Much has been made of providing a level of customer service through social media. It is an easy medium for consumers to post questions and complaints; there are no forms, no special logon, and no mandatory fields. It is also widely available on mobile devices, good
during natural disasters when power is out. For insurers, it is easy to monitor with a large variety of available tools and whereas privacy is a concern it is not insurmountable. We have seen a growth in specific customer service twitter identities, especially in the auto segment e.g. Ask_Progressive, GEICO_service, and esurnacecares. Many other insurers such as Allstate, Farmers, and Progressive are broadcasting natural disaster warnings with links to special resources.
Notwithstanding the significant compliance concern, which will be resolved; should insurers provide social media customer service? One critical thing to bear in mind is the level of expectations. In a recent poll by Infogroup on behalf of the Red Cross they asked
“If you posted a request for help to a social media website, how long do you think it should reasonably take for help to arrive?”
Nearly three-quarters expected a response within 1 hour.
Insurance companies are in the business of disasters and accidents so there is no reason to suppose expectations would be widely different. So before you jump on the social media bandwagon, make sure you are ready to cope when customers find you there.
