VvAA is the voice and support of more than 130.000 healthcare providers. VvAA offers healthcare professionals and healthcare organizations advice and services to support primary business operations and cover associated risks. This also includes offering insurance.
To check whether the insurance policies are still appropriate for the situation and future dreams of its customers, VvAA periodically carries out an insurance check-up. This presents a challenge. How does the insurer stay in touch with all its insurance customers?
To make this possible, VvAA has teamed up with Dialog Group Digital Colleague Joyce called in life. Guy Polman, Service Desk Manager at VvAA, talks about the challenges, experiences and successes of this chatbot.
Guy: We have 130.000 members, a large portion of whom are also customers. A few years ago, we wanted to speak with many of these customers in a relatively short period of time to check whether their insurance policies still suited their personal situation. However, operationally and financially, that was simply not feasible over the phone.
So we looked for a sustainable and structural solution that would not only apply to the customer group that we had not spoken to for a long time, but would also be useful in the future. After brainstorming several times, we arrived at a hybrid customer contact model.
With this hybrid model, we want to periodically reach as many customers as possible so that they make conscious choices about their insurance. On the one hand, we have a team of advisors ready to help and advise customers substantively. On the other hand, we use chatbot technology and customer case management to automate part of the customer process and support our employees.
We developed the final solution with the help of Dialog Group, behavioral psychologists, conversation designers, advisors, Customer Care employees and growth hackers. Thanks to this collaboration, process bot Joyce to life: a Digital Colleague.'
About Joyce, the Digital Colleague of VvAA
'Joyce is a process bot that discusses insurance products with customers. More than 40% of the customers who are invited complete the conversation Joyce in its entirety. This ensures that VvAA can provide valuable aftercare 24/7, without the traditional intervention of an advisor. By continuing to look for smart applications for processing customer conversations, VvAA saves time. And because Joyce actively contacts its customers on behalf of VvAA, the advisors have more time to conduct substantive discussions with the customers who need it.'
Start and adjust
'Guy: 'We started small in 2020, and then learned step by step Joyce to further develop. We have Joyce used for the first time for aftercare on our private liability insurance. This is a relatively simple insurance policy, which made the customer journey a good and effective starting point. We invited the seniors first; a customer group where we assumed that they would prefer to speak to an advisor. The opposite turned out to be true. Seniors liked the experience Joyce pleasant and ultimately gave her the highest grade compared to other age groups.
In addition, we saw that our customers appreciate that they are no longer dependent on the working hours of an advisor. Some of our customers work night shifts and you sometimes see that they go through their insurance check-up at 2 am. It sometimes happens that they are called for an emergency during the check-up, but then... Joyce automatically paused so that the customer can continue where he or she left off at a later time.'
The customer's feedback
'At the end of every insurance check-up ask Joyce for feedback. We also conduct in-depth interviews with customers. That way we can Joyce constantly develop and adjust and it quickly becomes clear where the bottlenecks are in the customer journey. We do this together Dialog Group, the behavioral psychologists and conversation designers. We sit around the table together again and again. Where does the customer get stuck, where do questions arise, does the call-to-action need to be adjusted or perhaps the content of the text?
We have now formed a good picture of how customers Joyce experience because thousands of insurance check-ups have already been completed. Our customers respond positively Joyce and that is extremely valuable for us, but also for the customer. When customers with Joyce go through an insurance check-up, they make a conscious choice about their insurance and desired coverage and they know what suits their situation. This means that all our customers are appropriately insured. That's our goal.
Advisors are very important
'We want to maintain periodic contact with all our customers, but this is not feasible for our advisors. Not even if we double the number of advisors. And the question is also whether that is necessary. Joyce, the feedback from our customers and the feedback from my colleagues have now answered that question.
With the help of our advisors Joyce now extra time for valuable conversations, and soon they will do this without having to go through all the customer's details before they can actually start the consultation. The advisor wants to ask questions that matter. How have you arranged your pension? What are your housing wishes in the coming years? What have you arranged if you unexpectedly become incapacitated for work? What are your plans regarding your retirement? That's the difference between Joyce and an advisor. An advisor can connect the complexity of these questions and thus provide the right advice to the customer, while Joyce is good at going through straightforward steps, such as checking certain coverage of a non-life insurance policy.
We are currently discovering how we can do things Joyce collected from the customer, can present it during a consultation. The advisor can continue where Joyce remains, the customer gains good insight into his situation and so the conversation can proceed more efficiently and effectively.'
"Because Joyce is so well used by our customers, we can provide large groups of customers with the service they deserve. At the same time, our advisors have sufficient time to have substantive conversations with customers who need this.”
Guy Polman, Service desk manager, VvAA
Digital colleague Joyce communicate about more complex insurance policies
'Some insurance policies are more complex and we are experimenting with how we do this Joyce can use for this. An example is disability insurance (AOV). We realize that it is important that the customer understands the impact of certain changes on his financial situation. But the AOV and the specific coverage is a complex matter that is not always immediately clear to customers. That's why it has Dialog Group made videos explaining some crucial things when they work together with Joyce complete the insurance. The videos are an experiment to explain in clear language what important aspects are when making choices regarding the AOV. And different from simpler insurance policies, says Joyce a number of audit questions to check whether it is wise for the customer to seek advice.'
How does a Digital Colleague become successful?
'When you use a chatbot like Joyce commitment, as an organization you have to think carefully about what exactly is needed. Where do you want to take control? Do you place this with the customer or with the organization? We have chosen to keep this to ourselves. We continue to do this Joyce to ask very specific questions, so that all important questions are answered by the customer and we can provide good advice. That ultimately makes it successful. A chatbot should never be a goal in itself, but a way that can contribute to effective and efficient service. Don't assume that your bot is perfect from day one. You have to remain curious, make adjustments and always ask yourself: have I actually been able to help the customer faster and better at the end of the process?'
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