AI-powered Chatbots are Selling Insurance in 2019

In fact, over $2B is estimated to be invested throughout 2019 in these InsureTech companies. Artificial Intelligence, Automation, and Blockchain are driving the technology disruption in the insurance industry. They are making the insurance shopping experience much better for consumers.

Meanwhile also improving service for policyholders who need help with renewals, claims, and add-on products and services. This is great news for just about everyone, while some insurance agents are getting really worried. Fear of losing their job due to technology is a valid fear. But the good news is that great insurance agents are not going anywhere. Even though AI chatbots are selling insurance and assisting policyholders in 2019, they will always come back by a great insurance agent.

Why Insurance Chatbots?

Well, technically insurance chatbots have already been around for some time. Insurance Giants like Geico and Allstate have already been using them in their business. Here are a few more reasons chatbots are being developed and used:

• Next-gen chatbots are becoming more and more utilitarian. The term “utility” in this context means something we find so useful that we turn to it on a daily basis without hesitation. The focus would be on improving the competence of the chatbot to execute specific tasks flawlessly, rather than try to be a catch-all conversationalist and source continued engagement.
• Chatbots are personalizing customer experiences. Successful chatbots will work to understand using machine learning over time to learn and understand the nuances of the user’s requests and improve the first-contact resolution. The greater the ability to personalize responses will make the customer experience even greater.
• Chatbots are now specialized. Users need to know exactly what the chatbot does and be confident that it will do these things well. For example, Leadsurance’s chatbot for insurance agencies does very specific insurance tasks, flawlessly. First, it segments a user into either an existing policyholder who needs assistance or a consumer looking for a quote. And then it executes the quote needed or provides the assistance requested. This means customers can get 24/7 help through the bot instead of trying to connect with an insurance agent.

So, now you can see why chatbots are more than just a fad. They are actually really useful to consumers, policyholders, and insurance companies. Saving everyone time, improving the experience for everyone, leading to better relationships and better business. Resulting in serious disruption in the insurance industry.

How the New Technology Works

Although many of these new tech companies aren’t about to give out their secret recipes, here are some things we learned about the new technologies while demo-ing products.

• Chatbots can integrate with a wide variety of existing insurance marketing and CRM systems. Even legacy systems being used by old insurance companies can be integrated with Leadsurance’s chatbot for example.
• Chatbots can be customized for your agency. Just about every aspect can be customized so that your chatbot is fully branded and even represents the messaging your agents would use in a conversation.
• They don’t sleep. Your website will be monitored 24/7 to assist your existing policyholders while also quoting new prospects.
• They’re clever. You can customize them to do and say just about anything. Want to collect people’s emails before starting a convo? No problem. Want to wait till the end and then also politely ask for a phone number? That can be done. You can even have the bot take the user to different pages on your website and continue the conversation helping them through forms and other activities performed on your website.

What We Thought About the Bots

So, as you can see, we didn’t get to view the code under the hood. However, from the chatbot products that we test drove, we can tell that the tech is already powerful. When we talked about the future roadmaps and plans for these technologies, we realized that these bots really are the next big thing in the insurance industry. Admittedly, there was something cool about being greeted by a little humanoid thing on the screen, that quickly warmed me up and learned my name.

It then proceeded to give me a personalized conversation and experience shopping for life insurance quotes. It was engaging. It was quick. It was easy. All important things to the modern consumer, especially in 2019. But like we already said, even though AI chatbots are selling insurance and assisting policyholders in 2019, they will always come backed by a great insurance agent.