AIA Vitality
 
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Group Insurance Summit wrap
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Driving consumer-centricity
 
 
 
 
 

In this digitally-driven and therefore more transparent age; the rise of the consumer continues to prevail. During this case-study rich panel session, industry leaders shared how they are recalibrating their organisations to become more member-focussed, with measurable success.

Examples shared on the day of practicing a ‘members-first’ approach included reducing decision times and improving the claims process to be less member-generated and paperwork-heavy – which previously delayed turnaround times.

Interestingly for this digital age – Peter Mann, national specialist workplace super and group life at IOOF – said their member teleservice is proving to be a very popular option.
Other member-led measures spoken of, included providing more background information on statements to better engage members, and boosting online capabilities. In fact, by boosting these capabilities, it “tripled volumes overnight, sending a clear message on how members want to engage,” said Noel Lacey, Head of Insurance, complaints and compliance line at Cbus Super.

Perhaps the most surprising insight came from Beth Parkin, general manager customer service at REST Industry Super. Beth spoke of the digital service activities being undertaken through her role, including the release of a new digital statement, which “saved members $900,000 year-on-year in print costs, and was sent to 1.4 million members in 2016, out of a total two million members.”

Here is the surprise stat she shared that raised a few eyebrows on the day: 85% of pensioners “opted to go digital.” This statistic goes a long way to prove that digital distribution is not bound by age and limited to only younger members. In fact, Beth went on to share that their virtual agent – a chat bot called ‘Roger’ – is now embedded into these digital statements to spark live conversations for member support – and currently yields 95% customer satisfaction.

Beth summarised the decision to embrace digital as a reflection of the fact that “91% of customers every day go to our digital channels first-up.”

Lastly, Kelly Smith, general manager administration and insurance at HESTA, shared her human-centred design journey across the past 12 months, which put members’ real-life needs and frustrations at the centre of future planning. Over the course of multiple workshops, Kelly and her team – alongside members in the same room working closely together with them – built four iterations of a digital prototype, made 50 changes to another prototype based on member feedback, and tested seven new insurance concepts.

The biggest learning however was the empathy-based interview process, which brought the realities of the customer journey much closer to home than ever before for Kelly and her team. There were profound and often emotional insights shared from members – sat directly opposite them. This resulted in practical changes to the member experience – such as limiting the amount of communications going to member during chemotherapy periods, given the inevitable ‘chemo fog’. Human-centric decisions such as this, have gone onto measurably reduce customer complaints overall.