Maybe one of the most important gains of working at a broker company after many years of experience in insurance companies, I can say, is “having the opportunity to have a closer look at the Turkish insurance customer, which could not be seen from the window of the insurance company”.
We used to think, when working for insurance companies, that customers did not know insurance principles, and that they did not read their policies or that they only read when they had a claim.
However, the insurance customer in Turkey is quite deliberate; they read the policies and the clauses, and they compare products. They ask questions.
For example, despite there are approximately 4 million motor own damage (kasko) policies, that the word “kasko” was searched 6 million times a year in Google shows us something.
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We also observed this when we worked at a distribution channel: “Insurance companies look at their customers, but they don’t see them.” They make assumptions about what the customer wants. They don’t learn what they really want, and they don’t show any effort to find out. They don’t exchange opinions with the customers.
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Why could this be?
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Perhaps, as an industry as a whole, the customer segments that we had direct contact was limited because of the fact that we were working mainly with corporate and commercial segment customers.
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Maybe, it was difficult to get to know the customers because we were trying to manage the retail business through distribution channels.
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Whatever the reason, when we look at the result, the reality that the insurance companies do not touch and feel the customer does not change.
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What could be done?
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In my opinion, companies could enter the processes with the perspective of the customer and find out and improve those processes where the customer becomes unhappy, leaves the company, etc.
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More channels for mutual communication could be formed which listens to what the customer says.
- IT and organization can be re-formed with a customer oriented focus.
Those who have higher value added will continue to make profits. And insurance companies will continue to make losses…