Health

New Independent Research Shows Disjointed Experiences Cost Health Insurers Members and Money

Leave a comment


Smart Communications


NEW YORK and LONDON (PRWEB)

Smart Communications, a leading technology company focused on helping businesses engage in more meaningful customer conversations, today announced a new study commissioned by the company and conducted by Forrester Consulting. Drawing on existing Forrester data as well as custom research, the study, “Disjointed Experiences Cost Insurers Members and Money,”** reveals that despite best efforts, many health insurers are creating digital experiences that are negatively impacting customer experience and ultimately the insurer’s bottom line.

Digital transformation in healthcare – especially when it comes to improving the member experience – had slowly been advancing until the pandemic forced the industry to accelerate its digital-first initiatives to meet member expectations of frictionless digital experiences. Despite progress, the industry has plenty of opportunity to improve member engagement.

The study states, “Forrester’s US CX IndexTM proves that customer-obsessed firms across all industries have the highest revenue, profitability, customer retention, and employee engagement growth rates. Virtually all health insurers in the study acknowledge the value of improving member experience and expect benefits as a result, including improved cross-sell opportunities, member health outcomes, and member retention.” However, the Forrester study reveals why insurers are still lagging behind other industries with using technology to create seamless digital experiences throughout a journey.

Key findings include:

  • Due to unsatisfactory digital experiences to find pertinent information on the website, health insurance members choose offline channels for customer services, especially phone calls with representatives. However, 51% are also dissatisfied with their phone interactions.

  • Health insurers admit shortfalls with tracking members’ experiences. Over half find it challenging to provide a seamless digital experience throughout a journey (57%) due to disjointed data or tracking the wrong metrics. Current approaches to member experience fail due equally to challenges with strategy, people, processes, and tools.

  • Health insurers recognize that improving member experience brings benefits such as improved cross-sell opportunities and retention. Yet their top customer lifecycle priorities indicate they are more focused on acquisition than improving current members’ experiences.

“Consumers expect their interactions with healthcare insurers to reflect the same simple, intuitive experiences they have in retail and other industries,” said James Brown, CEO of Smart Communications. “Healthcare insurers are presented with an important opportunity to reimagine member experiences – especially during the claims process – by improving their conversations and by making them more personalized and highly relevant, which will build trust and loyalty.”

Download a complimentary copy of the full study here.

**Smart Communications commissioned Forrester Consulting to explore the state of member experience at US health insurers today. Forrester supplemented existing research with custom survey questions asked of member decision makers at US health insurers in February-March 2022.

###

About Smart Communications

Smart Communications is a leading technology company focused on helping businesses engage in more meaningful customer conversations. Its Conversation Cloud™ platform uniquely delivers personalized, omnichannel conversations across the entire customer experience, empowering companies to succeed in today’s digital-focused, customer-driven world while also simplifying processes and operating more efficiently. Smart Communications is headquartered in the UK and serves more than 650 customers from offices located across North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific. Smart Communications’ Conversation Cloud platform includes the enterprise-scale customer communications management (CCM) power of SmartCOMM™, forms transformation capabilities made possible by SmartIQ™ and the trade documentation expertise of SmartDX™. In 2021, the company acquired Assentis, a leading European software solutions provider specializing in customer communications management (CCM) with a focus on the financial services industry. To learn more, visit smartcommunications.com.

Share article on social media or email:

Leave a Reply