The day before yesterday I was having a beer with a friend and I was telling him this amazing story about this really cool experience. It wasn’t my experience. It was another friend of mine who told me the story the night before.
The no-hassle claim
It’s the story of a insurance claim for a stolen bicycle.
My friend had his bicycle stolen. This is annoying. Apart from having to buy a new bicycle, it is mainly the administrative hassle that normally makes such things awkward.
First, he called his insurance company to report the theft. The customer representative sent him an e-mail with a link. The link led to a page where it stated which bicycle was on the insurance’s record and asked whether this was correct. Clicking “yes”, a page listed three bicycles in the price range of the stolen one and the nearest bicycle shop to pick it up. There was also the option to have the amount transferred to the bank account on record.
That was it. My friend was really happy.
The power of smooth processes
He was telling me this story because I was stating how little loyalty I have towards my insurance companies. He said that since he had this experience, he would not easily switch his provider. Simply because knowing about the smooth process is very comforting. So for him, price is not the differentiator. Experience is.
Surprisingly, I couldn’t find this clear competitive advantage searching the product webpage. Maybe the process wasn’t designed outside in, but inside out. Maybe the insurance company found out that it’s just not worth the hassle to do a lot of research and administration. Maybe they don’t want to advertize their claims process to prevent fraud. What ever the reasoning behind it was: It’s a classic win-win situation based on providing the basis for good experiences.
I at least know now where to switch to.
Did you also have insurance experiences that you can’t wait to talk about? Looking forward to your comments.