Call Center and FNOL Trends Emerging in 2022

The pandemic radically altered typical business operations. While many industries struggled to maintain customer engagement, the insurance industry experienced a meteoric rise in customer service calls. Customer needs shifted with dizzying speed, and insureds expected their providers to keep pace. Liabilities also changed when individuals began working from home. Many of these changes will continue to influence society as the pandemic lessens in severity. Insurance companies rely on a call center to field their customer service calls. The following are several call center trends insurance companies need to know for the coming year:

1. The geographic distribution of call centers is changing. Offshore call centers come with several hurdles, most notably language barriers and cultural differences impeding service quality. Two-thirds of call centers around the world are in the Americas, which underscores the importance of nearshore call centers.
2. Difficult calls and escalations are on the rise. Customer needs changed too fast for most insurance companies to update policies on how to handle the sudden increase in customer calls. Escalations increased by 68%, and difficult calls rose by 50%. The information bottleneck tanked the customer experience, and many insurers responded by revamping their call center to meet customers’ changing needs.
3. Customer expectations continue to rise. Customers’ increasing expectations from their insurance provider isn’t a new trend. Technology revolutionized customer service and changed what customers require from their insurers. However, achieving a satisfying experience means meeting key benchmarks for customer inquiries. For instance, high-performing call centers answer calls within 20 seconds and resolve the customer’s problem within four minutes.
4. The customer’s first contact (first notice of loss) has significant ramifications on their loyalty. Customers have lower thresholds than ever for frustration. They are likely under stress when they reach out to their insurance provider, and an unsatisfying outcome degrades their loyalty. Fifteen percent of customers consider switching to a competitor if they don’t receive a satisfactory answer to their problem, whereas only one percent make this consideration when the customer service representative resolves their issue on the first call.
5. Customers will seek out competitors after a single negative experience. One bad interaction is all it takes to risk losing customers. For example, one-third of Americans consider switching companies if they receive poor customer service.
6. Over half of customers (around 60%) expect a rapid response to their customer support questions. When an insured initiates first notice of loss (FNOL) or needs an update about their claim, they don’t want to wait several hours or days for a response. They are experiencing a stressful event and view long wait times for a response as poor service. Text and chat FNOL services provide rapid answers and soothe concerns.
7. Customers between the ages of 18 and 49 indicate live chat is their preferred customer service channel. Millennials are 20% more likely to use chat services than baby boomers, while over one-third of Gen Z prefer chat services. Gen Z particularly dislikes making phone calls for their service inquiries, and over half of them avoid calling customer support altogether.
8. Chat services are the most satisfying communication channel for most customers. Nearly three-fourths of customers that use chat services for their customer support questions report a satisfying result. This percentage tanks to 51% for email communications and 44% for phone calls.