Arthur Goldberg, strategic advisor at Pro I Solutions, explores how harnessing complaints effectively can turn a persistent challenge into a powerful tool for growth
Complaints in the insurance sector have remained consistently high for several years.
The latest data from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) shows no signs of improvement here either, with complaints about insurance and pure protection products increasing by 1.4% – from 754,010 in H2 2023 to 764,254 in H1 2024.
That’s almost 6,000 complaints logged at the FOS every working day. The likelihood of these complaint volumes reducing is slim, because consumer awareness, protection and regulation just keep increasing.
The Consumer Duty regulations, introduced over a year ago, marked a lasting shift in the expectation of fairness within financial services and, as customers become more aware of their rights and the service they can demand, businesses must be ready to handle a sustained volume of complaints.
This highlights a critical truth – customer complaints aren’t going anywhere.
The insurance sector needs to urgently address this reality and businesses must change their approach to managing complaints more effectively than in the past.
It’s not all doom and gloom, however.
Within every complaint lies valuable data, offering insights into customer expectations, pain points and product gaps –problems that, if solved, can turn a cost into an opportunity.
A robust complaints management process can be built with clear communication and the empowerment of complaints-handling teams.
Effectively managing complaints – and making this function a core part of business processes – can harness data to identify areas for improvement, leading to enhanced products, streamlined processes and better customer outcomes.
Ultimately, you can transform a frequently ignored cost centre into a central value-add contributor for your business.
Complaints success
Success in this environment requires the right mix of process and technology.
Businesses need to continuously refine and update their complaints handling processes, empowering their teams to resolve issues effectively while prioritising customer needs.
The only way to achieve this is through an intuitive complaints management system, one that removes the burden of process, allowing human capital to do what it does best – add value through insightful decision making.
That is why we developed CaseMatrix, a FOS-compliant, pre-configured complaint-handling system that enables complaints teams to operate efficiently and adapt to ever-evolving regulations.
CaseMatrix combines intuitive workflows with automation, reducing the administrative burden of handling complaints and giving complaint handlers time to make well-thought-out decisions.
Our immutable logs and audit trail ensure data integrity, creating trust with both the consumer and regulator and giving you absolute confidence in the data insights gathered.
This isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution – it’s about supporting complaints handlers at every step. No more missed deadlines, lost complaints and wasted costs.
Unlocking growth
While improved processes and technology can help reduce the administrative burden of complaints, the real advantage of our system lies in examining the data within these complaints. Each complaint holds insights into customer needs, product challenges and service expectations.
By maintaining a clear and accessible complaints database, firms can analyse trends over time, identifying recurring issues that might otherwise be overlooked.
This data-driven approach not only addresses current complaints, but also drives product refinement, process optimisation and, ultimately, better customer outcomes.
Our aim is for CaseMatrix to help companies shift from reactive complaints management to proactive improvement, turning customer complaints into a source of innovation, growth and stronger customer relationships.
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