others want to reach out over social media, text message, or chat. Many use a mix of different channels depending on the complexity of their problem.

Insurance companies need to provide high-quality service during every customer interaction. Engaging with customers when and how they prefer is a significant step to meeting their expectations. Contact the experts at Actec to learn more about implementing text and chat support.

How to Transform the Customer Experience with Technology

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November 9th, 2021

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The insurance industry has made significant strides toward improving the customer experience in recent years. Many have updated customer documents to reduce industry jargon and increased engagement with their customer base. While these are promising first steps, insurance companies need to harness new technology to deliver the experience their customers want. Some examples include:

Show Customers the Value of Data Sharing

Today’s customers expect services tailored to their needs, but meeting that expectation relies on having accurate data. Insurers that collect customer information during every interaction can provide personalized policies and other product recommendations that align with their customers’ lifestyles, risk profiles, and more. Encouraging customers to share these details also gives insurers an opportunity to demonstrate their transparency by explaining how they use that information.

Implement AI at Every Stage of the Customer’s Journey

Insurance providers have started dabbling in AI integrations. Some use AI chatbots to provide answers to customers’ simple questions regarding their coverage or claims. Insurers also use AI to automate certain aspects of the claims process, while others use the technology to detect fraud. Applying AI technology to all customer interactions expedites claims processing, resolves customer questions quickly, and provides an overall better experience.

Offer Omnichannel Communication

Customers hate waiting on hold, waiting for email responses, and waiting for claims updates. In short, they hate waiting, and it erodes their satisfaction and loyalty. Offering omnichannel communication allows customers to engage with their insurance provider when and how they prefer. Insurers should aim to expand upon the typical communication channels like phone and email to include social media, text, and chat.

Customers expect a personalized experience when they interact with their insurance provider. They also want convenience and rapid solutions to their problems. Text and chat communication offers insurance providers a chance to use a more personal communication method to improve the customer’s experience and exceed their expectations. Contact the experts at Actec to learn more about implementing chat and text communication.

How to Overcome Chat Customer Service Challenges

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October 26th, 2021

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Customers expect businesses to offer several channels of communication, including through social media, email, phone calls, and chat support. Chat support is particularly effective in securing customer satisfaction and loyalty when done well. However, chat customer service has unique communication challenges that can damage the customer’s experience and perception of the company.

The following are the most common challenges that can trip up customer service agents while chatting with a customer:

Misunderstandings

Whether the customer doesn’t understand the message or the service rep fails to grasp the problem, misunderstandings can occur on both sides of the conversation. Agents should always ask for clarification rather than making assumptions about the situation. Agents that ask specific questions and use active listening techniques can get the conversation back on track.

Impersonal Interactions

Personalization plays a critical role in customer satisfaction, but it’s easy to lose in chat communication. Compounding the problem, customers can tell when an agent gives them a scripted answer to their inquiry. Using friendly greetings, referring to the customer by name, and engaging in the conversation all show the customer they are more than a ticket number.

Tone Issues

People rely on inflection, gestures, and facial expressions to interpret the tone of a conversation. Without these social cues, chat communication can come across as blunt, cold, or outright hostile. Establishing a company-wide tone for customer communication can help alleviate the issue. For example, a company that brands itself as energetic and friendly can use language to reflect that while chatting with customers.

Empathy and efficiency are critical for successful chat communication. Customers expect agents to be knowledgeable, friendly, and fast problem solvers. Effective chat customer service can meet all these needs. Contact the experts at Actec to learn more about implementing chat services.

6 Reasons Why Customers Prefer Chat and Text Support

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September 28th, 2021

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Customers contact their insurance provider through a variety of channels; however, chat support is dominating the field. In the next year, experts project that chat support will increase by 87% across all sectors. Certain industries may see even higher growth as consumer demand rises. Consumers prefer to engage via chat and text over all other digital platforms, and insurance companies can’t afford to overlook these tools.

The single greatest reason customers prefer chat interactions over email, web portals, and other digital communication channels is the convenience. However, their interests and preferences are more nuanced than that. Here are several reasons why customers prefer chat and text support:

  1. Instant access. Chat and text support connects the customer with an agent immediately. The customer doesn’t need to navigate an app, a convoluted phone tree, or wait 24-48 hours for an email response.
  2. Short wait times. Nothing is more infuriating for a customer than finally getting through to an agent just to be put on hold. Customers have a low threshold for frustration, and chat and text support circumvent this by providing fast service.
  3. Historical data. Recording a call for quality assurance is great in theory, but it’s tedious in practice. Agents or managers have to listen to the call or rely on voice translators to find the information they need. With text and chat, the data is easy to find with a simple search.
  4. Fast resolutions. Customers usually contact customer service when they have a problem. They expect rapid solutions, which isn’t typically possible with other digital platforms like email or social media.
  5. Time considerate. Customers hate sitting on hold, as it takes up time they could use to complete other tasks. While chat and text wait times are much shorter than other communication channels, customers can have another browser window open or return to their work while waiting for a response.
  6. Immediate answers for policy- or claim-related questions. Waiting on hold or going through multiple transfers to receive answers to basic questions is frustrating. Customers want instantaneous answers when they have questions about their policy or want an update on their claim, which isn’t possible without chat or text communication channels.

Meeting customer needs and expectations is critical to securing their loyalty. Providing chat and text communication allows customers to engage with their insurance provider when and how they prefer. Contact the experts at Actec to learn more about implementing chat and text communication channels.

5 Signs Your Business Needs a Call Center

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August 24th, 2021

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Small- to mid-sized businesses may think call centers aren’t something they need to concern themselves with. However, as business begins to flourish, lagging customer service can bring growth to a halt while eroding income potential. Companies that notice the following signs need a call center if they want their company to flourish:

  1. The phone never stops ringing. An uptick in customer calls is great for business unless the company doesn’t have the staff to handle all the calls. If employees are constantly fielding incoming calls, they’re going to struggle to complete their other tasks. A call center lightens employees’ workloads so they can focus on their primary jobs.
  2. Too many voicemails to sift through. Companies without call center support will start each workday listening to voicemails left overnight. Most of these voicemails won’t be emergencies, but companies can’t afford to keep an urgent request waiting as they work their way through the queue. A call center can field these calls and identify which requests need immediate attention.
  3. Delays in replying to business prospects. The world of sales is fast-paced, and companies can’t afford to leave potential clients waiting. Customers aren’t content to wait for an answer and will look elsewhere to find a solution. If another company provides an immediate answer, they will earn that customer’s business. If customer calls reach levels that the company can’t manage promptly, it may be time for a call center to meet customer needs and expectations.
  4. Current customers display increasing levels of frustration. Keeping the current customer base happy is just as important as securing new leads. If existing customers have to leave a voicemail and wait until the next day for a reply, their satisfaction and loyalty will drop accordingly. If a company sees a sustained uptick in frustration from its customer base, it may need a call center to handle the calls.
  5. The expense of more customer service employees limits growth potential. In-house customer service representatives are valuable, but they’re hard to maintain as a company grows. Expansion is exciting, but the company needs to be able to increase its customer service along with its business prospects. Call centers provide a much more cost-effective solution than hiring a slew of in-house employees.

If your business is experiencing any of the above, it’s time to consider a call center. Contact the experts at Actec to learn how our nearshore call center solutions can help your company.

How to Maximize the Digital Customer Experience

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July 27th, 2021

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The pandemic forced companies to change how they do business as stay-at-home orders limited how they could interact with customers. As people adjusted to working from home and shopping online, their expectations for digital interactions evolved. Customers aren’t as forgiving of clunky digital experiences, and companies need to keep up with the latest trends. Here are a few pivotal elements companies can implement to enhance the digital customer’s experience:

  1. Business conduct matters. People are no longer content to purchase products and services without knowing how they’re rendered. If a business claims to be eco-friendly, it needs to show proof. Showing customers how the company produces its goods and services establishes a positive character and culture. Gaining customers’ trust goes a long way toward earning their business.
  2. Measurable differentiation. Companies often boast that they’re innovators in their field, but the words fall flat without proof. With a flood of competition, companies need to work harder than ever to show how they are different and why a customer should choose them. Companies can do this by investing in causes that align with their values or producing unique solutions for customer’s pain points. Telling customers how the company is different is easy, but showing it will be critical to securing customer loyalty.
  3. Chat programs. Offering chat services isn’t new, but customers’ expectations of it have changed. Customers want rapid solutions. They don’t want to sit and wait much as they would on a phone call. Chatbots can provide immediate answers based on the customers’ inquiries, which eliminates a previously frustrating experience.
  4. Omnichannel communication. Customers want the option to connect with a company through a variety of channels. Some prefer traditional phone calls, while others want to use a contact form. Customers want modern options as well, including chat, text, and social media interactions. Companies need to be available when and where their customers need them, which means expanding the available communication channels.

The digital customer experience has become more nuanced in the wake of the pandemic. Companies need to be able to pivot and keep up with customer preferences and trends. Investing in a chat and text program can help bring your company in line with customer expectations. Contact the experts at Actec to learn more about our chat and text solutions.