Studies and predictions around customer engagement and behavior trends focus on the empowered, online consumer. Forbes and Marketo cite that consumers expect super-personalized communications, consistent multi-channel interactions and sleek efficient tools. Payers are hit with delivering against these heightened expectations while responding to a host of new regulatory requirements. Luckily this double whammy has a silver lining; the technologies and tools that consumers demand can improve subscriber loyalty and the bottom line.
Customer Requirement #1: Enable Access to Information
Nearly three quarters of American adults research health information online. Thanks to smart phones and portable devices we almost always have answers within seconds and consumers want the same capabilities when it comes to health. The Personal Health Record (PHR) is a staple that all Americans should, and eventually will, have access to. The PHR has the capability to empower patients to improve health outcomes through better understanding their conditions, and where guided, taking actions to advance outcomes. This is inherently beneficial to payer companies and once consumers are familiar and happy with a tool such as a PHR, loyalty will increase.
Getting there: Create a roadmap and strategy for rolling out health information with a cross functional action group. Determine what capabilities you have today to share health information and invest in cost effective, customer engagement platforms that enable you to share health information subscriber's demand, from physician rating tools, to regional health trends and PHRs.
Customer Requirement #2: Give me Tools to Improve my Well-Being
More than ever people are investing in tools to help monitor and improve their health and those of their loved ones. Sixty percent of American adults track their weight, diet and/or exercise routine, and 33% track health indicators or symptoms. Almost half of these trackers concede that this monitoring "has changed their overall approach to maintaining their health or the health of someone for whom they provide care". With the majority of Americans owning a smart phone and 85% using the internet there is enormous potential to create mobile and online applications to further enable patients and caregivers. From building applications that help subscribers find the nearest in-network specialist to setting medication reminders to collaborating with fit-bit applications to alert patient of gaps in meeting activity goals, the options are endless.
Getting there: Payers should engage their customer satisfaction team to determine what customers are asking for and what they are frustrated with. Identify a project that will help solve an immediate customer need and enable the business. Work with a team that understands mobile and/or online tools as well as your network partner to design a secure, user friendly, and responsive solutions.
Customer Requirement #3: Give me an Option to Speak to a Real Person
Payers report that the majority of normal caller traffic is driven by subscribers and physicians' offices inquiring about claims status. Many additional callers have questions about which physicians are in network, what services are compensated for and what their deductible status is. All of these questions, could be answered far more cost effectively by improving access to information and developing online tools as articulated above. Call center personnel will always need to be available to answer more complex questions, help confused customers and in some cases just offer a 'live voice'. SIP based contact center solutions offer the flexibility and scale payers need to manage cyclical volumes of callers as well as deliver against required cost savings.
Getting there: Work with your communications and IT teams to determine current solutions and gaps in your contact center solution and engage your network and telecom partners to explore what other solutions may help you improve customer and staff experience while minimizing costs.
The payer landscape is amidst major change however, technologies and tools exist to help in the transition. Consumers want the same access to information that they have in the rest of their lives and they want tools that help enable them to better manage their health and care outcomes. Both of these trends can help payers improve customer loyalty and the bottom line, so get your internal teams talking about how you can make this happen.