Adapting motor to an ‘electric’ world

Brokers are looking at ways to make “service” a unique selling proposition following the Financial Conduct Authority’s ban on price walking, as they increasingly consider how they can differentiate themselves.

Competing on price

Non-fault claims conversion is an important key performance indicator but is typically used more to forecast income than to reduce claims spend. If your claims partner increases conversion by reducing leakage, they are not only allowing you to control the customer journey better – but are also diverting claims spend and resource cost away from the underwriter.

Brokers who closely manage their supplier relationship can benefit from having access to accurate data to make better informed decisions. Some of our broker partners work closely with us by having regular reviews to quickly identify data trends to improve conversion and service.

The service behind the product

Some brokers shy away from referring to service on their website or having a dedicated claims section on their site’s homepage, but managing the claim is an important customer touchpoint, where customer satisfaction and broker reputation can be won or lost.

Consider Amazon’s approach, where customers look at three things: the product, the price, and the reviews. Customer reviews on brokers’ websites would provide reassuring third party endorsement, and brokers could work with their claims providers more closely to use customer feedback to promote their marketing messages to enhance reputation and brand.

Net Promoter Score, Trustpilot, Google Reviews and Facebook are the go-to social media channels for measuring customer service success. Brokers could use these tools to communicate an NPS score of 65 or Trust Pilot review of 4.7, for example.

These measurements should be standard service levels for the claims’ supplier, who can track social media feedback and use the intelligence to continually improve the broker’s service offering. Customer testimonials shared with the broker are a priceless commodity for marketing assets and raising brand awareness as a service leader.

Digitisation

Some brokers are now looking at improving their claims reporting channels to provide their changing demographic with digital options to report and deal with accidents.

Insurers – and some accident management providers – are making huge investments in self-service applications that enable customers to report and manage an accident without having to speak to a person in a call centre. While some customers prefer dealing with a human in situations that can be emotional, others prefer to do everything online themselves. The demand for digitisation and automation is growing, particularly among the younger demographic.

If brokers are hesitant in investing in self-service technology, an alternative would be to partner with an outsourced provider who is already on the digital transformation journey. Most partners have the ability to white label and dual brand propositions, so consider exploring opportunities to tailor your offering via an outsourced claims partner.

Electric Vehicles – a changing world

The emergence and growth of hybrids and electric vehicles is moving fast. Battery Electric Vehicles are becoming more popular, accounting for 11.6% of new vehicle registrations in 2021 – up from 6.6% in 2020, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders. When you also include plug-in hybrid electric vehicles , hybrid electric vehicles, and mild hybrid electric vehicles, the share of the market for greener vehicles grew from 24.7% in 2020 to 39.4% in 2021.

But only one in 100 vehicles on UK roads are plug-in – a long way off the Government’s aim of to get to one in three by 2030. Brokers should use the transition to EVs as an opportunity to educate customers about cost, range and charging infrastructure to help overcome any uncertainty towards EV adoption.

Currently, there are not enough insurance products for EVs as brokers and underwriters lack data to predict accidents and repair costs. Brokers can create the demand, source data from EV vehicle suppliers, and work in partnership with underwriters to take more calculated risks.

In today’s evolving motor insurance market, supporting customers by offering specialist knowledge and tailored EV products will help brokers improve retention and attract new business.

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