How to elevate your customer experience (CX) in 2025

In today’s digital world, customer experience (CX) is everything. It's no longer just about offering a product or service, it’s about providing a seamless, personalised journey that meets – and exceeds – expectations.

At Zurich Insurance, we’ve been transforming how we think about CX, embracing technology and maintaining an empathic approach in everything we do.

Embracing digital transformation without sacrificing the human touch

We live in a time where digitalisation is reshaping every corner of our lives. For businesses, this presents both a challenge and an opportunity. The best way forward is to embrace the challenge, so that your business can leverage technological innovations to make the customer experience simpler and smoother –?and, when done especially well, more rewarding.

But here’s the important bit, and it’s part of the challenge: empathy from real people is still irreplaceable.

One in three consumers say they’ll leave a brand they love after just one bad experience. Imagine that? If a third of customers are ready to walk away, it’s crucial that brands consistently deliver quality experiences. At Zurich, we’re always asking ourselves: how can we do better? How can emerging technologies revolutionise CX while maintaining the human element that customers trust?

CX is more than a buzzword: Customer experience isn’t just a buzzword; it directly impacts business performance. There’s no question about it: prioritising CX improves the bottom line. One of the main drivers for me at Zurich has been to transform our operations from being somewhat transactional to deeply customer centric. The results have been encouraging. When we put human experience at the core of everything, it’s not just about better business outcomes – it’s about truly connecting with people.

How Artificial Intelligence (AI) has met CX in the insurance industry

AI is everywhere, and it’s changing how we work in ways we could only imagine a few years ago. At Zurich, we’ve been using AI for quite some time, but its real value is becoming clearer by the day. It’s streamlining our claims process in ways that are nothing short of remarkable; tasks that used to take days are now completed in minutes.

AI is helping us process claims faster and more efficiently than ever before. Globally, we’re talking over five million claims processed per year. It’s more than just tech for tech’s sake – it’s key to improving our service to customers.

Getting personal is savvy: Technology gives us an incredible ability to personalise products and services, and the insurance sector is no different. We’re now able to offer flexible insurance that can be adjusted in real-time, rewarding customers who take positive steps in their lives. But personalisation doesn’t mean losing the human element – far from it.

The human touch is still critical, especially as digital and physical worlds blend more and more. AI helps us automate much of the process, speeding up the claims process, so as to free the business up to offer an even better experience where it matters. But it’s human intelligence that ensures these systems are fit for purpose. AI can do a lot, but it still needs that human oversight to make it truly effective. Rather than dialling down human interaction, we should use the freed-up time to connect with customers more often, delivering more value within prevention and service, and use the direct engagement to build meaningful relationships with customers.

The omnichannel expectation

In the age of omnichannel, customers expect to interact with brands across various platforms in a way that feels consistent and integrated. At Zurich, we’re meeting our customers where they are – whether that’s on Instagram, TikTok, or WhatsApp. Our follower base has grown exponentially, and we’re seeing real engagement. On Instagram, we’ve achieved 12.5 times more impressions and 17 times more engagement since 2021. On TikTok, those numbers are even higher, with a 430% growth in followers.

But it’s not just about social media. We’ve introduced WhatsApp as a claims channel, allowing customers to resolve issues in just 13 minutes on average. That’s real progress, and it shows that omnichannel isn’t just a buzzword – it’s the future of customer interaction.

Striking the perfect balance: It all boils down to one thing: addressing genuine customer needs. Getting customer experience right is essential not just for building loyalty, but for driving business performance. It requires the right insights, a willingness to innovate, and a focus on creating a real human connection.

Key takeaways as we look to next year

1.??? AI-driven efficiency: At Zurich, we've witnessed how AI has revolutionised customer service, particularly in claims processing. This transformation expedited our service. The lesson here is clear: AI isn’t replacing us – it’s enhancing our service, making us more efficient while maintaining empathy.

2.??? Personalisation drives growth: Our ability to tailor products and services to individual customer needs has resulted in increased satisfaction and loyalty. Businesses that master personalisation will benefit in terms of customer retention and, by extension, revenue growth.

3.??? Omnichannel starts on social: We’ve invested heavily in building omnichannel experiences for our customers. Going beyond the traditional channels and offering multiple touchpoints that are integrated and customer-friendly is no longer optional; it’s a necessity to stay relevant for today’s customers.