Self-service portal: the way insurers can enhance their sales

The Consumer Behavior in the Insurance Field in 2021

2020 with pandemic and lockdown has changed once and for all the way people consume products and services. All that could not but affect the insurance industry. Individuals and businesses around the globe are conscious of the need for insurance coverage in response to the emerging risks, especially those unleashed by Covid-19. 

It led particularly to the 30% spike in insurance demand from customers globally as reported by World Insurance Report 2021. To correspond to a high level of demand, insurance companies should modify their distribution strategies and leverage technology as their major asset by competing for customers. 

Insurance Self-Service Portals 

A self-service portal is a vast potential technology channel successfully exploited by insurance companies nowadays. In this blog post, our experts will share their thoughts regarding:

• Sense and primary goals of insurance self-service portals; 

• Pros of self-service portals for customers and companies; 
• Where to start if you are looking for a self-service portal for your company.

Self-Service Portals: What’s That? 

Insurance self-service portal is a software solution dedicated to automating operations provided by insurance carriers and simplifying the way policyholders get insurance services, such as client and claims management, insurance accounting, and much more. 

The principal goal of self-service portals is to provide a personalized customer experience, as well as enrich engagement channels for customer acquisition. Utilizing self-service portals and other digital channels enable insurers to build a new approach to the insurance products 

Self-Service Portals: Pros For Policyholders

Let’s catch on to the advantages your customers can get from self-service portals:

• 24/7 Remote Access to the Service 

When can customers contact you? How many customers per day can your employees consult? Company working hours or office location are no longer a decisive factor. 

Self-service portals provide continuous client support regardless of the time or location of your client. Convenient access could be provided through the web or mobile application serving the portal. 

• Easy Access to the Information About Insurance Products 

It’s hard to imagine a self-service portal without client support and a FAQ section. Developing this functionality can significantly reduce the workload of your customer support department.  

Self-service portal users can get a clear and comprehensive answer to any question at any time. This is provided by online chats with chatbots and AI assistance. 

• A Fast Claim Approval Process 

One of the most impressive features of self-service portals could provide clients with - transparent claim management process. You can provide information about each stage of the approval process with progress bars and real-time notification. It will eliminate the uncertainty that customers may experience throughout the claim approval process.

Self-Service Portals: Pros for Insurers 

• Lower Customer Acquisition Cost 

All the above-mentioned advantages will improve the customer experience for policyholders. As a result, better CX could reduce customer acquisition costs for insurers. A self-service portal that works fast, with a qualitative user experience and interface design engages customers on the best terms. 

• Diversification of the Product Channel Distribution 

Self-service portal development allows insurers to modify the channel distribution strategy by exploring capabilities of multi-channel advertisements, such as social media ads, PPC (pay-per-click) ads, SEO (search engine optimized content). 

• Improving Customer Retention 

A well-organized client management system on the portal could increase the customer retention rate. This can be automated reminders of the renewal of contracts, offers to purchase insurance products based on the previous actions of the customer on the portal, and much more. 

• More Data About Your Customers 

Self-service portals provide an opportunity to analyze customer actions, based on which insurers can offer more appropriate insurance products with better risk coverage, and as a relief - make products more personalized for customers. 

Where To Start? 

It’s quite common when insurance companies are struggling in starting the development of software for their needs. The fear of taking a risk is caused typically by a lack of product development experience. 

The optimal option would be to contact the vendor, a software development company, with expertise in the insurance field. Vendor specialists will analyze the current processes of the company in collaboration with a company stakeholder, and prepare requirements for a future self-service portal that will suit the company best. 

We recommend bearing in mind the possibility of integrating a self-service portal into the current tech infrastructure as this will speed up the start of portal usage by your employees significantly.