One of your key roles as an insurance agency is managing claims. You need to do so efficiently and effectively. Not only does this ensure client satisfaction, but it is also essential to running your agency smoothly.
The following tips should help you manage claims more effectively, improving your client experience and the workflow.
Confirm Your Policies Are Clear
One of the most important things to do is to ensure that your policies don’t have any impractical or ambiguous terms. You want your clients to be aware of all of the terms of the policy and to understand them all.
As an insurance agency, you want to be in the habit of stress-testing the policies you sell. Essentially, you want to confirm that they work as expected. During this process, look for potential coverage gaps, points of clarification, or anything else.
Remember that your goal here is to discover any potential issues before you run into them while managing a claim. That will reduce the stress on your clients and your agents.
Pay Close Attention to Wording
Depending on the policies you sell, you may not have much control over their phrasing. If you do have control over it, however, work to make it as clear as possible. Use phrasing that clients will understand instead of technical jargon.
If you can’t control the wording of the policies, then offer guides or even “translations” for your clients. There is always a way to clarify the policy.
Understand the Important Parts of a Claim
To effectively manage claims, you also have to be aware of what it means to manage them effectively. Think about what the clients want from the claim process. They want you to confirm they are covered quickly and provide them with any additional details. Then, they want prompt payments, potentially interim payments if possible.
One of the most important factors from your client’s perspective is that the entire process is clear. They want to know what paperwork, photos, and other documents to submit. They want to know when to expect confirmation that they are approved and when to expect payment.
Prioritize Communication With Clients
You’ll notice that the most important parts of claims for clients revolve around being informed. The best way to keep clients informed about their claims process is with open communication. Make it a point to send clients updates throughout their claim process and have multiple contact methods. Insurance agency management systems like Jenesis can help with this.
Give Your Team Enough Time to Talk to Clients
Part of keeping the communication with clients open is ensuring that your team has enough time to do so. While processing more claims is important, you will see better long-term results if you process somewhat fewer claims but your clients are happier with the process. You will have to find the perfect balance and give your team the freedom to prioritize their responsibilities.
And Communication Within Your Agency
You also need to prioritize the communication across your teams. For example, underwriting and claims teams need to be in contact nearly constantly.
Communication within your agency goes beyond this. If you have one person assigned to handle a client’s claim, what happens if someone else answers the phone or that person is out of the office? Keep communication and organization clear with your insurance agency management system.
Look at Claims Data
No matter the type of insurance claims you deal with, looking at data on past claims is a crucial part of managing them effectively. As with any other part of running your insurance agency, the data from claims will help you identify room for changes.
For example, data on processing times for claims can help you determine if the process is efficient enough or you have to speed it up somehow. Data from customers on satisfaction, or even suggestions and comments from clients, can also highlight areas for improvement.
You can also just look at the data related to the types of claims you process the most and the steps involved. This can give you a better idea of where you need to focus your team’s efforts. You don’t want to spread your team evenly across all types of claims if one has three times the volume of another. The claim type with higher volume would end up with much longer wait times.
And Productivity Data
While looking at data, consider looking at productivity data as well. This can help you understand if your team is following protocols and policies effectively and prioritizing tasks in the right order.
Conclusion
With the right claims management, you will find your team working more effectively. Your clients will also have higher satisfaction rates, reflecting positively on your insurance agency. Use the tools available at your disposal, look at data, and keep communications open.