Younger customers have higher expectations for claims resolution – Sprout.ai

Younger customers aged 18 to 24 expect a resolution to their claim within a week of notifying their insurer, according to research published by insurtech Sprout.ai last week (November 2022).

Its report, Responding to rising customer expectations in insurance, was based on a survey of 1,000 consumers that examined customer attitudes towards claims. This revealed that customers expect insurance purchasing and claims to be fast and convenient.

However, respondents classified as being in generation Z or a millennial had even higher expectations - 100% of these respondents expected a resolution to their claim within a week of submitting the details, despite only 18% of 18 to 24-years-olds buying their insurance from digital providers.

Sprout.ai attributed this level of expectation to the fact that this demographic is likely to be more digitally literate.

A millennial is anyone who is born between 1981 and 1996, whereas generation Z refers to anyone born between 1997 and 2012.

Sprout.ai’s survey further revealed that 21% of overall respondents expected claims to be resolved within hours. However, 43% would wait more than two weeks for a claim to be resolved across various lines of insurance.

Roi Amir, chief executive of Sprout.ai, pointed out that claims was an area that most customers found both lengthy and inconvenient.

He said: “Even simple claims can take weeks or months to process and communication with customer service agents is often disjointed.

“Many legacy insurers have invested in technologies that have improved the customer experience – through improvements to website design and navigation, or online questionnaires to speed up new policy requests.

“However, less investment has been made in back office operations to improve the end-to-end customer experience. The result is that many insurers deliver exceptional customer service at certain touchpoints in the customer journey, but fall down in other areas.”

The report noted that while most insurers know the importance of excellent customer service, few have accommodated the preferences of generation Z and the millennial market.

It warned that “legacy insurers are at risk of losing ground to digital players because they haven’t invested in the technologies that enable excellent customer service through the claims process, with many hamstrung by legacy technology and processes”.

Customer expectations are not static

Customer expectations, however, are always evolving and are “never static” - Sprout.ai said that one of the main drivers of this is the rapid transformation and digitalisation of the global economy.

In addition, Sprout.ai found that half of its respondents that had bought a policy from a traditional insurance brand said they would consider buying cover from a challenger.

Meanwhile, 34% of respondents already purchased insurance policies from a combination of both traditional and challenger brands.