We've "scene" it all--The SceneExchange Blog

Online Communities Article (web exclusive) for Claims Magazine

If you receive Claims Magazine's e-News, the top story is from none other than our own Chrisa Hickey. If you are into auto claims and online communities, this is the story for you (in fact, even if you just want to learn more about online communities, you'll come away better informed).

Let us know what you think of the article.

Follow this link to read it.

--Beth

Wall Street Journal--Increase in Auto Insurance=Decrease in Insured Drivers

The Wall Street Journal has reported that an average 8% increase last year in the cost of auto insurance in addition to the current economic troubles has led to a fourfold increase in drivers who allow their policies to lapse. Obviously there is a correlation between the two.

Different states have different takes. Here's a contrasting sample: Massachusetts: Managed competition means that who you are (income, marital status, home ownership) trumps how you drive. So you can be a good driver, but if you are a renter, that will work against you.

North Carolina:The Insurance Commissioner is requiring a 16.1% reduction in private passenger auto rates.

The upshot is that rate increases trigger people to look into obtaining new policies if they don't just let their coverage lapse. Insurance companies need to be proactive in helping their customers save money on the policies they have with them. It's cheaper to keep your existing customers than to land new ones. Protect your customer base and reach out to them during these uncertain times.

--Beth

Our CEO has an article published in Claims Advisor

Our CEO, Ian Cunningham, has an article that is appearing online in Claims Advisor. Here's the link.

The topic is Direct Repair Programs--Why Insurers Need Alternatives in Today’s Market.

He discusses the way web services can help insurers gain leverage, give customers greater control and keep shops happier. Since many auto insurers are seeking alternatives to direct repair programs because of their limitations and the threat of anti-DRP laws, the time is right to learn about the intriguing alternative that a Web-based repair service can offer.

We hope you find the article helpful and thought-provoking.

--Beth

Fraud - With Help from John Lennon

We've all seen the headlines - these are just from the last week:

Man Charged with Purchasing Insurance After His Accident

Man Going to Prison after Phony Car Fire Claim

Hawaii Auto Insurance Fraud Convictions up 61%

Sisters Charged with Fraud in Fake Crash

There are statistics and experts and studies out the wazoo that will tell you that insurance fraud is on the rise, driven by the falling economy, laxer morals than generations past, an up-and-coming young driving population, etc, etc.  Fraud hurts us all, insurer, shop, and consumer alike. 

Our friends over at the Insurance Fraud Blog have issued a challenge to our industry for 2009.  Here's an excerpt:

Insurers: Resolve to adopt a zero-tolerance attitude towards fraud. Provide adequate resources to your SIUs and recognize that a down economy is exactly the wrong time to cut back on anti-fraud activities;

Regulators: Resolve to seek greater uniformity in anti-fraud regulations from state to state, and ensure all insurers comply with anti-fraud requirements;

Consumers: Resolve to resist the temptation to inflate insurance claims; encourage your friends, family and co-workers to stay honest.

Read the entire entry, "You Say You Want A Resolution," by clicking here.

-- Chrisa

Notes from the CIC Planning Meeting

I'm sorry to say I'm back in Chicago, after spending three sunny days in Phoenix at the CIC 2009 planning meeting last week.  Lots of topics were covered, as always.  Here's a recap:

• New CIC Chairman Russell Thrall did an excellent job of keeping the large group on topic, keeping comments and discussions constructive, and setting up the group to delve into industry issues in 2009 and 2010.

• The industry issues are, I'm sorry to say, some of the same issues CIC and other organizations have been trying to tackle for some time, namely, steering, intra-industry relations, the shortage of technicians, and disparate DRP guidelines.  

• Toby Chess did a great presentation with firefighters from the Phoenix and Tucson areas about the importance of getting late model cars to firefighters so they can train on extrication procedures.  I was not aware than most firefighters and emergency response personnel haven't had the opportunity to train on cars built this decade.  The newer technology endangers both the first responders and the occupants of the vehicle of the proper equipment and methods aren't used to get passengers out of the car after a crash.

I have a question that came out of the meeting for me.  One of the topics that came up at the CIC meeting was that the chairman is not voted on by the population - gold pin sponsors or otherwise - but is selected by the past chairmen.  There was quite a bit of discussion on the fact that the Collision Industry Conference is a meeting, and NOT an organization.  But this "meeting" has a vision statement, a mission statement, and working committees and task forces.  Doesn't that make it a de facto organization?  I'd like your thoughts on that.

-- Chrisa

Business Technology Trends--Use Your Customers

Today I'm cribbing from an article published by the McKinsey quarterly that identifies eight business technology trends to watch. Their list is as follows:

1. Distribution co-creation
2. Using customers as innovators
3. Tapping into a world of talent
4. Extracting more value from interactions
5. Expanding the frontiers of automation
6. Unbundling production from delivery
7. Putting more science into management
8. Making business from information

Here is a link to their article. You may have to register to read it all (but that's free!).

Anyhow, I wanted to take a moment and chat about using customers as innovators. Chrisa and I have just finished writing an article for Claims magazine on the power of online communities (We don't have the publication date yet, but I'll try to remember to mention it once we know). While researching the article, I was struck by how much customers will help each other if you have provided an active forum where they can do so. Plus, active participation helps boost brand and customer loyalty.

If you pay attention to what they are talking about, it can help you identify trends. You can also handle customer service inquiries this way through active forum monitoring--regular posters may actually field questions before your CSRs get to them, preventing them from becoming bogged down.

Never underestimate how much people like to be the expert--and get creative about how you can build camaraderie. For example, a company that makes indoor rowing machines (which I used to work out on all the time in college) has over 150,000 logbook users. Each week they post photos and bios. of two of the users. They also have rowing challenges so people can post about reaching their goals as well as information about their workouts.

By reaching out to customers you can more easily pay attention to their suggestions as a springboard for development or refinement of a product. We do it here with SceneExchange. Feedback from users has moved several features up the to-do list because they let us know it would positively impact their experience. And we do want our users happy! I know you do as well.

I'd love to hear about experiences from anyone using an online community. Thanks!

--Beth

Insurers at Bottom of Consumer Experience Index

If you are a consumer dealing with insurance carriers or TV service providers, chances are you are very unhappy.

According to Forrester Research Inc's Customer Experience Index, 38% of firms were rated "poor" or "very poor" based on usefulness, ease-of-use and enjoyability. (This survey included responses from over 4,500 consumers)

So, what's going on here? Every firm's executive team will say something along the lines of "customer experience is crucial to competitiveness", but the reality shows they often fall short. How can firms address this gap during rough economic times? Nobody wants to start losing customers they have spent money to acquire.

Forrester has several recommendations for companies who want to keep their customer experience momentum going:

• Prioritizing the moments of truth that occur during customer interactions because they have the biggest impact on overall satisfaction, likelihood to repurchase and likelihood to recommend
• Seeking usability improvements to key customer touch points, such as Web sites, service emails and interactive voice response systems
• Increasing communication with employees to keep them apprised of any shifts in priorities, and engaged with overall customer experience efforts

This is good advice for the current turbulent times--what will your firm be doing to keep your customers?

--Beth

PS. The firm at the top of the Customer Experience List? Barnes and Noble.

Every wonder what Hank Greenburg really thinks? His mission to save AIG.

Here's a link to a very interesting interview from AM Best.

This is their overview of what's covered. Its worth the time to listen or read the interview.

Former AIG head Maurice R. "Hank" Greenberg doesn’t think much of the government’s original bailout; worries about his former employees but believes there's still a glimmer of hope. BestWeek’s David Dankwa interviews.

Post back and let me know what you think.

--Beth

Targeting Your Customers Via Social Media

As a follow up to my post about "couch commerce", I promised a rundown about how to decide what social media is a good fit for your target customers. Here's my how-to.

Create a Human Story

First of all, remind yourself that today represents entirely new ways to cultivate customers. Using social media is one way to facilitate interactions between people online. They make it easier to listen to and respond to people directly.

How can you humanize your company's story? Go deep into your target demographics and discover the people--and what is important to them about you and your industry.

(And be sure not to push your messaging at them--you have to bring value to the conversation. Think of social media as one big holiday party--who are the people you enjoy talking with the most? The ones who listen and ask you great questions about yourself--not the people who just talk and talk to hear their own voices.)

Evaluate your customers' habits

Ask yourself the following:

• Do you know what your customers are doing?
• Do you know if they are active with social media? If so, how active?

People online contribute in a myriad of ways. Here are several categories they might fall into (credit for these goes to Josh Bernoff at the groundswell blog)

• Creators--Create and publish their own content (in blog, video, photo, etc. format)
• Critics--React to the content of others by posting, editing and commenting
• Collectors--Organize content by organizing or voting
• Joiners--People on social networks
• Spectators--Reads and consumes some level of social content

Next, it's time to survey your customers to gain an understanding of their habits. This will give you a starting point--a baseline understanding, if you will. It will let you watch how they engage and behave.

The next steps are up to you and your company. First you need to determine if you have the resources and gumption to open things up for two-way dialogue. At our company, our management team was split about starting with social media. There was a great deal of fear about "what if people say bad things about us?". Now we all understand that a "bad" comment can be a starting point for making something better--or explaining why we did what we did. The point is that social media gives us the opportunity to have a conversation we might not otherwise have had.

Are you truly ready for social media? It takes time and resources internally, but the rewards are worth the effort.

--Beth

Unfair edge or the perils of the open market economy?

National Underwriter reports that the American Insurance Association has sent off a letter to Congress stating that "lawmakers must ensure money being given to companies under federal aid programs doesn’t allow them to compete unfairly with firms not taking U.S. funds."

Their beef, of course, centers around the intervention with AIG and the newly created Capital Purchase Program which has designated $250 billion to qualified companies (these are equity stakes). Currently, application is supposed to be limited to carriers which are subject to Federal regulation because they own a bank or have a charter as a bank holding company.

So, is this a good idea or a dangerous mix? If the government has equity in a company, won't they want those firms to be the most successful? Could this be what's commonly known as a conflict of interest?

In times of unrest such as these, does it make more sense to allow firms to fail or entwine them further with the government? What kinds of changes might this mean for a free market system? is that becoming an idea that only worked in the past? What are the solutions here?

I'd welcome opinions on this topic--thinking about it (and understanding it) is so important. So important that it's giving me a headache.

--Beth