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Bringing elements of gamification, turning mundane tasks into game-like activities, could help boost retention and engagement with clients, an expert says.
Srikanth Venkatesan, market leader, insurance, APAC at Cognizant said that utilising gamification within an insurance business has the potential to increase retention rates and boost client engagement by allowing businesses to connect with customers in a less formal way.
“Fundamentally, gamification has the ability to transform ordinary experiences with the insurance industry into interesting and fun interactions that can help retain clients,” Venkatesan told Insurance Business. “There are over 16 million smartphone users in Australia; gamification in insurance has the potential to connect agents with customers on a much larger scale. This would significantly boost customer (or potential customer) engagement.”
Venkatesan said that gamification is a “powerful tool” for Australian insurance businesses to enrich their customer experience and focus business models to become more customer centric.
“Insurers are beginning to leverage gamification to establish or strengthen brands, engage and educate customers, and effect action. Gamification’s personalised environment can help insurers influence and even change behaviours in areas including health and wellness, wealth management and safe driving,” Venkatesan said. “In turn, this would encourage safer or healthier practices, leading to lower premiums and more transparent insurance policies.”
Venkatesan said that to start a gamification process within a business, the ideation process needs to be rooted in customer experience.
“From the get-go, the ideation process needs to begin with the mechanics of the game, and its alignment to business objectives, thereby leading to an unforgettable user experience,” he said.
From there, Venkatesan said that businesses should remember to clearly define a player’s, or customer’s, roles and goals as well as those of the business.
Firms should also ensure that users are actually engaged with the game as well as leveraging digital devices such as wearable technology to enhance the customer experience.
Finally, businesses should also look to combine “concrete business objectives with a robust game design” to build long-term connections with customers.
“By applying gamification techniques as part of their customer communications solutions, insurers will be able to transform mundane tasks and processes such as applications, policy renewals, claims and information updates into well-designed, interactive transactions that are user-friendly for customers,” Venkatesan said.
