The claims experience is most effective when integrated into the customer experience. Take inspiration from these three brands for simple ways to make the claims experience stress-free for your customers.
Product protection is supposed to make life easier for customers, so why does it feel so hard when it’s time to make a claim? At Clyde, we believe that product protection has the potential to make getting help with product issues a beautiful (and simple) experience for customers. Unfortunately, the reality is that it’s often not.
Claims submission changed drastically during the pandemic, with people moving in droves to file claims online, thus forcing digital transformation on insurers who hadn’t undertaken proactive innovation.
The lesson here is that the claims experience is part of the customer experience. The whole point of product protection is to give people peace of mind, but that peace of mind dissolves the moment they experience a claims process that’s slow, opaque, or complicated. Customers’ overall satisfaction with digital claims has dropped (for the second year in a row) as product owners navigate clunky interfaces and complex communication.
The thing is, a customer’s negative experience of a broken or faulty product can be turned into a net positive experience , as we’ve seen in insurance verticals outside of retail. In the auto industry, insurers with excellent claims experiences have seen up to 4x growth in new business and 30% higher profitability. While direct-to-consumer brands may not control the backend experience that insurers do, they can improve the claims experience through their customer experience — and ultimately drive additional revenue .
Rather than looking at the claims experience as a unique or independent process, consider integrating warranty and product protection into the customer experience. Here are three brands to inspire your claims experience clean-up:
1. Casper sets ecommerce warranty expectations early
We’re not just talking about expectations during the claims process (though that is important). Expectation setting needs to start before a customer even makes a purchase. Companies that use the phrase “lifetime guarantee” may lead consumers to believe that coverage is more comprehensive than it is.
Casper, a DTC mattress brand, is an excellent example of upfront expectation setting. Each product page breaks down high-level warranty information with accessible links to more detailed information.
And while we’re talking about expectations, remember the importance of speed and transparency. Communicating with customers about what stage their claim is at, if it’s delayed, or the next steps in the process will instantly improve satisfaction levels.
Don’t let unrealistic expectations turn your claims experience into nightmare fuel… much like this hedgehog.
ACTION: Avoid broad, vague terms that could mislead shoppers. And while providing legalese warranty documentation may be necessary, be sure to summarize that with clear, specific, and short vital points. Then if the time comes to make a claim, shoppers won’t be disappointed with the coverage.
2. Alaska Airlines humanizes omnichannel touchpoints
The last thing a customer wants when trying to resolve a product issue is to feel like they can't get in touch with an actual human. Airlines have had a bad rap (especially recently ), but Alaska Airlines has mastered seamless cross-channel customer service.
Need to file a lost luggage claim? Customers can contact the team via the mobile app, the customer service contact info on the website, or via Twitter, where they staff their account 24/7. They’ve also connected these channels, so if a person initially reaches out on Twitter and reconnects by phoning Alaska, they won’t need to rehash the reason they connected initially.
ACTION: Create human responses. Support representatives (or whoever manages your claims) should sign off with their name so customers know an actual live human is seeing and hearing their problem instead of falling into an email black hole.
3. Allstate equips experience reps with real-time information
Several parties are involved in resolving a claim, from the customer making a claim to insurers, repair firms, and the brand itself. A streamlined claims process depends on the ability to communicate and exchange information among all parties involved.
Added to this complexity is the need for customer service agents to communicate accurate information and updates to the customer. Allstate relies on its internal AI bot, Amelia, to aggregate information and centralize it so its employees can provide a personalized, real-time customer experience.
It sounds like a mammoth task, but businesses don’t need their own AI bot to streamline the customer experience. For example, Gorgias’ integration with Clyde lets a customer service rep see all the information they need (no matter the channel), from warranty and claims data to order history.
ACTION: Focus on the role customer love plays in the customer experience. Check out this article to learn more about how warranty claims management is becoming more customer-centric.
Want to transform your claims experience from painful to productive? Reach out today to learn how Clyde can streamline product protection .
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