New research analysing Australian buying preferences has found that, despite a huge uplift in the use of digital devices, consumers still place significant value on the human touch.
The 2019 Digital Consumer Report found that Australians of all ages are using digital devices significantly more at every step of the purchasing journey and consumers continue to lean on digital devices to conduct research before completing their purchase.
However, despite the rise in usage, the report found the consumers regularly abandon their digital devices once they reach the point of purchase – choosing instead to pursue human interaction.
This is particularly true when consumers are making complex decisions around financially significant purchases or to increase trust and confidence before committing to a purchase.
“While digital is on the rise, Australian consumers still desire human touch in specific instances to complement their digital interactions,” said Monica Wegner (pictured), lead of BCG’s customer centricity topic in Asia-Pacific. “Human touch provides valuable reassurance and assistance that complements the convenience and efficiency of digital channels.”
According to Wegner, one of the key takeaways for brokers is that customers still place significant trust in humans – and brokers can use that to their advantage.
“Continue to focus on building trust and helping customers navigate through the complexity of buying insurance,” she says. “These are the two of the top four factors that increase a customer’s desire for complementary human touch.”
Wegner also told Insurance Business that, due to the increased use of digital devices to conduct pre-purchase research, brokers should be prepared to serve a variety of different customers.
“Expect a greater spectrum of customers at the door – i.e. those that are well-researched as well as the more traditional customers who are looking to the brokers to educate them,” she said. “You need to be able to serve both and add value.”
However, Wegner also warns that while customers continue to place value on human interaction, they’re also going to expect more digital services – and brokers should be prepared to deliver.
“In general, expectations of customers are higher, as they are more used to using digital, on-demand services,” she says. “In addition to trust and navigating complexity, brokers should leverage automated tools for simpler requests, and deliver seamless experience between human touch vs real-time automated responses.”
In fact, Wegner predicts that, in the very near future, customers will come to expect multiple communication options as a bare minimum.
“This will be table-stakes, as customers are increasingly used to an omni-channel experience,” she tells Insurance Business. “In China, for example, leading intermediaries are using a combination of WeChat and specialised insurance underwriting apps that integrate video chat, facial/voice recognition, photo upload combined with computer vision to facilitate insurance sales.”
