The industry needs to get better at using data for cross-selling and upselling opportunities, according to expert panel
A key facet of insurance firms’ digital journeys, according to the webinar panellists, lies in using a customer relationship management (CRM) system – such as Salesforce – to better understand customers.
In turn, this facilitates the cross-selling and upselling of relevant insurance products to existing customers, rather than constantly focusing on the hunt for new clients. Goodman added that many insuran
ce businesses do not upsell enough due to “disparate” back end systems and too many data silos.
Katie Scott Insurance Times 4th Feb 2021
Turner agreed, noting that the insurance industry has “always been bad” at cross-selling; he believes that personalisation and data is critical if firms want to improve their upselling capabilities.
For Sam White, chief executive of Freedom Services Group, Action 365, Pukka Insure and Freedom Brokers, underpinning the use of CRMs to flush out useful data for cross-selling and upselling opportunities is a “mindset challenge” that first needs to be rectified.
A modern day platform like HUGHUB delivers the cross-sell and upsell capabilities by engaging with the customers in a data-driven manner. Reminders at the right time with the right personalised message in dashboards delivering value to the customer.
CRM is not of course just for selling and managing policies; it is as much a part of the claims teams spotting opportunities to cross sell and upsell. Only, claims is often seen as just a cost centre rather than a profit centre.
Scott writes:
"White added that insurance businesses need to start by reviewing what product features customers actually want – she believes that many insurance products are built by underwriters to manage risks rather than “delight customers” and that a two-way conversation between firms and customers is needed in order to encourage “organic evolvement”.
This was reinforced by Rob Smales talking about the transformation of claims management at Ageas in CMI way back in 2015
“As well as looking into academic research, I also took inspiration from my background in mining and, particularly, from a visit to the Jaguar factory in Browns Lane in 2002. In essence, what I took from that visit was how the production line was organised by customer, not by type of car. From this I developed the concept of ‘manufacturing’ claims to the bespoke needs of each customer and not assuming all motor claims or home claims are the same."
Combining platforms like HUGHUB and 360SiteView gives you a complete, customer focussed insurance platform fit for purpose for this decade rather than trying to update the last decades. And the optimal mix of automation and human empathy and intuition.
The insurance sector is currently competing in a “digital arms race”, as firms look to better use data to switch from a “policy-centric” approach to being “customer-centric”, said Benjamin Turner, strategic account director at Salesforce.
