Insurers' digital maturity stunted by lack of resourcefulness: Study

According to the J.D. Power 2019 Insurance Digital Experience Study, specific areas where insurers come up short when compared with mainstream digital consumer companies are with ease of shopping and servicing their policies, household-level policy management and inconsistent use of social media.

Following are key findings of the 2019 study:

• Mobile apps gain traction as preferred account servicing channel: Satisfaction with account servicing experience is higher among customers who use the mobile app channel than among those who use a desktop or smartphone website to interact with their insurance company. Overall satisfaction with mobile app service experience is 12 points higher (on a 1,000-point scale) than last year. Currently, 74% of insurance companies evaluated in the study offer the ability to access and manage policy and claims information via a mobile app.


• Insurers' digital maturity stunted by lack of resourcefulness: While most companies' websites are highly responsive and meet brand standards, they fall short on delivering the types of expanded self-service tools, integrated digital communications functionality and contextual insurance information that would put them on par with leading websites in other industries.


• Watch for insurtech partnerships in the months and years ahead: Insurtech start-ups are affecting the traditional insurance marketplace by providing customer-centric digital solutions and money-saving process efficiencies for insurers. Many traditional carriers, such as Nationwide, American Family and Allianz, have already partnered with insurtech start-ups—and more collaboration is expected.

"Digital has become so important to the modern insurance company by delivering two essential characteristics consumers seek from carriers: ease and accessibility," said Tom Super, Vice President Property and Casualty Insurance Intelligence at J.D. Power. "In many cases, mobile apps and insurer websites are the primary faces of these consumer brands. As consumer behavior continues to evolve, insurers must keep pace as part of their overall distribution strategy or run the risk of irrelevancy."