Keeping Customers At The Center Of Insurance Innovation

Thanks to advances in data science such as machine learning, financial and insurance institutions now know more than ever about their customers. Yet ironically, these very customers can get lost in this sea of zeros and ones if a company isn’t careful. This is especially true in the insurance industry where the preferred method of face-to-face contact to handle sales and claims was suddenly disrupted by the pandemic, which has seen consumers of services increasingly seek out digital solutions. While InsurTechs like Lemonade and Oscar are having success operating in the digital landscape, longer-established insurance outfits are also finding a way to connect with customers.

“I think the pandemic has certainly accelerated digital transformation in financial services and insurance this past year with all the uncertainty and the increased demand that we’ve unquestionably seen for more digital engagement,” Franklin Madison Senior Director of Digital Strategy Jedd Taylor told PYMNTS. “I think these things are catalysts, and that is what’s driving the acceleration of digital transformation. I think established companies are responding by making investments in technology to make sure that they’re taking care of the customer’s needs.”

Franklin Madison is one of the insurance companies that is advancing digital transformation while keeping the customer at the center. It sits in a unique position in the market, not only helping financial institutions communicate insurance products to their customers, but also working with insurance carriers themselves to link up with financial institutions (FIs). The company offers banks and credit unions individualized direct marketing campaigns based on advanced technologies and data analytics to help craft digital and direct mail campaigns.

Like other areas in the financial services space, insurance is embracing digital transformation to rethink business models and improve the experience for customers, employee and banking partners. New digital tools and data can transform marketing, underwriting, risk management and of course finance and accounting.

Taylor says that while analyzing and using data correctly is critical for growth in the insurance marketplace, an easy and efficient customer experience must always remain paramount.

“It’s all about convenience,” he said. “And consumers are oftentimes looking to get things done. They have a task at hand, and the better that task can get accomplished in a quick and accurate way, the better. Those things are important to consumers, so it’s foundational. And I think there’s still opportunity in that area.”

And what exactly is that opportunity? Taylor says it all comes down to marrying data with timing, and it comes down to the service offering that the company offers to its banks. “I think it starts with data and there is a growing opportunity to mine data to find the most receptive audience for insurance offers,” he told PYMNTS. “Franklin Madison offers banks and credit unions individualized direct marketing campaigns based on advanced technologies and data analytics to help craft digital and direct mail campaigns.”

The pandemic, perhaps not surprisingly, has spurred interest in and purchasing of insurance products.

“I would also say that consumers are engaged in digital like they have never been before, coming out of the pandemic,” he said. “The opportunity is there to embed insurance and protection products and solutions into customer journeys that are already established with our clients. And so we are looking at new ways, different ways to become the right solution at that right time.”

Taylor went on to say that thanks to advancements in technology, businesses can now also talk to consumers with a greater level of personalization than ever before. He feels that doing so at the right moment can unlock huge customer opportunities in terms of engagement with content, education and, of course, sales.

“You need to look at a consumer’s engagement and figure out when it’s best to position a product or offering,” he said. “And that then extends to education. There are points in time where consumers are more receptive to education than others. And you want to just make sure that you’re finding those points of high relevance in an experience so you can get them information that’s most valuable to them at that point of engagement.”

Taylor has a unique perspective on the business, having worked at both US Bank and Wells Fargo at different points in his career. From that experience he took an acute understanding that personalization can be a key factor in driving digitization. He said that focus on your customer can help you understand who is engaged digitally because that relationship is so data-rich. He calls personalization one of the biggest opportunities in terms of digital transformation.

As to the future of the digitalization of the insurance industry, Taylor remains positive and points to the amount of money that poured into InsurTech firms in 2020. According to a Willis Towers Watson/CB Insights report, that figure sits at an all-time high of $7.1 billion.

“I think insurance innovation has probably lagged compared to some industries,” he concluded. “But I also think it’s catching up very quickly. I think a lot of capital gets funneled toward the distribution side of things. But there’s still quite a bit of funding as well headed in the direction of claims, service, and underwriting. It takes time for those investments to produce results. But from my perspective, the insurance innovation pipeline is pretty full right now.”