Are you happy with the companies that you have purchased insurance from? Maybe you like some aspects of their customer service, but aren’t so crazy about other parts of it. Unfortunately, there are some things that insurance companies, in general, are notoriously terrible at. Insurers could reach out to more customers if they improved the things that currently need some work.
Many insurance companies are not very good at using the different forms of social media. This becomes apparent very quickly to customers who are Generation Y, (born between 1977 and 1994), and may also be obvious to at least some of the customers from Generation X as well. These are the generations that either became computer savvy around the time that Windows 3.1 appeared, or who literally grew up using computers and the internet.
It’s not enough for an insurance company to have a Twitter account. Young people are expecting that if they direct a question to the Twitter account of an insurance company that they will get a reply, or a direct message, that contains the answer to their question. If the insurance company’s Twitter account is unmanned, this is going to frustrate customers.
Some insurers have created Facebook fan pages. If so, then they need to give customers a reason to go check out those pages. They need to think about what, exactly, they are asking people to become a “fan” of, or to “like”. Insurers need to post frequent, useful, updates to that page. Young people are quick to pick up on when a fan page has been abandoned by the company that created it. This is going to reflect very poorly on the insurer.
Insurance companies are not very good at figuring out when a customer has passed away. They also need to take steps to improve their ability to locate the beneficiaries of life insurance policies. There are several insurance companies that are under investigation right now because of their inability to make certain that the death benefit money goes to the beneficiary.
Some seem to have kept that money in the bank account of the insurance company, instead of sending it to the person who is supposed to receive it, or to send the unclaimed money to the state in a timely fashion. People who are considering buying a life insurance policy are doing it to provide financial protection to their families. No one wants to wonder if the insurance company is actually going to do what it is supposed to do with the money when the time comes.
Insurance companies are not great with email. Customers want to be able to get quick answers about their claims sent to them in email. Instead, most insurers send their customers newsletters, that often describe other products and services that the insurer wants those customers to spend money on. No one wants to read a sales pitch when they are waiting on a claim to be resolved.
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