Navigating Customer-Centricity in Turbulent Times: Insights from the Quirks Event

How do insurers confront the challenge of balancing rate adequacy and customer-centricity?  

Last month at The Quirk’s Event for Marketing Research & Insights Professionals in Dallas, I had the opportunity to dive into this burning question that is dominating the industry and share lessons other industries can learn from insurers about fostering a customer-centric approach amidst a challenging economic scenario. Below I've outlined 4 focus areas for leaders looking to improve customer-centricity and highlighted my biggest takeaways for market research leaders from the event overall.    

Lessons from the Insurance Industry in Fostering a Customer-Centric Approach Amidst a Challenging Scenario

Through our insurance Voice of the Customer research, we've seen four focus areas rise to the top when it comes to enhancing customer satisfaction even amidst challenges:

1. Effective Communication: Make sure to simplify and personalize messages to build understanding and answer questions. Building understanding goes a long way to mitigate the impact of increased premiums. As the J.D. Power 2023 U.S. Auto Insurance Study reveals, when customers say they completely understand reason(s) for price changes, satisfaction with price jumps 152 index points.
   
   
2. Empathetic Delivery: Always ensure you are handling difficult conversations with both care and transparency. The J.D. Power 2023 U.S. Auto Claims Satisfaction Study results show that insurers that improved the most in overall satisfaction did so in two key customer areas, one of those being showing concern for their situation. As our claims expert, Mark Garrett, points out "Being empathetic toward the customer situation goes a long way in building trust with them.”
   
   
3. Early Trust-Building: Set expectations and communicate openly from the start. Customers are more loyal to and advocate for brands they trust. To build trust from the onset, make sure to set clear expectations early, foster open communication, acknowledge concerns proactively, provide tools and educational resources, and emphasize shared goals.
   
   
4. Meet Preferences and Provide Tools and Resources: Ensure communications match customer preference and aim for single channel problem resolution. Nearly 40% of customers have equal preference for both people and digital interactions, so even in this digital age, carriers need to ensure the channels offered to customers align with their expectations.

Brands that focus on building a customer-centric organization based on the right intelligence will be better positioned to drive profitable growth in tumultuous markets and excel at critical initiatives. If you'd like to explore whether you're capturing the right intelligence about your customer's preferences and expectations, let's chat.

Navigating What’s Ahead: Customer Behaviors, Cultural Relevance and AI in Market Research

From session interactions to chats with fellow research professionals, I found there to be 4 pervasive themes throughout the conference around the future of market research:

1. The importance of understanding the influence of emotions and social factors on brand perception and consumer behavior is ever increasing, and leveraging innovative approaches such as implicit research and behavioral science technology can help uncover deeper insights into consumer values and preferences.
   
   
2. Authenticity and cultural relevance have a significant impact in brand-building. Brands need to navigate and embrace cultural insights to stand out, but they must do so authentically to resonate with their audience. Establishing a "brand tracker" to capture feedback from customers and your target market is a great way to better understand what your customers specifically expect from you.
   
   
3. Businesses need to adapt to changing consumer behavior and address multifaceted stressors faced by consumers. As I highlighted above, and as our research supports, building trust and delivering exceptional customer experiences are essential for fostering strong connections with customers, especially in times of uncertainty.
   
   
4. The role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is growing in market research, especially in qualitative analysis, but despite this rise in the usage of AI, human expertise is crucial in interpreting data and providing strategic recommendations. 

As consumers, industries, technology, and market conditions continue to evolve, I’m looking forward to exploring how our research can help brands across industries continuously live up to customer expectations. If you would like to discuss any of these topics further, let’s connect >


Where to catch me next: My next speaking engagements will be at the Insurance Tech & Innovation Conference in Chicago this June. If you’ll be in attendance, let’s plan to meet.

About the Author: Breanne Armstrong is Director of Insurance Intelligence at J.D. Power. Her area of focus is on the customer experience in auto, property, and individual life insurance and annuities. She has over 15 years of research and consulting experience and 7 combined years at J.D. Power working within the Insurance Practice. 

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