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April 27, 2020 at 04:25 AM
From artificial intelligence in chatbots to cloud technology, the insurance industry has welcomed digital transformation with open arms in an effort to offer consumers an improved shopping experience. Just last year 90% of industry executives expressed having a long-term technology plan in place. Still, many insurance professionals ask, “Are we keeping up?”
When it comes to creating a positive consumer experience, there are a variety of tools for agents to choose from and some may be paralyzed by the choices — or waste time cycling through to find the best tools. However, building a truly great customer experience starts with one fundamental input: behavioral data.
Here are three ways you can use behavioral data to provide a superior consumer experience for the insurance shopper.
1. Customer journey mapping
The most useful customer journey mapping leverages behavioral data to give a holistic picture of an individual’s experience. With a thorough understanding of the journey, you can provide a better shopping experience. There are two types of behavioral data that can be used in this case: first-party and third-party data.
First-party data provides standard information on a consumer. Typically, this information is gathered through a lead form of cookie-based data, and shows how an individual is interacting with your site. You can gather basic background on the individual through lead forms, including name and age. Cookie-based data allows you to track more specific activity, like what an individual was searching for on your site.
(Related: What Insurers Should Know About CCPA)
Although first-party data can be very useful when creating a map of a consumer’s activity, it provides a limited view. Once the individual leaves your site, you are left in the dark. Consequently, you don’t know what activity consumers have conducted prior to visiting your site, nor do you know what they do upon exiting.
Third-party data, in combination with first-party data, gives you a holistic view of your consumer’s shopping experience, even if you don’t have a direct relationship with them. This type of data can show you how a prospect is interacting with websites beyond your site. You can gain insights to where they are shopping, what else they’re shopping for, and even how long they have been on their journey. Aggregating these behavioral activities helps to illuminate how far along they are on their journey, allowing for more timely and relevant outreach and an improved consumer experience. Furthermore, for prospects in your marketing database, you can gain insights into shopping behavior of individuals you don’t see on first-party properties.
The most effective way to access third-party data is through a data vendor who witnesses consumer behavior across insurance and other major life purchase journeys. Data-as-a-service companies streamline your data and make it actionable. For example, vendors can tell you when a customer goes from your site to a competitor; if they’re searching for life insurance in addition to auto insurance; or if they’re on a homebuying or mortgage journey signaling they may also begin an insurance journey in the near future. Coupling these insights with first-party information creates a 360-degree view of a prospect, a current customer (for cross-sell or retention initiatives), or a former customer (for win-backs).
2. Segment for success
Customer segmentation is just what it sounds like. By dividing customers into homogenous groups you can more effectively communicate using targeted approaches. There are two popular types of segmentation: demographic and behavioral.
