Insurance call center agents ignoring complaints? Leads to low NPS

Insurance companies have been around since the beginning of time and are still doing business today. They have evolved over the years but their core values remain the same. These three core values are integrity, service and trust. If these three core values are not upheld then they can lose customers.

Integrity means that the company has no hidden agenda's and is honest with its clients. Service means that everything that is promised is delivered. Trust means that the customer feels comfortable enough to entrust their hard earned money with the insurance company, and hopes to be supported when such a need arises.

Call Center Agents

A call center agent's job is to sell products and services. They are not trained nor expected to provide customer service. This is the responsibility of the company that owns the product or service, or perhaps a different team. If a call center agent does not know how to answer questions about the product or service they are selling, they should refer the caller to someone who can help them. A call center agent's job ends once they have sold the product or service to the customer.

Missed services to Retention Issues

Agents are busy finishing their targets, which may mean they may not care about customer complaints heard during a renewal call. For a customer, having told about their problem to a representative of the company, they expect it to be solved. The end result is a frustrated customer who feels that the insurance company is unresponsive

Even if a customer does not switch providers, net promoter score (NPS) will be impacted.

As a client, if their experience does not match what was promised, then they may consider switching providers

What to do?

Call center agents can be taught to take care of issues as they come in, but this may not be feasible, as you want your agents focused on sales. Additional training may increase the cost of on-boarding new agents. Transferring call to a customer service agent may be possible, but how frequently does that happen?

An integrated automated voice conversation system (such as Qualyon), that can handle the job of a call center agent, as well as a customer service agent, may be the way forward.

Call for Action

Insurance organizations need to put themselves in a customer's shoes to understand that it is a real problem. Imagine having to request for something that you are rightfully entitled to, and not receiving it despite repeated assurances. Even if a customer does not switch providers, net promoter score (NPS) will be impacted. Not a happy situation for any organization

Luckily, embracing AI based technologies offer a solution to this problem