Insurance chatbots are becoming more and more accepted
In the business world, chat and chatbots have clearly become popular communication channels. A study by the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts shows that insurance companies, too, are increasingly turning to chat as a way to communicate with their policyholders. Acceptance is growing—but not all customers are enthusiastic about it yet.
"Hello, I am Clara, a chat robot and your digital assistant. Do you have a question?" That's the kind of friendly greeting you get on the website of a leading Swiss insurance company. Chats and chatbots are increasingly being used by insurance companies to get in touch with their policyholders. So far, however, the number of customers who use chat as a communication channel with their insurance company is still rather small, as a study by the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts shows. But this is not necessarily due to a lack of acceptance, notes Sophie Hundertmark. She is a study author and chatbot expert at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts and has conducted a survey of more than 1,500 insurance policyholders to investigate how the use of chats and chatbots is developing in insurance companies' customer communications. "Many insurance companies do use chats and chatbots, but do not yet dare to display this channel prominently enough on the website," says the expert. The insured often do not even know that their insurance company can also be reached via chat.
Man or machine?
Who do policyholders prefer to chat with? With a real person or with a machine? "The human is usually still preferred over the automated chatbot," says Hundertmark. This is particularly the case with older customers, he said. The younger the insured, the greater the willingness to chat with a machine. The HSLU study also shows that acceptance of chat and voicebots depends heavily on the type of request or customer inquiry. When it comes to mundane concerns such as inquiring about the status of a claim or submitting an invoice, humans are least needed. "In such cases, robots are perfectly acceptable as conversation partners," says Hundertmark. The appearance of the artificial interlocutor also has an influence on its acceptance.
"The younger the target group, the more important it is that the chatbot has its own name," says the expert. The ability to speak in dialect is also increasingly desired by younger people.
Communication also via Whatsapp and Co.
Customers want to communicate with their insurance companies not only via the company's own channels - such as the chat window on the website. Communication via independent chat messengers such as Whatsapp and Co. is also becoming increasingly popular among insurance customers.
"For interaction with their insurance company, customers like to stay on the channels they already use frequently in their everyday lives anyway," explains Sophie Hundertmark.
The results of the HSLU study show: The chat channel is becoming more and more accepted by insurance policyholders - even if actual use is still rather small at the moment. According to Hundertmark, chats and chatbots are not yet a must-have for insurance companies. However, she emphasizes: "In the future, the chat channel could become an important success factor - especially for reaching younger target groups. Insurance companies should at least consider this form of communication."
The whole study is available for download available.
