5 reasons for video consulting: multi-experience puzzle piece

Jeremy Kehrli
02.09.23
22:37

The omni-channel approach in insurance and banking sales: video consulting as an important piece of the puzzle for a seamless multi-experience experience

Nowadays, it is essential to provide a consistent and personalized customer experience across different sales and communication channels. An effective omni-channel concept allows insurance companies and banks to meet this challenge and offer customers a consistent service, whether digitally, by telephone or in person. The integration of video consulting, which has become increasingly important since the pandemic, is an important element for a seamless customer journey.

What do we at Pragmatica understand by Omni-Channel resp. Multi-experience?

The targeted management of channels and the customer experience ensures a consistent customer experience at all touchpoints with a seamless transition between the various sales and interaction channels. The approach is characterized by consistent outside-in thinking and action – i.e. from the customer’s perspective and not from the inside-out.

Physical, telephone and digital sales and interaction channels are linked in such a way that customers can choose the most convenient way (channel) to make a purchase or interact at any time based on their personal preferences and current concerns. Switching between channels is seamless and possible without any problems while maintaining the same level and quality of service.

What are the difficulties in implementing an omni-channel strategy?

Once the strategy has been defined, planning and implementation pose many challenges due to the complexity of the project. Here are some of them:

Change in sales culture and management buy-in
The introduction of an omni-channel strategy often requires an adjustment of the sales strategy. Management must support this change. Employees need to understand why an omni-channel approach is essential today and what benefits the approach brings for them and their customers. It is crucial that all departments and employees support and contribute to the idea of the omni-channel customer experience. Sales staff must be trained accordingly in the use of the new processes and tools.

Channel selection and product design
Choosing the right channels is key to an effective omni-channel strategy. It’s not about offering and playing on many channels, but rather selecting the right ones. On the one hand, the overarching strategic objective is decisive. On the other hand, it is crucial to determine where the targeted customer groups move, which products they are looking for on which channels and when/where the so-called “point of need” arises. All these factors influence the choice of channel and therefore also the product design and product mix.

Process integration
In many cases, the integration of different channels also requires a redesign of internal workflows and processes in order to ensure a smooth flow of information and a consistent, high-quality customer experience. The challenge here is to overcome any silos and optimize the process design as end-to-end as possible and in line with the overarching customer journey and then roll it out in such a way that the existing daily business is not negatively impacted or jeopardized.

Technological integration
Many insurers and banks have complex and historically evolved IT and legacy systems that are often not or not fully integrated with each other. The successful implementation of an omni-channel strategy requires seamless technological integration of sales and communication channels. This is usually a complex, time-consuming and resource-intensive undertaking, as different systems and platforms have to be synchronized in order to process customer data, inventory information and transactions effectively.

Data consistency and quality
The consistency and quality of customer data are crucial for a successful omni-channel strategy. It is important to ensure that customer data is consistent and up-to-date across all channels. This requires thorough data cleansing, merging data from different sources into a “golden source of data” and, if necessary, the implementation of an effective customer relationship management (CRM) system. The challenge is to ensure that customer data is consistent to enable personalized offers and seamless customer service.

Room for improvement throughout

Our market analysis has shown that health insurers are several steps ahead of the rest. Nevertheless, no insurer convinced us unreservedly across all the points examined. So there is still room for improvement, even among the pioneers.

We are convinced that the advisory process of the future will require a hybrid approach, especially for products that require intensive advice. Video advice is an effective piece of the puzzle that makes it possible to experience personal advice from anywhere. However, it is not enough to simply transfer a physical consultation to the video channel. Rather, video consultations must be seen as a new form of consultation. And this requires new approaches and solutions to offer customers a personalized and seamless experience.

What can you expect from Pragmatica in terms of video consulting and omni-channel strategy?

We contribute all our experience from numerous past mandates in the context of channel and experience management as well as video consulting. We support you in the development, definition, planning and implementation of an omni-channel strategy and show you how you can achieve a great deal with small investments, for example in your video consulting skills. Contact info@pragmatica.ch for a non-binding exchange with us