Providence Mutual’s Claims Process Sees Quick, Powerful Improvements with Hi Marley

Providence Mutual, the nation’s fifth oldest insurance company, teamed up with Hi Marley to improve customer experiences through digital transformation.

In its more than 200 years of providing service to policyholders, Providence Mutual has continuously looked for ways to ​​embrace technology and respond to changing customer preferences.

One area in particular presented an opportunity for evolution: communication in the claims process. Claims communications present complexities for both carriers and policyholders. And as a result, customers find themselves waiting in call center queues, playing phone tag or sifting through emails to find the link they need. Meanwhile, adjusters must piece together all the information they need to move the process forward. Costs and inefficiencies add up for all parties.

For Franco DiDuca, Vice President, Claims, Providence Mutual, the decision to implement Hi Marley’s conversational platform was a natural next step in the company’s digital transformation journey.

The Challenge: Streamline Claims Communication without Losing the Human Touch

Seven out of 10 people say they would prefer to interact with a business they have an existing relationship with via text rather than phone or email. Texting is quick and convenient, and feels more personal than other mediums.

“One of our missions at Providence Mutual is to humanize the insurance industry and, in particular, the claims experience,” Franco said. “Texting, which offers a single conversation thread with greater efficiency than the traditional email-and-phone-call process, was one of the first things I thought of with regards to that mission.”

After Providence Mutual’s pilot program with Hi Marley, it was clear that the conversational platform presented benefits to customers and employees alike. The adjusters were pleased with how many customers opted into Hi Marley and, better yet, how many people actively participated in conversations.

“Providence Mutual’s implementation and adoption of Hi Marley, led by Franco, has been super successful. They took a gradual, steady approach by communicating the ways their customers want,” said Nicholas Grubnich, Client Executive, Hi Marley. “We’re looking forward to replicating Providence Mutual’s successful approach with other customers.”

The Results: Greater Claims Efficiency and Cost Savings

Providence Mutual’s positive results are among the most notable of Hi Marley’s customers. More than 80% of their total claims are running through the platform, and more than 90% of new claim submissions are coming through Hi Marley.

Adjusters quickly adopted valuable word tracks to use when texting was introduced, resulting in a 93% opt-in rate (the rate at which policyholders reply “yes” when asked if they would like to correspond with the adjuster through text messaging). Reducing time to first contact was a key goal for Providence Mutual, and they achieved it and then some—the monthly median time to first contact was one minute for the month of August, down from 15 minutes in June. Franco received positive feedback from adjusters. They were able to be more efficient while providing better customer experiences. In turn, policyholders said they valued the ability to ask questions and get answers quickly via SMS and to easily send media files, including images and videos. Immediately sharing a photo is a simple but powerful feature that streamlines the process and helps resolve claims faster.

A Hi Marley study found that four factors influence the customer claims experience: timeliness of service and resolution, communication, process explanation and expectation setting, and adjuster attitude and approach. Text messaging makes it easier for adjusters to quickly provide updates and keep the customer informed at each stage, improving all four factors and enhancing customer satisfaction.

“Hi Marley is one way Providence Mutual makes claim cycles more efficient,” Franco said. “If we’re able to take care of the more transactional interactions more efficiently, that gives us more time to work with policyholders on complex interactions.”

Importantly, reducing claim cycle time can represent indemnity savings. “There’s an absolute financial benefit to partnering with Hi Marley,” Franco adds.

Hi Marley Helps Providence Mutual Revolutionize Claims One Text at a Time

As a business, Providence Mutual embraces digital transformation.

The insurance company has offered its policyholders service, security and stability since 1800. “Technology has evolved over time, but the company’s commitment to meeting customers wherever they are, has not changed,” Franco says.

“Hi Marley helps us continue to enhance what we do and ensure that we are staying with where the market is going with regards to customer experience,” said Franco. “It’s in line with what we’ve been doing for 223 years. We’re very excited to partner with Hi Marley and proud to put customer experiences first.”