The health insurance industry has historically struggle Low customer satisfaction and loyalty. Health plans have done little to improve their standing with consumers, a new report suggests, based on insurance executives themselves admitting their failures.
This ReportPublished Wednesday by customer engagement firm Smart Communications, it surveyed 119 health insurance executives during February and March. It found that the digital experience health insurers offer their members is disjointed, as insurers prioritize speed to market over availability.
This neglect of user-friendliness forces many health plan members to opt for offline channels for customer service. Health plan executives acknowledge that their digital experiences often generate more questions than answers, and agree that the frustration members feel when using these online tools has led to an increase in customer support calls. Still, the report cites Forrester Research showed that more than half of health plan members were dissatisfied with their phone interactions.
These suboptimal member experiences continue, in part because insurers fail to track members’ online journeys from start to finish. Fewer than 40% of insurers track in-journey and end-of-journey metrics, suggesting that insurers do not understand what members consider a successful online experience to look like.
At the end of a member’s online journey, about one-third of health plans say they track the number of calls a member makes about a problem, customer effort scores and retention rates. Insurers focus on metrics that show they are failing to measure moments in a member’s online experience, focusing instead on end-of-journey outcomes.
Some insurers believe that their lack of visibility into customers’ online journeys could negatively impact their business metrics. A full 47% of health plans say they don’t adequately track members’ emotions to understand how they are feeling while participating in digital experiences, and 48% say they don’t have data to understand how dissatisfied members are with these experiences impacting key performance indicators.
Most wellness plans have expressed a desire to increase members’ online engagement.However, reports suggest they may be avoiding hard work It is necessary to really engage with members and instead focus on easy-to-achieve goals.
For example, within the next three years, health plans say they intend to improve Members’ digital experiences focus on three areas: integrating applications and systems (68%), centralizing preference management to ensure members are reached through their preferred channels (65%), and improving language clarity in communications (59 %).
Instead of focusing on low-hanging fruit, the report urges, insurers should instead shift their efforts to initiatives that create seamless and easy-to-understand online journeys for customers.
Some health plans are starting to turn things around. E.g, blue cross and blue shield Minnesota cooperating Partnering with Castlight Health on Wednesday to launch a care navigation solution for its clients, it aims to simplify the digital experience for members by providing access to all health information in one online location.
Smart Communications CEO James Brown said the effort pursued by BCBS in Minnesota should happen sooner rather than later. Providing members with a more personalized and relevant online experience will help insurers build trust and loyalty among customers, he noted.
Photo: Alexei Naumov, Getty Images
