- Carriers and AI both made shopping easier for insurance consumers
- Insurers use AI to develop customer retention models
- Policyholders look to brokers' evaluations of insurance products
Insurers are looking to AI for an edge in retention, enabling them to hold onto a customer base that finds it easier than ever to switch carriers online, according to industry executives.
Agentic AI, combined with greater ease of getting insurance quotes,
Insurers are using AI to combat churn in many ways. Some offer AI tools that enable customers to gain new insights into their data, and thus take action to lower their risk profiles. Others use AI internally to find new ways to segment their customers to focus on areas of growth.
AI is also influencing customer retention models, according to Hames.
"Where you're creating churn models, retention models, next-best-action models, you're trying to essentially get in front of, and influence those outreach moments," Hames said. "When you talk about AI in the sense of modeling, it can be a little bit tricky. We're talking about really advanced models."
Chubb uses technology to segment potential customers by product or geography, and find patterns that show potential growth areas, according to Nicholas Davis, the company's senior vice president and national distribution leader.
"You can use that to evaluate any potential partner more quickly, and focus the efforts in those markets and in those relationships that have the greatest value. It's tools that are going to help you do things a lot quicker, to spot those patterns and find those audiences," he said. "We're just trying to be as efficient as possible. To go after a type of business that we know is in our wheelhouse, technology will help us do that a lot faster."
Insurance customers want brokers to provide data and insights, said Steve Rhee, global digital and analytics chief executive at Gallagher, a business insurance and brokerage company.
"They're really looking for a broker that can help them with an array of digital AI and data services," he said. "As a buyer, you want validation that you're making a good decision. A lot of that is based on having data behind it. Clients are expecting that advisory role."
Gallagher is responding to this demand with AI. "We're using AI to help us with the data traction, the normalization, the analytics, and then comparing that to our data set to say where the opportunity is," Rhee said. "We're trying to drive good outcomes for both our clients and our trading partners."
The Gallagher Go customer portal allows commercial insurance customers to review their insurance policy documents and data. Another system, Gallagher Blueprint, produces industry-specific plans for commercial insurance customers, including ways to improve their risk profiles that are sent to carriers.
"Partnering AI alongside the industry knowledge and the knowledge of the brokers that AI really can't replace, really works well together," Rhee said. "AI has been an accelerant for us, really tailoring very specific actions for our clients."
