The appropriate implementation of conversational AI in the insurance industry can help smoothen the service for both the firm and the customer.

The insurance industry is associated with hefty paperwork, claim settlement, complex legal processes, and the responsibility to guard the life and worldly things linked to a person.

The industry is deemed to be one with the least innovative features, but conversational AI in insurance is changing this.

Conversational AI platforms have acted as the channel to redefine the industry and bridge the gap between the companies, customer and delivery expectations.

In fact, a study conducted in 2015 by IBM suggested that 95% of the surveyed insurance executives (who were familiar with cognitive computing) intended to invest in cognitive capabilities. At the same time, 85% suggested that it will have a critical impact on their business’ future. 

Buying insurance is no picnic and requires a critical decision that needs to be analysed thoroughly.

To add to this, in uncertain times like that of COVID-19, there can be a lot of confusion as well.

Suggested Reading: Insurance Chatbots In A COVID-19 World

This is where a conversational AI platform comes in.

It can simplify the complicated insurance process, provide relevant information, provide an omnichannel experience. Furthermore, it can improve sales and decrease cycle times.

In short, conversational AI plays a crucial role in making insurance accessible to everyone.

Here’s how conversational voice assistants are disrupting communication in insurance.

Role of Conversational AI in the insurance industry

Before we move to find the role of conversational AI in insurance, it is essential to know what conversational AI is?

To define in the simplest terms, conversational AI uses AI-powered technologies like chatbots to interact with people in a human-like manner. 

According to the research conducted by Juniper Study, the use of conversational AI chatbot in insurance will lead to cost savings of almost $1.3 billion by 2023, across motor, life, property and health insurance, as compared to $300 million in 2019.

This is just one of the many reasons insurance companies should consider moving to a conversational platform.

Before we move to other benefits, let’s look at the role conversational AI plays in this industry.

1. Personal digital assistant

A companies’ basic requirement is growth and for insurance companies, that’s through selling insurance. As a result, the company needs more personnel to sell and address customer questions.

But that, unfortunately, isn’t possible for various reasons. That’s why there’s a need for a personal digital assistant.

A conversational AI platform can read customer behaviour and understand their requirements efficiently. This way, this platform can act like your customers’ personalised digital assistant.

It will not only help the customer get insight into the insurance product but will also offer a personalised human-like approach to solving queries and be available on their preferred channels.

2. Quicker quotes

The need to purchase insurance can arise at any point in time.

And when a customer starts searching, they will need information on quotes that include all the coverage terms, tax benefits, returns, payment period, and return time for comparison.

The conversational AI chatbot can offer all the details by providing quotes according to the customer’s requirement.

Moreover, your chatbot can answer your customer’s questions on your website or your official WhatsApp number to give instant information.

Suggested Reading: WhatsApp Chatbot For Insurance With Top 13 Use-Cases

3. Easy to search for a policy

There are various insurance options available in the market and to search the policy that you seek is not simple. Equally important is that companies provide a platform where customers get 24/7 service.

The online conversational AI chatbots offer insurance variants and can also offer answers to repetitive questions most effectively.

Based on the customer’s requirements, the AI can suggest the best policies to the customer.

4. Better claim settlement based on database

In the case of insurance, the need for the claim settlement can arise at any time.

You can improve customer satisfaction, and hence loyalty if your customer doesn’t have to wait for an agent to be online.

The automated conversational AI can make the process of claim settlement faster and smoother.

First, it can create tickets 24×7. Second, it can ensure the customer is transferred to the right department and not waste their time.

Additionally, the rich database created can also provide greater information.

Overall, insurance settlement via a conversational AI platform allows time savvy and better service.

Suggested Reading: Customer Service: AI Chatbot Vs Humans – Which Is Better?

5. Lead generation and conversion

Undoubtedly, lead generation and conversion is the key to success for any business.

The conversational AI chatbot acts as the tool that generates and qualifies insurance leads.

A study by Harvard Business Review says that if a customer doesn’t get a response within 5 minutes, the chances of qualifying that lead decrease by 400%.

It is where conversational AI plays a crucial role.

Using a conversational AI chatbot, you can greet all your website visitors and ask them questions. It is all possible with the help of a chatbot for the Insurance company website.

Because of this improved way of asking questions, you can engage customers smartly. The answers will help you qualify leads and hand them over to your sales team.

This reduces the sales cycle as well.

Suggested Reading: Move Chats from Hi to Buy

So, while the insurance industry uses the conversational AI platform for various roles, the linked benefits from the same are also multiple.

Benefits of Conversational AI in the insurance industry

When an insurance company employs an AI chatbot, the benefits that it gets are many. We look at some of them below.

1. Better fraud detection and prevention

One of the biggest challenges with the insurance industry is that it faces over $40 billion of fraud per year.

With the use of a conversational AI chatbot, your company can reduce fraud to a great extent.

The use of a chatbot can help resolve the queries and safeguard the customer from falling prey to disguised transactions.

Suggested Reading: How to Use AI Chatbots for Fraud Detection

Likewise, insurance companies can add a layer of security to verify customers and authenticate transactions.

2. Stronger goodwill and brand image

By settling the customer queries in time and ensuring quick response, the insurance company’s goodwill and brand image increases.

When the customer service is faster, smarter and better, the brand image increases.

3. A higher degree of efficiency

A conversational AI chatbot addresses the customer problem most efficiently. In other words, conversational AI can resolve issues accurately, quickly and consistently.

It is one of the reasons why 74% of consumers would be happy to receive computer-generated insurance advice, and 78% would like to take investment advice from a virtual assistant, as suggested by Accenture.

4. Increased scalability

Scalability here refers to handling multiple queries at a time, quickly.

A conversational AI chatbot can answer up to 80% of customer queries which are frequently asked.

At the same time, it can reduce the load on Agents, who only get complicated queries.

This not only lets your company handle more customer queries in a shorter time, but also improves customer and employee satisfaction.

5. Reduced cost and time involvement

Cost and time are the two most important factors that businesses consider while employing any technology or for that matter, employee.

In the insurance industry, the cost of training and the time involved significantly reduces when the company adopts a conversational AI platform.

Research suggests that one can see a drop in per-query cost from $15-$200 (human agents) to $1 (virtual agents). That’s a big saving for a company.

Conversational AI: A better future for the insurance industry

Undoubtedly, conversational AI is one of the most prominent factors that has helped improve the insurance sector service quality.

Looking forward, the appropriate implementation of conversational AI in the insurance industry can help smoothen the service for both firm and customer. 

A report suggests that 64% of customers feel that 24/7 customer support is one of the best conversational agents’ features.

And this is just one of the many benefits of conversational AI and automation.

To conclude, conversational AI can help your meet customer expectations and provide delightful experiences.

Without a doubt, the use of conversational AI is a well-equipped journey that makes customer service simpler and insurance service smoother.

Verloop.io is one of the finest service providers that offer the conversational AI platform. We assist insurance companies in providing seamless service to the customers.