The Allianz Advantage

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Americans’ Top Travel Concerns, from Millennials to Boomers

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Have you ever gotten anxious when booking a trip online? If so, you’re not alone. Was it a health issue, high trip costs, or uncertainty that made you delay booking travel? Travel agents can ask these questions, but there’s not a precise way to read a customer’s mindset when a trip is booked online.

Whether your customer is a Millennial or a Baby Boomer, chances are their answer is different. That’s why it’s so important to understand your customers, and it’s what we do best.

A smart travel insurance provider considers the customer first and then builds products to address their unique needs. That approach is critical to more satisfied customers and increasing revenues for our partners. Both pay dividends.

So we posed the question, is a Millennial or Boomer more likely to buy trip insurance? Or in other words, what’s the value or peace of mind that each group wants from travel protection?

To answer this, we explored our proprietary research used to develop a highly sophisticated understanding of travelers and their concerns. This data represents a segment of the more than 25 million U.S. customers that Allianz Partners insures annually.

The Smart Traveler with Trip Protection

Nearly half (48%) of travelers are more concerned about traveling today than in the past, according to a 2015 survey by USTiA. One in six travelers is affected by travel issues.1 U.S. consumers who purchase travel protection tend to be better educated, have a higher household income, and travel more for both business and pleasure than un-insured travelers. They typically do more research when planning their trips, checking at least four different information sources like online travel agencies or supplier websites. Insured customers book travel months in advance and usually take one or more international trips a year. They also book their trips as packages, adding hotel rooms or rental cars. Interestingly, women are more likely than men to purchase insurance in many travel segments.

But the most compelling factor is this: consumers who are more informed about the value of travel insurance are twice as likely to buy it.2 Therefore, much of our efforts are spent raising awareness of the category and better informing consumers how it can protect their investment, or their health while traveling abroad.

Top Travel Concerns by Generation

While we recognize each generation has its unique subsets of consumer behaviors, Millennials tend to be fascinated with traveling and have a strong desire to explore destinations abroad. They’re generally more confident they’ll take the trip but are more anxious about what could go wrong during it. Our research shows a quarter of Millennials are motivated to buy travel protection primarily to insure against either luggage loss or potential health issues of themselves or a family member during their trip.3

Baby Boomers typically spend more time and money than other generations on travel, but they’re more concerned about unexpected reasons that might cause them to miss a trip, such as health issues. More than a third of Boomers buy insurance for trip cancellation, while a quarter of them purchase it in case they get sick or have a medical emergency abroad.

Generation X travelers tend to be more family focused and cost conscious. They’re most likely to bring their children to make memories and are concerned about family while traveling. Gen Xers often look for deals and want to avoid unexpected costs, so a trip cancellation benefit with cost reimbursement is often the most important.

Infographic: Top Reasons for Buying Trip Insurance

Source: Allianz Partners, traveler survey, 2015

Now back to our question. Who’s more likely to buy travel protection?

According to MMGY’s Portrait of American Travelers, more Millennials report buying travel insurance in the past 12 months than any other group. A third of Millennials plan to purchase it in the next 12 months, followed by 26 percent of Boomers and 18 percent of Gen Xers.4 So Millennials, one of the largest, most influential groups of travelers, are also the biggest proponents of trip insurance.

Tailoring Benefits to Key Travel Segments

So what do we do with these customer insights?

Focusing on customers’ unique needs enables us to develop more relevant travel protection benefits. And when travelers are booking a flight or travel package online, we’re able to analyze their trip characteristics and ensure that customers are getting the most relevant travel protection benefits tailored to their trip. It’s helpful to look at how this applies to specific traveler segments.

Business vs. Leisure

People traveling for business have distinctly different behaviors and protection needs than those going on vacation, but it can be tricky to accurately identify them in the booking path. We use proprietary segmentation rules to predict the type of trip they’re booking online, and that determines the insurance benefits we recommend.

For example, business travelers are more concerned about flight delays or cancellations than people taking personal trips. Leisure travelers on average are two times more concerned about potential traveler health issues, lost luggage, and trip interruption.5

Recognizing this, we recommend an Allianz Travel Insurance plan that’s customized to best fit the concerns of a leisure traveler and tailor our offer message to emphasize the relevant benefits. Done effectively, our optimization tests have shown this can boost insurance sales conversions, earning increases up to the double digits in our partners’ revenue per transaction.

International Trips

For international travel, consumers often have different and more compelling reasons to buy trip protection. Nearly a third of our U.S. customers visiting a destination abroad buy insurance in case of illness or a medical emergency. High cost and reimbursement for covered trip cancellation are the next two most common reasons for buying insurance, followed by the risk of lost luggage.6

We apply the same segmentation process to online bookings for hotels, car rentals, and event tickets as well. When the right product benefits are matched to the right travelers, consumers get more value. A higher perceived value increases consumer demand, which in turn grows our partners’ ancillary revenue.

1 USTiA report, 2015

2 Allianz proprietary research, 2015

3 Allianz proprietary research, 2016

4 MMGY, Portrait of American Travelers, 2017

5 Allianz proprietary research, 2016

6 Allianz proprietary research, 2015

4 Reasons More Travelers are Buying Travel Insurance

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Recent events like terrorism, extreme weather, and the Zika virus have brought trip protection to the forefront of traveler’s minds. There’s an “increased awareness and purchase of travel insurance by American travelers and a growing awareness of potential travel disrupters,” noted Megan Freedman, executive director of UStiA in Travel Weekly earlier this year.1Here are four reasons why travel insurance is on the rise:

1. Influence of World Events

Due to events such as the terrorist attacks in Europe, people are concerned about new and unpredictable travel disruptions.

While some Americans are changing their destination plans to other European cities that are perceived as safer or are less expensive, others are still planning to go to cities like Paris or Brussels but with a safety net. And for those concerned about terrorism, our insurance plans can provide useful benefits for covered unforeseen and unknown events, ranging from trip cancellation to emergency medical care.

Attention from these global catastrophes raises consumer awareness of the basic benefits of travel insurance, from flight delays to trip cancellations caused by a covered illness or injury. Travelers’ purchases of our insurance policies grew by 15% year-over-year in 2016.

Additionally, travel insurance is becoming more mainstream thanks to travel experts like Lee Abamonte, Johnny Jet and Peter Greenberg who advocate for it. Recent articles published in Travel Pulse, Travel Weekly, Skift, and Consumer Reports cite many reasons to buy travel insurance and recommend it.

2. Americans Still Want to Travel

Despite potential risks, there’s still a growing desire among Americans to travel. Whether for a relaxing getaway, celebration trip, family vacation, or for enriching experiences of other cultures, people are still taking trips.

For some, travel insurance gives them the freedom and sense of security to continue exploring new places. Like an experienced guide or a smartphone, it’s one more practical tool that reduces their personal risk and can offer protection in the time of need.

The travel bug is prevalent among both Baby Boomers and Millennials. Nearly all Boomers will take at least one leisure trip this year, with an average of five or more trips expected. About 43 percent of them plan to travel internationally in 2017, a survey by AARP Research shows.2 Three-quarters of Millennials want to travel abroad as much as possible, compared to about half of non-Millennials.3

The overall U.S. travel market is projected to grow steadily by 4–5 percent annually through 2020, according to Phocuswright.4

3. Increased Awareness as a Revenue Source

Insurance is no longer seen as a commodity within the travel industry. Beyond it providing better customer care, today’s travel providers and online travel agents (OTAs) that face increased competition can benefit from it as a reliable, easy source of ancillary revenue. Depending on volume, it can produce up to millions of dollars. And for agents, it’s one of the best commissions they can earn. That translates to travel insurance becoming more available to consumers.

We were the first company to partner with a major airline and an OTA to offer consumers insurance in the online booking path. Now other travel providers like hotels and tour operators are beginning to consider it as a revenue stream.

4. Better Protection for Consumers

As a whole, the travel insurance industry offers consumers more value and ease of use today. Our plans include some of the most comprehensive benefit options available, and we continually develop better products based on customer feedback. In some cases we offer robust Cancel Anytime plans through partner booking sites and agencies. And now some policies may cover care for existing medical conditions. Travel delay and baggage protection, 24-hour assistance and concierge services are among popular benefits consumers can buy today.

Thanks to advances in our technology platforms, insurance has become easier to sell by our partners in online bookings and by agents using our award-winning AgentMax Online software. And for our customers, we’re paving the way for faster, simpler online claims filing and real-time payments to bank accounts through debite cards using Mastercard SendTM, deposited within minutes or hours of claims being approved.

All of these factors contribute to better, more appealing travel protection for consumers at a time when they’re more aware of the value and need for it.

As a recent article in TIME Magazine pointed out, “Travel insurance isn’t becoming just more available and affordable—it’s also more necessary.”5

1  Jamie Biesiada, “Travel insurance sales grew in 2016 as dangers increased,” Travel Weekly, http://www.travelweekly.com/Travel-News/Travel-Agent-Issues/Travel-insurance-sales-grew-in-2016-as-dangers-increased

2  Vicki Gelfeld and Patty David. “AARP Travel Research: 2017 Travel Trends,” http://www.aarp.org/research/topics/life/info-2016/2017-travel-trends.html

3  “Traveling with Millennials,” The Boston Consulting Group, https://www.bcgperspectives.com/content/articles/transportation_travel_tourism_consumer_insight_traveling_with_millennials/chapter=4#chapter4

4  Maggie Rauch, Lorraine Sileo, Brandie Wright and Alice Jong. U.S. Online Travel Overview 16th Edition, Phocuswright (January 2017), pages 13, 26.

5  Bill Saporito, “Travel Insurance Is No Longer Just for the Over-Prepared,” TIME Magazine (October 2015), http://time.com/4082961/travel-insurance-no-longer-just-for-the-overprepared/

Travel Journalist with Collapsed Lung Saved by Allianz’s Assistance Team

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As a veteran travel journalist of nearly 30 years, Brian Major had flown internationally hundreds of times and visited more than 50 countries. When he stepped off his plane in Panama City for a media tour in 2015, he thought it was like any ordinary trip.

But as he neared a taxi, Brian coughed and suddenly felt as if a balloon had exploded in his chest. After rushing to the nearest hospital, an x-ray revealed that he’d suffered a collapsed right lung. The journalist felt alone, anxious, and could only communicate to his doctors in broken language.

He was fortunate that, thanks to a chance conversation with an Allianz employee only weeks earlier, Brian had decided to purchase his first ever travel insurance plan, a one-year “professional traveler” policy, for a couple hundred dollars. He contacted Allianz Global Assistance and we acted quickly to guarantee payments to the hospital for treatment. His wife Karen also flew in to be with him.

After a procedure to stabilize his condition, our medical team consulted with Brian and his doctors and determined that he should be evacuated by air ambulance to Miami for surgery to repair his lung. His Allianz policy not only covered his emergency medical treatment with $10,000 but also paid up to $20,000 for the emergency medical transportation. Brian was flown back to the U.S. where his surgery was a success. He would spend the next few days recovering in Miami before returning to his home in Brooklyn.


Watch Brian share his personal story in this video.

Global Assistance Whenever Disaster Strikes

Most people would say, “that’ll never happen to me.” But it’s more common than you think. In 2016 alone, we responded to 3,600 medical-related assistance calls, which involved 500 medical emergency evacuations. Most cases are accidental falls and bone fractures, heart attacks, strokes, and traffic accidents. One minute they’re a tourist enjoying the vacation of their dreams, and the next they’re thrown into the care of a foreign country’s healthcare system.

When ailing travelers call into Allianz Global Assistance’s 24-hour assistance hotline, they’re often scared, frustrated, angry or anxious. So from that moment on, our people lift the burden off our customers by responding calmly, gaining their trust, and literally taking care of everything.

For Kim Seay, our Director of Assistance, her previous experience as an ER and trauma nurse is extremely valuable. She most recently served as chief flight nurse for a commercial medical escort company. She’s seen it all and often compares how her team operates to a virtual emergency room.

Assistance specialists triage the situation by phone, and each insured is assigned a case manager who advocates for them, handles paperwork, and maintains communications with close family members. Medical cases are assessed by the medical response team of about 20 RNs with five or more years in the field, often with ER experience. Without our team able to physically see the insured member, we gather medical information and diagnoses from patients and the medical facility’s doctors. We begin piecing together a full picture of the person’s physical health and state of mind.

We make sure they’re in the best medical facility in the area, one of nearly 2,000 hospitals we’ve pre-evaluated in 130 developing countries, or relocate them if necessary. Our company’s global footprint gives our team the support of 34 offices worldwide along with more than 110 contracted ground agents who can assist with logistics in other destinations. In many cases, we can provide cashless service by sending the hospital a letter of guarantee in lieu of out-of-pocket payments to initiate medical care. Our team continues to monitor our member’s condition, ensuring they receive the best medical advice and care possible, and starts to determine the best way to get them back home.

Doing the Right Thing for Customers

“In each case, we have to put ourselves in their shoes to understand what they’re going through. We don’t want their family to have to worry about any details,” Kim says. “In some unfortunate cases, their family or friends have already returned back home and we’re their only lifeline. That’s why it’s so important that we hire our associates for heart.”

Each day one of six specialized physicians employed by the University of Virginia reviews medical cases and remains on call 24/7 to oversee important decisions involving treatments and emergency evacuations. If a patient’s condition worsens or they require specialized medical care not available locally, we arrange emergency transportation back to the U.S., like in Brian’s case. If an air ambulance is required, an evacuation can cost as much as $100,000 to $200,000 depending on the location.1 Without travel protection, the financial burden alone could be devastating.

“What I love about working at Allianz is that, no matter what it costs us, we always make the best decision for our customers,” Kim observes. “The most rewarding moments are when you get to tell someone in recovery, ‘we’re bringing you home today.’ Hearing those words, they’re so relieved sometimes it brings them to tears.”

Brian Major recovered fully and is back to traveling the world. He’s not shy to tell people, “My last-minute decision to buy travel insurance turned out to be a life saver. I’ll never leave home again without it, and I recommend that anyone who travels do the same.”

1 “Five myths about medical evacuations,” USA Today.

3 Tech Innovations Disrupting the Buyer Journey

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Advanced technologies are driving innovation in the consumer’s purchase decision journey. Customer-centric companies are offering access to more convenient, immersive and personalized experiences for people to discover and buy their products. We look at how three trends—virtual reality, chatbots and data-driven personalization—are meeting the needs and lifestyles of today’s digital consumers.

1. Virtual Reality is (Finally) Taking Off

Virtual reality and video streaming technologies are being adopted in sports entertainment and travel at an accelerating rate, as organizations see the potential of new revenue streams, reaching larger audiences, and providing vacation previews.

“You fill your arena with 18,000 people. There are 7.5 billion who might want to watch. Do the math,” stated Peter Guber, chairman and CEO of Mandalay Entertainment Group, on a panel at the VenuesNow conference in July.1

Just as Twitter and Facebook Live streaming have drawn larger online audiences to events, industry adopters at Hashtag Sports, a sports tech innovation festival in NYC, saw VR as a new or enhanced offering to fans for viewing entertainment that generates additional revenue. The NBA offers a subscription-based virtual reality season pass, which includes any eight games for fans that follow a particular team but can’t attend the games. The International Champions Cup has partnered with NextVR since 2015 to stream the first of many live VR broadcasts of major league soccer matches.2

Because of travel’s experiential nature, many hotels including Best Western are testing or investing in the digital technology. They believe giving potential customers a 360-degree view of properties online will increase their chances of booking. Carnival partnered with AT&T in 2016 to expose American consumers to 360-degree cruise ship simulations in over 100 stores using Samsung’s Gear VR headset.3 BI Intelligence forecasts global shipments of VR headsets to exceed 50 million units annually by 2022.4

2. Chatbots Make Buying Products Easier

Chatbots and virtual agents will be the top consumer application of AI over the next five years, according to TechEmergence, an AI market research firm.5 Already this past summer, online ticketing sites Ticketmaster®, TickX and StubHub have launched chatbots on Facebook Messenger.

Ticket sales from these platforms are proving to have a higher ticket value than other channels, says StubHub. Its chat services, which include iMessage, Skype and voice-assisted Alexa and Cortana, are useful for learning about customers’ habits and desires at the consumer’s pace, says Gary Kanazawa of StubHub Labs.6 Tapping into Facebook Messenger’s 1.2 billion monthly users, the new Ticketmaster Assistant chatbot helps fans easily learn about upcoming events, share links with friends, and click through to a seamless mobile purchase path.

Travel industry leaders like Priceline and Kayak have already integrated chatbots into online trip planning via Facebook Messenger, Skype and Alexa. Now Allianz Partners, a world leader in travel and specialty insurance, is exploring these virtual assistants to enhance travel protection services. While customers can chat with a live assistant when comparing insurance plans and filing claims online, job seekers may interact with Allie, a chatbot that helps match talent to open positions on the company’s U.S. careers site.

Allianz Partners is also developing automated SMS messages to notify customers of claim status updates via their mobile phones. The company envisions voice-based virtual assistants that enable travelers to purchase custom-tailored protection plans when booking their trips online.

3. Consumers Demand Personalized Experiences

“Customers now expect companies to know who they are, what they like, how they shop, and where they are,” reports Clarabridge.com, an authority on customer experience.7 That requires a sophisticated use of customer data, analytics and automation. As consumers increasingly prefer authentic and conversational engagement with brands, a plethora of social media and mobile platforms are replacing easy-to-track traditional marketing CRMs.

It’s hard to get a 360-degree view of event consumers when dealing with multiple touchpoints and platforms, said Mark Meyerson, VP and GM with Vendini at XLIVE, a data and analytics summit held in L.A. Kyle Burkhardt, business intelligence at the Los Angeles Kings, says they drive sales by collecting data to know when people “are still engaged or likely to buy.” Data mining can also produce affinity models, so “finding fans who are similar to other fans based on data helps us pinpoint who to promote to and how,” said Evan Weinstein, a partner at Steez Promo.8

To customize travel, event and tuition protection products in real-time for its partners’ online customers, Allianz Partners utilizes a sophisticated quote engine and optimization platform. The company analyzes customer booking details, behavioral trends and other predictive data used to generate automated offers with best-matched insurance benefits in a fraction of a second. Leveraging a new machine learning-enabled quoting platform, Allianz Partners is further increasing its accuracy in predicting which consumers are more likely to buy which types of insurance benefits in the future.

1 “The Fan of the Future is Now,” Venues Today, 2017
2 “Five Technology Storylines Impacting ICC,” Venues Today, 2017
3 “Carnival Sets Sail With Virtual Reality Vacations,” Fortune, 2016
4 “The Virtual Reality Report,” BussinessInsider.com, 2016
5 “Smart assistants and chatbots will be top consumer applications for AI over next 5 years,” VentureBeat, 2016
6 “StubHub ‘Encouraged’ by Chatbot Returns,” TheTicketingBusiness.com, 2017
7 “How to Drive Personalization with Voice of the Customer Data,” Clarabridge.com
8 “Fanalytics Drive Ticket Sales,” Venues Today, 2017

5 Companies Revolutionizing the Customer Journey

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Nine out of 10 companies today lose or win business depending on their customer experience, according to a Gartner study.1 We highlight five winning companies using digital technologies to reimagine customer touchpoints and add convenience, personalization and delight to the consumer journey.

1. John Paul: Anticipating Every Desire in Luxury Travel

John Paul combines premium 24/7 digital concierge services with a machine learning CRM to provide innovative loyalty programs for customers and employees. The cutting-edge CRM leverages cognitive technologies to provide robust capabilities in natural language, affinity profiling, 360-degree personalization, and multichannel management. Forbes calls it a “powerful example of potent AI in the predictive algorithms for existing-client interactions, able to understand and know their desires and needs on an acute level.”2

The digital concierge fulfills more than 1 million requests annually, with 15 languages supported for its 50,000 exclusive partners on across five continents.3 In early 2017, John Paul partnered with Allianz Partners to offer its partners and customers a carefree, premium travel experience. With an initial launch in China, combined capabilities enable travelers to access concierge services and global travel protection with assistance from a single point of contact by phone or digitally.

2. Tesla: Reinventing Car Buying

This innovation company is bringing space travel, solar power, and self-driving cars into the mainstream. Tesla visionary Elon Musk has reimagined the auto industry’s traditional business model by providing an exceptional in-house sales and customer service experience. It starts with an Amazon-like car buying process with robust online self-service tools, including transparent financing. New car delivery, car pickup for service repairs, and remote overnight software updates make owning a Tesla extremely convenient.4

Tesla showrooms reinforce the brand’s customer-centric approach, featuring coffee bars, free WiFi access and open service bays that display the automaker’s craftsmanship.5 The company is doubling the number of its electric supercharger stations across the U.S. and Europe in 2017, enabling greater public adoption of electric car ownership.6 Following the largest product launch of all time with its Model 3,8 Elon Musk projects an annual production of 700,000 cars and overall annual revenue for the Model 3 of more than $30 billion per year.7

3. Marriott – Pioneering Digital Hospitality and Delight

Marriott International was the first hotel group to offer mobile check-in/checkout under the Starwood brand in 2014, totaling 12 million guests who’ve used it to-date.8 It’s also expanding convenient keyless room entry to over 500 hotels worldwide this year, a technology adopted by many of the big hotel players.9 Marriott’s sleek, redesigned mobile app personalizes and anticipates what guests likely need at the right place, at the right time. The app is packed with desirable services like room upgrade requests, late check-out, and Mobile Requests, where you can chat directly with hotel staff for special requests even in advance of arriving.10

While the brand is exploring voice-controlled rooms and services, Marriott’s unparalleled digital innovation is its handful of M Live Studios around the world. Monitoring guests’ social media posts by geo fencing around Marriott’s more than 5,700 properties across the group’s 30 hotel brands, they “surprise and delight” guests and engage in trending social conversations.11 M Live teams have delivered champagne to a newly engaged couple’s room and awarded platinum status to a rewards member who fell just short of qualifying, to her surprise.

4. Allianz Partners – Evolving Global Travel Protection

Allianz SE is innovating with new technologies to enable more intelligent and connected consumer lifestyles, from homes and cars to health and travel. Allianz Partners offers personalized consumer travel protection products for many of the world’s largest travel brands, including long-standing, exclusive partnerships with five of the six largest U.S. airlines.12 Its tech platforms empower the digital traveler, like the TravelSmart™ app that uses a geo-aware search to help ill or injured travelers find the closest pre-evaluated hospital in 130 countries. The travel app also includes a one-click, 24-hour global assistance hotline. Allianz Partners protects over 200 million customers worldwide annually through its global assistance, travel insurance, event ticketing and registration protection, and recently added U.S. tuition protection in partnership with GradGuard™.

Eliminating some hassle for customers submitting claims, Allianz Partners was among the first travel insurance companies to offer full-service mobile filing and claims tracking.13 It’s also exploring triggered benefits, which enables automated claims and payments for instances like qualifying flight delays. Its automated Express Pay platform expedites most claims processing from 30 days to a week or less, if documentation is complete. Customers receive funds for approved claims within minutes or hours on debit cards thanks to Mastercard SEND™. Compared to an average Net Promoter Score of 48 in the insurance industry, a customer-first culture contributes to the company’s NPS score of 76.14

5. Klook: Rethinking the Tours Supply Chain

Unlike traditional OTAs offering flights and hotels, Klook is a one-stop shop for destination activities serving Asia-to-Asia travelers. By working directly with operators, it offers up to 50% off discounts at more than 10,000 attractions, tours, and activities in 80 cities across Asia Pacific.15 Klook has recreated the supply chain at an epic scale and is evolving into an in-destination service app, including local transfer options and WiFi device rental. It plans to expand into restaurants, wellness, and shopping.16

Klook’s well-designed site UI and app experience takes only a few clicks or taps to book a wide range of peer-reviewed tours and activities. Consumer conveniences include WeChat for trip planning and Apple Pay at checkout. It’s also exploring virtual reality or 360-degree travel videos to make activity planning more experiential. The 3-year-old startup recently raised $30 million and booked over 5 million trips in 2016 within the fast growing, 3rd largest travel segment worth $135 billion globally.17 18 Klook plans to launch in Australia soon and is eyeing expansions in Europe and the U.S.

1 “Gartner Surveys Confirm Customer Experience Is the New Battlefield,” Gartner, 2015

2 “10 Powerful Examples Of Artificial Intelligence In Use Today,” Forbes, 2017

3 AccorHotels Group website

4 “Customer Experience Best Practice: Tesla the Disruptive,” Nunwood.com, 2016

5 “3 Enlightening Customer Experience Lessons from Apple, Disney and Tesla,” Ameyo.com, 2017

6 “Tesla will double number of Supercharger stations in 2017,” CNBC.com, 2017

7 “Tesla Model 3: Tesla is now holding close to $700 million in customer deposits,” Electrek.co, 2016

8 “Marriott Reimagines Its Mobile App To Meet The Needs Of Modern World Travelers,” Marriott.com, 2017

9 “The Current State of Keyless Entry at Big Hotel Brands,” Skift, 2016

10 “Marriott Reimagines Its Mobile App To Meet The Needs Of Modern World Travelers,” Marriott.com, 2017

11 “Inside Marriott’s social-media command center…”, Quartz.com, 2017

12 “These are the 7 biggest US airlines,” Business Insider, 2016

13 Internal citation: Christian Schlebusch

14 Official NPS® Benchmarks website, Insurance category

15 “Klook Raises $30 Million for Attractions Search,” Skift.com, 2017

16 “Klook raises $30M for its Asia-focused travel activity platform,” TechCrunch.com, 2017

17 “Klook Raises $30 Million for Attractions Search,” Skift.com, 2017

18 Tours & Activities Come of Age: The Global Travel Activities Marketplace, Phocuswright, July 2017

Customer Experience is the Competitive Advantage

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In the consumer-driven digital world we live in, your customer experience is your brand. As Stephen Cannon stated over a year ago as the then-president of Mercedes Benz USA, “customer experience is the new marketing.” I think Stephen was on to something.

According to Gartner, nine out of ten companies today must compete for business based on their customer experience. That’s more than doubled from four years ago.1 And although many companies talk about customer experience, few have unified plans to address it. Even fewer companies excel at accurately measuring it and using their findings to adapt how they do business across the organization.

Travel protection is just one aspect of a traveler’s journey, but for those who run into problems, it can be the most important part. How we treat your customers in their time of need is a reflection on us as well as our partners.

At Allianz Partners, we’ve not only implemented a 360-degree analysis of satisfaction in our customer touchpoints, we’ve developed processes to continuously convert customer feedback into innovations and improvements. We strive to provide excellent service at every touchpoint, from first contact and purchase to providing travel assistance and handling claims. Here’s how it works.

Analyze the Customer Experience

First, we listen. We survey and gain insight from thousands of customers we serve every week using Qualtrics, a software program. We also monitor our phone interactions with customers through a speech analytics tools called Verint. This “voice of the customer” data is critical to our continuous feedback loop that informs decision making. It enables us to sort and review customer touchpoints to identify pain points and, more importantly, prioritize actions to improve the experience.

Here’s how we measure customer satisfaction:

  • Record every call and use speech analytics to identify patterns and opportunities for improvement
  • Monitor and track all comments posted to our social media accounts
  • Survey every customer who files a claim on their experience
  • Randomly survey 30,000 customers weekly, including those who purchased but didn’t need to use their insurance plan

Collectively, this data gives us a full, real-time picture of how our customers perceive our level of service. That’s critical, but what’s most important is having mechanisms in place to act upon it. I’ll share with you three ways customer feedback can inform positive changes and how we did it.

1. Resolve Customers’ Pain Points

Our customers frequently offer very specific direction on how to make our processes more user-friendly. For example, in a recent survey we asked our customers, “how could we have made it easier for you to understand your benefits and services?” Overwhelming feedback suggested that we include a bulleted list of benefits on insurance policies and simpler, shorter descriptions. This is a simple improvement but something we didn’t realize was needed until seeing the frequent, consistent feedback.
Customers also wanted more clear verbiage to replace “insurance-speak.” We completely rewrote our policy documents to make the policy language more intuitive and easier to understand, as well as create a “declarations page,” which is a brief summarized list of coverage and benefits. This initiative was largely driven by our focus on listening for patterns in customer feedback and exploring ways to improve our touchpoints.

2. Fill Gaps in Customer Needs

Customer feedback should also drive product evolution. We analyze real-time data to identify potential gaps in coverage to make our products more useful and valuable. As a result, we’ve made changes to align with what customers want, such as adding coverage for existing medical conditions to more products, as well as coverage for customers who must cancel their plans due to work obligations. We’ve even made our popular “Cancel Anytime” product, which allows customers to cancel their trip for almost any unforeseeable reason, available to more customers booking travel on our partners’ websites.

3. Coach Your Frontline Staff

Most importantly, we use surveys and other analytics tools to coach our frontline associates on how they can better serve our customers. Only by carefully listening, analyzing and reporting customer feedback can we provide our people with the information and training they need to make our service even better.
A 2016 Salesforce study showed consumers are more likely to trust their friends, family, colleagues and online reviewers than the actual brand when it comes to information on its products or services.2 Now that the voice of the customer outweighs your own in the marketplace, do you like what you hear, and if not, can you fix it?
Only when a company is geared to respond and adapt to its customers’ needs can it control its own fate. As Forrester Research’s Kate Leggett wisely stated, “In the age of the customer, executives don’t decide how customer-centric their companies are — customers do.” 3

By Mike Nelson, former CEO of Global Travel Insurance and the Americas.

1 “Gartner Surveys Confirm Customer Experience Is the New Battlefield,” Gartner.

2 “Consumer Trust Is Evolving in the Digital Age,” eMarketer.com.

3 “Trends 2016: The Future Of Customer Service,” Forrester.