XM Weekly Inspiration | 27092022

Hello!

One of the advantages of being a customer experience (CX) consulting practitioner is that I get to serve clients across different sectors and this year at the Niche Customer Experience Consulting Firm (a subsidiary of the Niche Customer Experience Group ), we served our first client in the insurance sector. Since the completion of the insurance sector CX project, I have paid very close attention to the CX trends in this sector and found very insightful an insurance sector research report published by Equisoft with a focus on Africa.

This report contained deep insights on insurance sector challenges facing both insurers and brokers on the continent. I took particular interest in this because as part of the deliverables of the aforementioned CX project, we conducted an insurance sector industry CX benchmark so in this edition of my THINK DIFFERENTLY newsletter, I will be sharing with you my thoughts on this report using a four-pronged approach i.e.

• understanding the characteristics of the average African
• the challenges faced by insurers and brokers in Africa
• the impact of the challenges on customer experience in the sector
• 5 tips to address the sector challenges for improved customer experiences

The characteristics of the average African?

Let's look at this from a value and consumer perspective. In my research, I found the views of Ovett Nwosimiri (Ovett Nwosimiri, African Cultural Values, Practices & Modern Technology, 01, May 2021 ) and Patrick Dupoux & Stefano Niavas (Patrick Dupoux & Stefano Niavas, Ten Things to Know About African Consumers, January 25, 2013 ) interesting and going by the insights we recorded from the 2021 State of Customer Experience in Africa research (Niche Customer Experience Group, July 5, 2022 ), the below image is an overview of key attributes of the average African.

Challenges faced by insurers & brokers in Africa.

The referenced Equisoft Life Insurance Executive research; Understanding Insurance Distribution & Automation in Africa , highlights the challenges faced by insurers and brokers as:

• lack of products that meet customer needs
• inflexible product offerings
• low trust, understanding and awareness among customers
• poor/no digitalization of processes & internal systems
• poor integration of 3rd party systems
• difficulty managing relationships with underwriters
• difficulty organizing data, key metrics + data errors
• sector regulatory limitations

Impact of the insurance sector challenges on CX in Africa.

Going by the above-listed challenges and my professional experience conducting an insurance sector CX benchmark as well as designing & implementing CX improvement initiatives in the same, these challenges have a huge impact on CX and the sector's ability to not just be customer-centric but also enjoy the benefits of delivering great experiences to customers i.e. customer profitability.

Going by the insurance sector customer cycle stages cited in the report (page 13), I have given this a lot of thought and the illustration below is a snapshot of which customer cycle stages these challenges impact and how they negatively impact customers' policy purchase, customer service and claims experience on the continent.

With the knowledge of the average African, challenges faced by insurers & brokers and the impact of these challenges on CX in Africa, the core of the solution is in gaining the trust of customers, and build a good relationship bearing in mind that the average African:

• values relationships
• is willing to pay for quality (even more)
• is highly loyal to brands
• is an underestimated market potential - can do so much more
• loves saving, sharing & supporting one another
• is optimism about the future - a sense of progress

I will like to build on these attributes of the African consumer to share my take on how insurers and brokers can address these challenges and improve CX despite the regulatory constraints.

5 tips to improve customer experience in the insurance sector in Africa.

1. KNOW your customers. By this I mean know your customer beyond what you want to sell. What I found common with insurers and brokers during the benchmarking exercise was that both parties were always quick to push the highest policy without asking specific questions before recommending a suitable policy. Not every customer wants to buy a comprehensive insurance cover but do you know why? What leading questions do you ask to get to know your customer and why he/she wants to be insured as well as how much they are willing to pay for a policy? Think more about the consultative style of selling so you get to know your customers more and use that knowledge to build a relationship after a sale. Know who your customers are, what your customers want, why they want it, when they want it, where they want it and how they want it
2. INCLUDE customer knowledge in your experience/operations blueprint. When you know who your customers are, what your customers want, why they want it, when they want it, where they want it and how they want it, use that information/knowledge in creating an experience. I always talk about having a CX blueprint i.e the kind of experience you want your customers to have. You can't leave anything to chance. You have to be deliberate. A blueprint helps you envision the kind of experience you want to create and helps you identify what & who you need to make it happen. I recall my experience designing an experience blueprint for a client in the insurance sector and there is so much potential to win and retain customers in this sector howbeit the regulatory restrictions. Now while having an aspirational blueprint is great, I recommend for insurance businesses in Africa focus on customer feedback and complaint management i.e. fix what's broken as your customers complain, fix what's broken at its root to prevent a recurrence, and then proactively manage future experiences. Yes, I know Africans desire international brands but you can not chase after international standards when your pocket has a hole in it and you're losing revenue due to poor customer experiences. First things first, fix what's broken and gain your customer's trust.
3. EDUCATE your customers. It is dangerous to assume your customers know or should know the features and benefits of your product or how to use/access the same. Especially with the adoption of technology, I am yet to see a business that has gotten customer education right post digitizing its services or products. The fact that almost every business has a mobile application does not mean every customer knows how to use one. Take the time to educate your customers so they get the most value from their purchases. Think about your format, content, and language (limit the use of technical jargon) and yes, the channel of dissemination. Approach this education from how your customer will experience your product or service and not how you have designed it (inside out) using a lot of technical terminologies. I strongly recommend you test your customer education content with actual customers before you launch any customer education campaign. If your customers are unaware or do not understand what you offer and how it works, then your customer education is broken. I also encourage you to keep tabs on inbound interactions at your contact centre or customer service and sales departments after launching such a campaign because that is an indication of how well you have communicated.
4. Adopt an AGILE approach to business process improvement. Time and time again, there is always the desire to launch an improvement with a big bang! Creating bottlenecks that are unnecessary. Take it one step at a time and one experience at a time. Begin with the must-haves and include the nice-to-haves. The must-haves are enough to launch a product that will reduce current customer complaints significantly but you have to work on the quality of your customer education and engagement. If customers complain about delayed TAT in receiving their claims, then sort that out. If it is the poor quality of customer service or a delay in processing a new policy, sort that out. Take it one step at a time and learn as you go, build as you go keeping your customer in the loop. Nothing builds trust like a customer that journeys with you all the way. Have you ever heard a customer say "I have been doing business with you for the last xx years since you started operations in your small office at xxx?" This kind of customer takes pride in knowing that he/she is part of your success story. That's a relationship no competition can break despite regulatory limitations impacting product offerings.
5. ACTION customer feedback & insights. Always look to the customer when making business decisions even when there are regulatory limitations. Ask customers what they want, what they expect, and how they are feeling. Juxtapose that with their buying, engagement (interaction) and retention behaviours. What do you see? What are the opportunities? Don't make decisions based on only the sales cycle of your customer's journey. Think about this holistically (customer service, claims, etc) and use the right combination of experience and operations data to make decisions. If you get this right, then the challenge of organizing data and key metrics as highlighted in the cited report is solved. Also important is closing the loop. As you make improvements, inform your customers letting them know how the improvements will benefit them and improve their experience. You also need to track the return on experience i.e. how this improvement increased customer acquisition, customer retention and reduced cost (especially your marketing spend). Another thing to note here is the importance of sharing progress made with everyone on your team! Celebrate the small wins and get everyone excited to do more and be more.

There you have it! My take on the Understanding Insurance Distribution & Automation in Africa Exclusive: LIFE INSURANCE EXECUTIVE RESEARCH report and my 5 tips for insurers and brokers to address highlighted challenges for improved CX on the continent.

Are you dealing with similar challenges? I hope this article gives you a reason to?THINK DIFFERENTLY ?about how you research, design and manage customer experience in your organization.

Have a good one! ??

deBBie akwara ?(Pan Africanism CX Advocate)?

CEO,?Niche Customer Experience Group

Helping Businesses in Africa????Identify & Fix Gaps in Customer Experience to Increase Customer Profitability & Improve Employee Experience.