With the rise of InsurTech, insurance is undergoing an unprecedented digital transformation. Websites and apps now rule the sector, and with this shift comes both opportunities and challenges. As digital platforms play a bigger role in the industry, user experience (UX) for insurance becomes a more important concern.

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, 85% of insurance CEOs say theyve accelerated their digitization. Thats a remarkable step forward, but it also means that digital transformation alone isnt enough to stay ahead of the competition anymore. You need to make the most of these digital services, and UX is at the center of that improvement.

As these trends continue, here are five reasons why UX for insurance should be a priority of agencies in 2022.

1. Users Prefer Self-Service

A recent survey revealed that 71% of customers today prefer to resolve issues on their own. People want self-service, leaving insurance agencies with a clear path forward for their digital initiatives. If you want to meet digital-native customers needs, let them do things themselves.

Remember that any new tech should serve a purpose, and one of the most important purposes in InsurTech is enabling self-service. A good UX is essential for that goal. If your website or app is tricky to navigate, slow or irresponsive, itll be hard for users to do things themselves.

If it has features like menus, personalization options and fast load times that improve UX, self-service is easier. Chatbots can also be handy, but make sure they dont start messaging before users interact with them, making space for self-service.

2. Poor UX Drives Customers Away

A good UX can attract and retain customers, but the inverse is also true. Just as easy self-service meets the needs of a digital-native market, those customers will leave for another option if self-service isnt easy. Studies show that 67% of customers leave a business because of poor experiences, and 91% of those who leave do so without formally complaining.

If your UX is sub-standard, people wont want to do business with you, even if you offer competitive services. Some key areas to consider in UX for insurance are responsiveness and navigation. Keeping designs minimal can make them easier to navigate and load faster, and digital assistants and menus can further guide quick navigation.

3. UX for Insurance Can Be a Challenge

Another reason why UX is so important for insurance agencies is because it can be hard in this industry. Filing a claim or comparing plans involves a lot of information, regulatory hoops and specific considerations. Balancing all of that with an easy-to-use, understandable interface is no small challenge.

Automation tools are great for simplifying things and improving your UX. Claim or rate calculators, machine vision to analyze damage, and virtual assistants can all handle things for users with minimal input, making insurance easier to work with. Tool tips and illustrations can also make otherwise complicated information easier to understand.

4. Your UX Affects Your SEO

UX for insurance isnt just important for current customers, but also for attracting new ones. As you embrace digital information, youre likely aiming to improve your search engine optimization (SEO). What you may not know is that SEO also includes UX considerations, not just keywords and content layout.

Starting in 2020, Google now considers your core web vitals, things like load times, visual stability and responsiveness, in results page rankings. That means that a well-functioning site will rank higher, appearing to more people, while a poor UX will have the opposite effect.

There are plenty of free online tools out there you can use to measure these metrics and find ways to improve. Doing so is helpful for improving your UX in general, not just in Google rankings.

5. Good UX in Insurance Can Boost Efficiency

Finally, UX for insurance is critical because it can affect efficiency. In this otherwise complicated industry, an easy-to-use interface will let customers sign up or file a claim faster. You can then address it faster and with more data, helping more people in less time.

One UX consideration to keep in mind for efficiency is menus. While menus are great for breaking things into more manageable steps, make sure you keep these to just a few sub-menus or steps. If there are too many subsections, it could be intimidating or may take longer to work through, hindering your UXs efficiency.

UX for Insurance Agencies Is Essential in 2022

As insurance agencies work to embrace digital technologies, they should keep UX at the front of their minds. It can make or break an insurance company today.

The digital revolution is all about speed and convenience. If your UX is slow and difficult to navigate, you lose those benefits, limiting digitizations usefulness. By contrast, a good UX will help make the most of your digital resources.