How Advanced AI Chatbots are Dominating the Insurance Industry

Mimi Sarwar, Writer
@uxconnections

Insurance companies are using AI to improve their customer service experience as automation is easing the process of buying or claiming insurance

Some insurance companies have taken steps to incorporate AI (artificial intelligence) to make their business processes run more smoothly whilst engaging customers, increasing leads and generating sales. Using clever chatbots, a forward-thinking interactive technology, has certainly allowed many insurance companies to provide exceptional customer service.

Chatbots are disrupting to the insurance industry

Insurance companies usually entail lengthy phone calls being made which can end up being an off-putting experience for the customer. Why? Simply because a lot of time can be wasted on the call and knowing this beforehand can make customers think twice about going ahead with a claim or buying insurance altogether. Why buy the service if it buys too much time? 

With chatbots on board, they are demonstrating their intuitive intelligence through their amazing texting abilities – and since humans like to text a lot – this feature is proving to be extremely favourable. 

Chatbots are designed to converse via written text and aim to get straight to the point so the user doesn’t feel like any time is being wasted. They intend to engage the user in what feels like an almost human-to-human conversation as opposed to human-to-computer thus building a strong sense of familiarity and confidence. They can be integrated into an insurance company’s website as well as their messaging channels making chatbots a desirable AI tool.

Why are chatbots being used?

Live chat has become the leading digital contact method for online customers, as an astounding 46% of customers prefer live chat compared to just 29% for email, and 16% for social media. Chatbots have the capacity to draw traffic, capture leads, generate sales and expand their target audience through marketing means. Here are some more reasons why they are used by insurance companies:

Policy inquiries available around-the-clock

Prospective customers might not have the chance to search for information on a website which is where chatbots come in handy. They are programmed to provide answers to frequently asked questions on an around-the-clock basis making them an accessible central service. 

Any questions that are too complex for the chatbot to answer will then be routed to a human agent for further action. This swift process is proving beneficial as policy inquiries are made easily, driving greater customer satisfaction which can influence and generate higher sales.

Claiming insurance made straightforward

In 2019, PwC published an article which revealed that the influence insurance chatbots can have on the customer particularly in providing instant relief around insurance claims or approvals is quite high.

Chatbots can make the means of claiming insurance smooth and fast for existing policyholders. As a result, there is no need to wait for office operating hours to kick in and connect to a customer service advisor over the phone. Gone are those days! A policyholder can now easily send a message to the chatbot regardless of time and they will receive an immediate response instead of being lumbered with webform or holding on the line.

Alongside this, advanced chatbots have been designed to react and ask appropriate questions according to what the customer has messaged. For instance, information relating to their policy details, a new claim or existing claim. Chatbots are well versed and know how to segment queries.

Cost-effective investment

Integrating a chatbot is ultimately a cost-effective investment for insurance companies as it can help reduce customer service costs by 30%. Its goal is to perform most of the mundane and time-consuming jobs, added with exceptional speed and accuracy without feeling fatigued like a human would. Therefore, with chatbots on board, they can help reduce the monthly salary expense of the company adding to their plethora of benefits.

Easy to install

Chatbots such as SnatchBot and Botsify are easy to install, popular online AI chatbot platforms which can be used on websites alongside messaging channels such as Facebook Messenger, Telegram, Slack, SMS, etc. These ready to use AI tools can be customised to a company’s preference which means that previous programming knowledge is not essential.

The bottom line

With the dramatic progression of AI, adopting a chatbot as part of a business strategy for better customer experience by efficiently facilitating inquiries seems more important now than ever. Insurance companies are certainly reaping these technological benefits and seeing the rewards.

UX Connections, the UX agency with UX/UI consultants to help your digital product succeed.