Well into the fourth Industrial Revolution that brings with it technologies such as AI, IoT and blockchain, insurers need to strategise as to how to best utilise these emerging technologies to provide intelligent and interactive customer experiences.
One of the upcoming trends in insurance, conversational insurance is where Artificial Intelligence (AI) is used to power chat-software — commonly known as chatbots to communicate with insurance prospects and customers through familiar text and voice based interfaces in an interactive, two-way digital customer experience. These chatbots are essentially computer programs that can interact conversationally with a user in natural language, understand the user’s intent and send appropriate responses based on the insurer’s business intent and the data made available to the AI interface.
As customers demand for an easier, streamlined and anywhere, anytime access to insurance products and services grow, insurers can use the opportunity to automate communications with their customers with the deployment of conversational AI.
Four ways conversational insurance can drive business
Advanced technologies, like AI and chat, is helping brands meet customers where they are and in real-time. Conversational AI platforms are eminently capable of handling the complexities, like those associated with the insurance industry, and relate to customers in a way that generic experiences simply cannot. Conversational AI today is capable of multi-turn conversations and performing judgment-intensive tasks, just like humans.
By 2021, nearly one in six customer service interactions globally will be handled by AI (Gartner)
Here’s how AI empowers insurers to deliver a better customer experience:
Most of today’s customers interact through and spend a sizable chunk of their time online socially as well as for business. This has by and large made life hassle-free and simpler for most people. And, they have a clear preference for similar seamless experiences in all areas of their lives. If given the choice between filling out a website form and getting answers from a chatbot, only 14 percent of customers would choose to fill out a form. This is because today’s consumers want real-time interactions through the channels which they are already communicating on. And this is exactly what conversational AI platforms deliver.
Emergencies, by their very nature are unplanned and unscheduled. In such situations, customers need the reassurance that they can easily and immediately get all the information that they want. AI-powered tools give insurers the option to augment human support. Chatbots can provide answers and process regular claims requests when human support is not on hand or they can serve as a supplement to free the team up to handle only complex issues. Conversational insurance can handle a high volume of interactions simultaneously and seamlessly. This renders waiting in a queue for the next available associate, passé. The fact that chatbots are always available makes them preferable to other methods of communications in a fast paced, always-on customer lifestyle.
By 2021, more than 50% of enterprises will spend more per annum on bots and chatbot creation than traditional mobile app development (Gartner)
Even though we live in a digital age, the value and need for the human connection is not entirely lost on customers. There are times when customers will want human support. This is where conversational insurance can deliver. And, although it can never displace the value of human-to-human interaction, conversational AI is growing more advanced. In a gradual evolution over the last few years, conversational AI interfaces have evolved to be able to understand the complexities of human communication. As a result, conversational AI is able to interact with customers in a natural way — to the point where it sometimes is not easy to be certain if you’re communicating with a human or with a technology interface.
In essence, the conversational insurance interface is a virtual assistant that can help in a number of situations, including answering queries about insurance products and plans, offering customers appropriate insurance solutions, registering and managing claims, enabling policy purchases, and offering help desk support. Its dynamic and intuitive capabilities make it particularly useful in the insurance industry — primarily for its ability to be adapted to many insurance situations while making the purchase of insurance products and services a far less intimidating process.
According to Opus Research, chatbots will see an estimated investment of $4.5 billion by the year 2021 (Opus Research)
Beyond the value it provides to consumers, conversational insurance also enables insurers to meet the evolving needs of customers. As the AI becomes more intelligent, so does the organization. It provides valuable insights into customer behaviour that can help with decision making and enhancing the overall digital experience to better engage with its customers.
With specialised solutions for the insurance industry, Neutrinos is helping leading insurers take impactful digital transformation decisions. We are experienced in legacy modernization and integration of new age technologies to help insurers achieve their growth objectives. Reach out to our experts for more details!