It’s safe to say we have our physician, babysitter, personal trainer and dog walker on speed dial. But it’s unlikely that the average auto insurance customer knows the right number to call to reach their carrier in the chaotic moments following an accident.
This is a less than ideal situation for both parties: on the one hand, auto insurance customers pay a yearly premium to their insurer, yet may feel in those same hectic moments of a car crash that they aren’t getting their money’s worth. On the other, with the onslaught of digital, direct insurance, auto insurers may find it more difficult to clearly express their long-term value proposition to their customers, making customer retention an uphill battle. Insurers, therefore, must engage in a delicate balancing act that keeps prices low (recent survey data found that 52% of U.S. auto insurance customers note that cost motivates their purchasing decision) and touchpoints both valuable and personalized so that their policyholders don’t immediately switch lanes.
The good news is that insights from AI can help close the customer experience gap by providing auto insurance carriers with the ability to generate personalized touchpoints in real time, without hindering drivers’ privacy. In order to reap the ultimate benefits from AI for customer experience, carriers can invest in deriving these data-driven insights at key points of care, such as following a car accident or a minor fender bender. Here’s how I imagine it could work:
Process vehicle damage and bodily injury data in real-time
An accident is a chaotic moment for all of us, but when one occurs, we want to know that we have the wherewithal to address any of the unexpected challenges that may come our way. Smart AI algorithms can analyze vehicle damages and bodily injuries from a crash in real-time and interfaces can be programmed to alert the nearest emergency medical services (EMS) to the scene to administer care, based on the level of accident severity. AI technologies can provide access to this and other essential on-scene data that make it possible to initiate tailored personal care that includes lifesaving potential, removing some of the uncertainty from the accident scenario.
Personalization that’s precise and simple
AI can be used by auto insurers to leverage unique data-driven insights at key touchpoints in the customer journey by offering valuable contextual services to address an identified need. For instance, with AI data, auto insurers can know exactly where a vehicle has been damaged following an accident and recommend a nearby body shop that specializes in a particular repair. This is all while the same vehicle damage data could immediately trigger the carrier’s affiliate network to order a tow truck to the customer’s location. These are just a few potential ways that AI could open the doors for the unprecedented personalization and automation of insurance-related services.
Ensuring data privacy to earn customers’ trust
While AI-driven insights can clearly provide auto insurance carriers added value for their customer experience, a challenge in accessing this data focuses on privacy concerns among consumers. However, by only activating data analysis at key points of care, such as in an accident scenario, it is possible to deliver customers the promise of data privacy through the disassociation of data from the persona of the driver and the passengers. This is possible as auto insurers can find out what happened to the vehicle and predict the bodily injuries of its passengers based on generic, yet detailed statistical analyses regarding damages, forgoing privacy concerns. And these data points don’t need to be used to feed into other aspects of customers’ insurance journey – they can remain in the hands of the claims or customer experience department to provide general knowledge on accidents or overarching driving behaviors, at scale.
As auto insurers shop for the right all-in-one solution –one that helps maintain competitive policy prices while offering real-time personalized services– I believe that AI will have a key role to play in shaping the future of the policyholder’s experience and insurance journey.
