Leverage Text Messaging to Manage Catastrophic Events
Hurricanes, severe storms, tornadoes and wildfires—natural disasters are responsible for a tremendous amount of damage every year. Between 2020 and 2024, 115 catastrophic events in the US resulted in $746.7 billion in loss. Managing catastrophic events remains top of mind for insurance carriers.
When disaster strikes, carriers want to help policyholders get back on their feet. Whether it’s proactive notifications, submitting a claim or asking questions, text messaging has many benefits for both policyholders and insurance carriers. Offering text messaging during catastrophic events allows policyholders to contact their insurer anytime, from anywhere and get support and answers quickly in a time of need.
Better Resource Management for Leaders
I spent several years managing large claims centers and have experienced how call volume can double or sometimes even triple during catastrophic events. First Notice of Loss (FNOL) is the first step in the claims process. To keep up with the number of claims and provide fast, efficient service, carriers must offer alternative channels for people to report the FNOL in events where large numbers of people are being impacted.
“Our insureds place their trust in us to respond in a timely manner if they experience loss or damage to their homes,” said Jon Ritchie, President at American Integrity Insurance Company. “Writing in states that are extremely vulnerable to hurricane activity, Hi Marley provides us with an important tool to fulfill that promise to our customers, even during catastrophic natural disasters that impact thousands of customers simultaneously.”
Proactive Policyholder Notifications
Carriers can mitigate loss exposure and protect policyholders by sending proactive notifications via text messaging about tips and checklists to prepare for a catastrophic event before it occurs. The outreach can also include real-time updates and ways to report damage to avoid long call center queues and phone tag with adjusters.
For example, Plymouth Rock Assurance used Marley Outreach, Hi Marley’s mass notification feature, to send proactive notifications to policyholders in the storm’s path ahead of Hurricane Ida, letting them know how to mitigate loss and steps to take if they were affected by the storm. Following the hurricane, the claims team used Outreach to send impacted policyholders instructions and links to report their claims.
Earlier and Better Claim Triage
With text messaging, insureds can report damage to their home or automobile via text and provide all the information needed to open the claim. The policyholder can use their phone to easily document damage, share files, coordinate appointments and site visits with adjusters and keep the claims moving forward, saving costs and improving cycle times.
Typically, in a catastrophic event, adjusters will receive a verbal account of the loss, and it is often difficult to accurately judge the severity. With text messaging, claimants can snap and share a photo at the time of FNOL, enabling carriers to gauge the scope of the catastrophic event earlier in the process. This understanding allows supervisors to balance the load and efficiently deploy adjuster resources in the catastrophic area and expedited triage of losses. The carrier can also facilitate express claim payments and improve coordination with third-party service providers like restoration companies.
Plymouth Rock Assurance received approximately 8,000 home and auto claims from Hurricane Ida, with around 90 percent deemed a total loss. With such incredible claim volume, the team was physically unable to answer every call and had to quickly divert the incoming calls and encourage policyholders to utilize text messaging, the most efficient channel to report their losses.
“The sooner we could get them opted into Hi Marley, especially for resolving the total losses, the better off we were,” said Tony Ranauro, Director of Analytics at Plymouth Rock Assurance. About 65 percent of insured customers opted-in to Hi Marley. “Managing a 90 percent total loss rate on the number of claims we received solely through inbound and outbound calls would have been challenging. A lot of these conversations within that process are quick hits to confirm information. They don’t require a ten-minute discussion. Hi Marley was great in that regard.”
Ease of Use for Policyholders
With Hi Marley’s text messaging platform, policyholders don’t need to worry about downloading another app or learning a new tool during an already stressful time. They have the option to communicate with the insurance carrier in their pocket at any time via text and receive push notifications to stay informed on the process.
QBE North America, for example, experienced the benefits of using text during the 2018 California wildfires that destroyed many policyholders’ landlines, along with the rest of their homes. Although claims professionals couldn’t call the policyholders on the telephone, with Hi Marley, they could text their customers struggling with the devastation, which was a huge relief. As a result, customer satisfaction scores averaged 4.6 out of 5, with many positive comments.
“Everything we do is with our customers in mind. The claims environment has evolved, and we are responding to customers who have become accustomed to receiving information in real-time, on a mobile device,” said Eric Sanders of QBE North America, in this press release.
Severe weather and natural disasters will continue to cause disruption. When carriers implement the tools that facilitate fast and caring customer service during these large-scale events, they can retain policyholders and help make their reps’ jobs easier, too. Leveraging text messaging to manage catastrophic events helps carriers deliver on their promise to be there for policyholders when they need it most.
