Leverage Billing Systems to Increase Customer SatisfactionMajescoMastek facilitates this workshop designed to assist attendees in deepening their understanding about the connection between billing systems and keeping their customers happy.
Mike Andrews, SVP
Acquisition and Retention
From a Numerical Perspective:
• The cost of acquiring new customers can be up to 10 times the cost of retaining an existing customer.
• A small increase in retention rates can add millions to premium revenue, while an increase in lapse rates for unprofitable customers can dramatically improve combined ratios.
Small wonder that the ability to acquire and then retain the ‘right’ customer is the recipe for success for every insurance carrier
Are Your $$s Aimed at Acquisition or Retention?
• New product introductions designed for growth
• Expansion to new territories designed for growth
• Investments in new policy administration systems to stimulate growth
• Marketing dollars are typically aimed at acquisition of new customers
Just remember, another carrier’s new policy was moments before your
‘right’ customer. Take your existing customers for granted at your own risk because the barriers to switching keep
coming down e.g. switching rate for personal auto is 39%!
Do Your Customer Touch Points Attract or Repel?
• > 70% of all service center calls are billing related. What is your answer time?• Is the customer responsible for paying multiple bills you send?• Are your channel partners spending time fielding billing questions for you?• How are you presenting your bills and how are customers able to pay?
Invoice 1Policy
Inception / Renewal
Invoice 2 Invoice 3 Invoice nClaim
OR
Poor service in resolving billing issues is worse on customer retention than almost anything except poor performance in claims.
What is Your Situation? What would billing most improve?
Rank the area that would benefit most from a Billing application today
Innovate in addressing market needs
Operational Cost Reduction
Customer Retention
Agent Service
Customer Service
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4
*Based on 13 Online Survey Responses
Ranked 1- Highest , 5- Lowest
Input from Field…
“We take pride in our focus on Customer Service and we see the billing system as the most critical component of that. Most of the insureds will have 1 touch point with the Policy Admin System and we hope (with a big grin) that they won’t have any with the Claims System, but each one of them gets more than one bill during the term. Given that most inquiries are tied to billing or
billing related topics and given the sensitivity around $$ (especially in these tough times when low cost is a big
driver), an efficient Billing system that can manage customers based on their profile/behavior is critical for
the success of an Insurance Enterprise“
Operations Director, Large Regional Personal and Commercial Lines Carrier
Better Billing = Better Customer Service
• Create, manage, fulfill and strengthen a brand promise of convenience and trust
• Deliver personalized content, promotions, and experiences (and oh yes! A single bill!)
• Provide web-based self service and much more rapid response to call center interactions (insureds and agents!)
• Handle special situations during a call e.g. changing a pay plan/installment schedule to accommodate a long standing customer in a time of need!
• Others??
Enable customers /agents self service for 80% of their needs. Free up your valuable resources to delight them during that critical 20% of the time
But Wait…What is Your Reality Today?
• Inability to quickly deploy new billing plans • Lack of flexibility re: payment types -
ACH, Credit Card, EBPP, EFT• High difficulty and expense of maintenance • Difficulty of adding additional functionality• Poor reporting capabilities inhibit visibility into business performance • Limited support for targeted invoice messaging to alert customers of new
products and services that may be of interest• Extensive manual entry and little automated validation lead to invoice
inaccuracies and subsequent customer disputes • Carriers of ~$1B in premium average almost 4 billing systems
The Facts: <50% of carriers can support credit card payments. >25% of carriers say no changes to legacy billing systems due to difficulty/risk
What is Your Situation?
Unable to support customer and agent service needs
Inability to support innovation
Disparate systems leading to high maintenance cost
Compliance and reporting requirements unmet
Lack of flexibility to change or enhance billing rules (payment plans, due date calculation etc)
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5
Rank the biggest challenge in your Billing application today
Ranked 1- Highest , 5- Lowest
*Based on 14 Online Survey Responses
Building the Billing Replacement Business Case
• Improve customer service
• Consolidate Billing Systems for cost advantages
• Support new Line of Business
• Support new structure (direct v. agent bill)
• Support new channel (online)
• Support new payment type (cards, EFT)
• Others???
Rate which of these you would expect in a modern billing application
Vendor track record with complex integration
Existence of a configuration layer
Existence of a business process layer
Workflow that drives industry best practices
Mature reporting capabilities
Seamless Integration with other business applications (Industry standards used)
Calculation of Accounts Receivable
Web based Interface for each user group
Bundled in EBPP module
Support for various billing methods – Direct Bill/Agency Bill/Item Bill
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5
1= Very Important, 2= Important ,3= Nice to Have, 4= Not Important
*Based on 13 Online Survey Responses
Some Additional Detail
• Cash Application– Improved cash flow with faster payments– Automated or simplified cash reconciliation – Decreases lockbox fees (EBPP)– Payment validation and fraud prevention cuts payment issues
• Operational Efficiencies– Significantly reduce billing and payment transaction costs– Lowers print & mail costs– Fewer, but more ‘sticky’ customer service calls– Reduce cancel / reinstates– Lapse business that offers a poor return
• Customer Satisfaction– Provides improved customer choice in payment methods– Open all hours (web-based)– Immediate and reliable application of payment to accounts – Increased customer loyalty/retention– Significant capabilities to offer cross- and up-sell– Gain entry to customer email inboxes with bill notifications
• Other– Go Green – cut paper
Leverage the Power
CFO Considerations:• Improve operational efficiency and reduce costs • Ease-of-use and automated processing• Increase transparency in the process
CIO/CTO Considerations:• Reduce IT operational costs • Enterprise integration• Leverage common data-model
CEO Considerations:• Grow the business with no back-office overhead• Improve customer service experience and channel retention
Selling Change to the Corner Offices
Input from Field…
“Today we have sophisticated and demanding customers, insureds and agents, that are not willing to
adapt to our products or to how we do business. Instead we exist to satisfy their need or problem. I
think a key point to a billing system is that it must offer flexibility to changing customer needs, especially with insurance. We don’t provide anything tangible so the
“easier” we are to do business with or present transactions to the more apt we are to retain and keep
customers happy. Let’s face it most customers don’t understand their policy or endorsement, but an invoice
should be self explanatory from a customer viewpoint.”
Manager Billing Operations, Large Regional Commercial Lines Carrier
In Conclusion
1
2
3
Billing is a strategic tool for marketing and customer service
Carriers need to break free from the rigidity of existing systems
Insurance Carriers benefit greatly from functionally rich billing system through customer service and operational efficiencies
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