Today, people are used to getting whatever they want within a few hours or less. This is not limited to physical objects: people also want immediate cost estimates for services, fast access to digital media, and quick responses from qualified experts when they have questions.

Speed has become such an important aspect to customers that they are now willing to spend more money for a speedy service. If your company doesn’t provide a fast customer experience, you can be positive that other businesses do – which will then lead to your company losing prospective and current customers.

Speed equals satisfaction in insurance

Quick issue resolution is a significant part of customer satisfaction and retention when it comes to insurance companies. People generally don’t like waiting, not even for a few minutes on hold, which can consequently lead to a negative Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT).

The insurance industry SMS messaging provider “Hi Marley” found that the quickest time to first contact (TTFC) led to higher success rates for claims adjusters. Out of all their performers, those who reached out to clients within three minutes had an 80 percent chance of making initial contact within three and a half hours. However, it was noted that those at the bottom of the performance scale took up to two days before contacting customers- severely hurting any chances or relations with them.

What many don’t know is how much of an impact speed can have on not only customer satisfaction but also profitability. The Hi Marley study discovered that, generally, the best-performing claims adjusters were able to close out claims 10 percent faster than the lowest performers. This meant completing each claim three days sooner, on average.

If you want to improve your business in various ways, then get rid of any processes that frequently cause problems. This may involve employees being able to do more in a shorter amount of time or expanding their volume of work without needing extra staff members. By taking out these delays in your processes, everyone will likely be happier with their job and customers will enjoy the service they receive.

Insurance has a speed issue

According to a PwC 2018 study, nearly 80% of global survey participants said that “speed, convenience, knowledgeable help, and friendly service” were vital for an excellent customer experience. Customers think the insurance industry should prioritize these traits 18 points higher than where they currently stand.

The insurance industry is notoriously slow and Hi Marley’s data on claims satisfaction supports this conclusion. Part of the poor customer experience that insurance consumers have is due to the slowness of the industry.

Altogether, it is clear that the insurance industry’s lagging customer experience is evidently due to its inability to keep pace with customer expectations. 

Increasing speed with modern insurance technology 

By using SMS technology, insurance companies were able to dramatically increase customer satisfaction rates. This same concept can be applied to other areas of the business in order to speed up processes and maximize efficiency.

LenderDock takes speed and efficiency seriously and works to automate all processes for minimal human intervention.  While “old school” workflows included the manual tasks of phone calls and fax machines, there’s no need for this type of insurance communication in the 21st century.  LenderDock believes that the resources freed up from these kinds of tasks can be better allocated for meaningful provider or client tasks.