Chapter 10 Flashcards
What do you call the insurance company employees who frequently provide service to customers face-to-face or through communication media?
customer service represenataitves
Define empathy
the ability to understand another person;s emotional state and imagine how you would feel in a smiliar siutations.
NAme some typical service activities perfoemed for customers by CSR
changing owner or bene changing address coverage changes determine cash valyes and loan/divided amounts changing policy features sending premium due noti changing billing arrangements answering questions on coverage amounts providing info about claim submissions, processing policy disbursements changing fuynd allovation reinstate lapsed policies
What are the benefits of high-quality customer service?
- attract new customers
- retain existing customers
- boost profitability
4, attract and retain successful financial professional - enhance the work environement
When customers are satisfied with a service they are more likely to do what?
renew and increase their current coverage and buy new products
what are some expectations customers have for life insurance companies in terms of customer service?
- self-service options
- online tools and resources
- fast resonse times, 24/7 availability
- opportunities to customize services
- support for multiple communications channels.
Training a new CSR can be extensive and typically includes what instructions/.
- company life insurance product,s operations and admini systems
- process for basic transactions and customer service request
- cummunication skills
CSR can be seperated into work teams- what does this mean?
group that consist of 2 or more people who work together on a regular basis and coordinate their activities to accomplish common goals.
Many CSRs are employed into customer contact centres. What is this?
organization unit that provides a company’s customers with a variety of changes- tele, fax, email.
Define traditional team
type of work team in which the manager or supervisor performs most or all of the management tast- such as organizaing, planning, monitoring, and controlling the work- as well as guman resource activites- such as employee hiring, training, evalutation, and motivation.
self-directed team
a type of work team in which team in which the members handle many traditional management responsibilities, such as planning and monitoring work.
Customer service activities can be divided into functional categories. NAme the groups.
- organization of product
- organization by territory
- organization by distribution system
- organization by customer
- organization by method of communication
- types of service request
What are some examples of support channels available to customers (forms of communication)
- telephone- call centers
- paper correspondence
- email- 24/48 hr response rate
- webside
Within the cystomer service function, CSRs can use the company’s computer networks and other information systems to preform what activities?
- route customer requests, access records, and document actions taken for requests.
- access helpful resources, CSR prodecures or informaiton about products
- retreive documents - applications/account statements
- review the status of transactions - changing address/policy loans.
insureres support call-related customer service by investing in computer telephone intefgration (CTI) definE this
refers tothe hardware, software and programming that integrate computers and telecommunication technology - to enhance the service and information provided to customers.
what is intelligetn call routine (ICR)
any automated process of analyzing and directing inbound telephone calls.
- uses information about the caller, the call, and the employees to determine which employee or work team will receibev which calls and when.
Many insurers use automatic call distributors (ACD) to route inbound customer contacts. What is this?
a CTO device that, at the most basic level, answeres telephone calls and directs them to a specifed employee or work team or a recorded message
DEfine Interactive voice response (IVR) systems
a computer-based technology that answrees telephone calls, greeets callers with a recorded or digitalized message and promps them to enter information or make request by voice or telephone keypad.
Why are IVR and ACD systems used?
to allow callers to either
1) obtain information or services from a menu of preferred options
2) transfer the appropriate person or unit for assistnace
What is speech recognitiion technology
enables a computer to recognize spoken words by converting them to human speech into a string of texts or program commands.
What is a screen pop?
delivers customer account information and relevant data to a CSR computer at the same time a the CSR receives a call from that cutstomer
The screen pop process begins with automatic number identification (ANI) what is this?
a technology that identifies an inbound telephone call by the caller’s tele or some other type of personal identifier.
What are some benefit to self-serve options?
- grant customers access to a comapny resources immediately and at any time, without need to wait for a CSR
- reduce the number of routine and repetitive transactions that a CSR have to handle, such a s looking up the amount of premium due for a customers policy
What is a client portal
a secure website where a customer can view, update and share private account information with a company.
What are the benefits/acitvities available to customers who use a customer portal
- complete and submit paperless application and claims
- check on the status of initiated transactions
- update contact and accoountinformation
- view bills and submit premium payaments
- review details of their in-force policies
- make some types of changes to their policies
- Use interactive services such - as online calculators- to determine their financial needs.
insurers may also offer self-service options to fianncial professionals through portals specifically designed to allow them to do what?
- obtain information about company and products
- print copies of marketing materials
- download interactive software then aid them in sales prep
4 view information about compensation - obtain information, complete forms, and submit changes onbehalf of their customers
- check status of transactions they have submitted
- review records of policyowner correspondence.
What techonolgy would a company use to accomodate the results of customers wanting to communication online?
- video conferencing- electronic communication in which partitipants can see and hear another face-2-face.
- mobile technology- apps,
- social media- form of electronic communication that allows users to connect to a network to share and exchange informaiton and ideas with other users who are also connected to the network- in a contributing factor in customers icnreased expectations of connectivity and immediacy.
What can companies relay to their customers via on line social media?
- inform customers of new products and promotions
- educate customers on how available products can meet their needs.
- answer questions from customers
- address customer complains or concerns
- learn what products or features customers want
- reach out to new customers
- create a sense of community
What is omnichannel service?
form of customer service that enables personalized interactions between a company and its customers through multiple, integrated communication channels.
What are the benefits to insurance companies for using ominichannel services?
- communicate through preferred channels
- communicate the right information
- communicate the right times
to acheive true omnichannel service, IT progessionals are increasignly turning to responsive web design. What is this?
creates one vision of a website that adapts content to the device use to view it.
What do insurance companies use data analytics for?
- evaluate the quality of their call centre interactions
- analyze procedures
- analyze why they may be loosing customers
- identify strategies for increasing customer retention
- determine ways to improve their customer service training.
how does customer service help fulfill the isnures’ contractural obligations?
- handling request that pertain to customers rights
2. processing those request according to the terms of the contract and the applicable laws and regulations.
CSR’s that are knowledgeable of the company’s processes and procedures reduce what risks to the company?
- errors
- lawsuits
- fraud,
- watch compliance issues that are important such as complaint management and customer privacy
What are some examples of common complaints related to customer service?
- missing/delayed responses to customer inquirires and requests.
- issues involving premium notices, premium billing and/or premium refunds.
- unsatisfactory or confusing answers to policy coverage questions.
Whay do insurers do with their complain docummentations?
submitted them annually to the state insurance departments for examinations.
What is some typical information that is documented for complains?
- name
- date /time
- source of complaint
- name of the complaining party/account details
- complaint it’s self + comments
- company units involved
- nature of the issue/cause of ciomplaint
- company units responsible for resolving the complaint
- written acknowledgement of the compalin
- referals to the complain from the legal or compliance unit
- actions taken to investigate the complaint
* complains that are unresolved- status of hanlding - companies decision on the resoliution
