In today's dynamic and highly competitive market, insurance companies are constantly striving to distinguish themselves and drive value and growth.
One effective tool at their disposal is the implementation of fast, flexible, and convenient multi-channel payment options. These insurance payment solutions not only enhance the overall customer experience but also play a vital role in fostering long-term loyalty and retention.
Understanding consumer priorities regarding insurance payments is crucial. To gain insights into this area, we conducted research to uncover their expectations and requirements when it comes to paying for insurance policies.
Our findings reveal that travel and pet insurance policies are particularly vulnerable due to households facing financial constraints. Affordability concerns have led to more than one third of consumers considering canceling their travel insurance policies, closely followed by pet insurance policies at a rate of 30%. Health insurance policies are also at risk of cancellation, with 28% of consumers inclined to terminate their coverage. This makes health insurance the third most likely plan to be eliminated.
Additionally, our research highlights the urgent need for insurers to modernize their payment methods to cater to the preferences of younger generations, while still meeting the needs of their broader customer base. A significant majority of Gen Z respondents (80%) and over three quarters of millennials (77%) expressed a desire for more digital payment solutions.
Disturbingly, our research also revealed that more than one in three consumers reported negative experiences related to paying insurance premiums. These experiences ranged from payments being made without their awareness (39%) to difficulties in canceling payments (35%), and even instances of being overcharged (33%).
In this article, we will explore how insurance payment solutions can be the differentiating factor between firms. We will delve into five key strategies that can help insurers harness the true potential of these solutions to drive value and achieve sustainable growth.
1. Exceed customer expectations
In today's competitive market, attracting and retaining customers is a constant challenge for insurance companies. Economic pressures on households and the abundance of options in the insurance sector make customer loyalty a rare commodity.
One way to enhance the customer experience is to streamline the payment process by offering mobile payment options. With the increasing popularity of mobile devices, customers often have their smartphones or tablets within easy reach. By enabling secure biometric verification, pattern, or PIN-based payments, insurance companies can provide customers with a convenient and secure way to authorise payments directly from their digital wallets.
Consistent branding throughout the customer journey can also play a significant role in ensuring customers loyalty, by building recognition and brand awareness. Access PaySuite's payment software allows insurance companies to create custom payment pages that align with their brand's look and feel, instilling a sense of trust and reliability.
2. Use Open Banking to be more inclusive
While online payments offer easy access to digitally-savvy customers, those who lack digital skills could be excluded so it’s important for your payment systems to serve all types of customers through a range of channels and methods.
Open Banking is a new and popular payment method which provides an alternative to online card payments, enabling customers who do not have a card or prefer to make secure payments straight from their bank account.
3. Ensure your payment options are secure
The payment landscape is constantly changing with new regulations that must be complied with. Choosing a secure payment solution is critical if you want to avoid fines, lost business and reputational damage. When choosing a payment provider you should consider whether they are an accredited payment institution by the FCA and BACS and fully PCI compliant.
4. Reduce employee demand by automating admin tasks
Our payment software can help to enhance insurance provider efficiency through automation, streamlining payments, reducing errors, and freeing up employees for more valuable tasks.
It offers diverse payment options, improving the customer experience while reducing administrative burdens. Advanced reporting and analytics provide insights to optimize processes and make data-driven decisions, increasing efficiency and reducing costs. Automation of recurring payments ensures timely payments and better cash flow management. Overall, our payment solutions empowers providers to streamline operations, reduce employee demand, and deliver a seamless customer experience.
5. Offer multi-channel payment options
The nature of insurance payments mean that a multi-channel approach is essential to offer customers the choice they expect.
Whether it’s a one-off payment for an annual policy, creating a Direct Debit to make monthly payments, or allowing customers to pay over the phone while speaking to an agent, providing flexibility to make payments in method and frequency that is convenient for them can increase successful transactions and reduce drop-off.
Find out how Access PaySuite can help you to future-proof your payments processes.