What can Amazon, Google and Facebook teach advisers?

One of the positives to emerge from lockdown and the Government’s Covid-19 regulations has been the acceleration and pace in which technology has been adopted and accepted as the norm.

Video calls are now a part of daily life and as advisers work towards growth, technology and data will play a pivotal role in driving that strategy.

The world’s largest and most successful firms are all technology focussed but what can advisers learn from the likes of Amazon, Facebook and Google?

The answer lies in data.

All three of these organisations are data-led, it informs every decision in the business, influences customer behaviour and drives sales.

Advisers are sitting on a goldmine of data for their own clients and prospects and by applying some of the techniques employed by the world’s biggest tech firms they can use it to drive sales. However much data you hold on a customer, the real value is driven from the way that data is organised and applied.

Over the last three years, Paymentshield has taken a technology-led approach to build its unique adviser hub to bring all this data under one roof and empower advisers to make data-led decisions and maximise the opportunities available to them.

The adviser hub offers advisers a personalised and transparent dashboard to view items such as renewal premiums, client cancellations and the reasons behind it. Accountability plays a huge part of the hub with analysis for advisers on how much of their book is being retained.

Ultimately, the more we know about our customer, the more personalised and tailored approach we can make.

An example of this clever use of data would be clients that were quoted a policy eleven months ago but opted for a different provider. These cohorts of potential clients are now currently exploring renewal and present an opportunity for advisers to reignite the conversations of last year.

Alongside the changes to adviser hub, Paymentshield has recently invested in chatbot technology to improve the customer experience with tech provider Helpshift.

Chatbot technology can help support customers by enhancing customer experience by providing customers with instant answers to queries, removing the time and effort requirement of ringing a contact centre. This frees up the skilled contact centre operatives to handle the more complex customer queries.

However, for chatbot technology to truly work for the customer, an omnichannel approach is needed. The biggest frustration for customers using chatbots is failed technology and the feeling of being trapped in a never-ending circle of automated responses.

Chatbots work best when developed with clearly defined parameters on what queries it is responsible for, such as advice on where and when to get help for mid-term adjustments or signposting to the most common customer journeys. Chatbots also need seamless integration with a live chat with contact centre advisers who are able to deal with complex queries.

As the implementation of the chatbot technology progresses, it will allow us to gather data on the typical customer enquiries to create a feedback system for advisers to help them understand what areas they need to cover offer when engaging with the customer.

A digital journey doesn’t have a finish line but keeping the customer front of mind in every step will ensure you keep on the path to success.