Route’s Post

State insurance departments are starting to warn consumers about fake shipping insurance offerings. Our Chief Compliance Officer Corinne Carr discusses how brands can avoid unwittingly committing fraud and stay ahead in the ever-evolving e-commerce landscape. Read the op-ed in Digital Insurance: https://lnkd.in/gjtJYaJf #HolidayShopping #Ecommerce #ShippingInsurance #ConsumerProtection #RiskManagement

The recent challenges facing The White Company over their delivery issues highlight yet again the customer loyalty and brand risk levels retailers face during the last mile. Ultimately, the delivery moment is the customer experience. How organisations handle (or don't) this moment will directly impact NPS scores and brand loyalty. Well done to CEO Mary Homer for proactively addressing and acknowledging the challenges they are facing. Of course, stepping in and being transparent and authentic about the challenges is typically the best plan of action. But many brands, maybe even The White Company, can't afford a hit on the bottom line when things go wrong. And it doesn't take a huge operational transformation for things to go wrong. Fraud is increasing, couriers are being pushed on price, which often unfortunately leads to service issues, and the industry is still trying to figure out how to meet customer expectations. Brands have relied on either writing off the cost of damaged, delayed, or lost items or pursuing the insurance couriers' offer as a courtesy. 1.) Writing off debt for someone else's bad performance has been a business-as-usual practice, but margins are being squeezed, and quite frankly, companies can't afford to continue with this. 2.) Chasing couriers for limited compensation—circa £15 to £25 —can be demoralising at best. Couriers aren't regulated, don't have a responsibility to follow through, and aren't designed to manage this effectively. Those two areas are bad enough, but brands don't always factor in the impact on customer loyalty and churn brought on by this last moment in the customer journey. The White Company does. Publically addressing this and taking ownership and re-committing on their customer promise is the priority here: "We know this isn't good enough. Our customers are always our first priority – and we're working as hard and as quickly as possible to resolve the issues." What we're excited about is the increasing understanding of the role of insurance in this dynamic. It's not just about peace of mind. Insurance is there to enable better business. For many brands - it doesn't take a change in the distribution centre for things to be unsettled. Insurance is about accountability. Paying out the full retail price is one aspect of accountability. But the larger and potentially more impactful area of accountability for larger retailers can be the data generated through insurance which can be used to address fraud, measure KPIs and performance hot spots. #retail #ecommerce #lastmiledelivery #retailbrands #shippinginsurance

ABC4 News covered Utah’s Department of Insurance fake shipping insurance warning: “These companies are refusing to pay up when needed, or subject you to fine print details that make it hard or impossible to collect a claim.” Route’s “Guide to Package Protection Offerings” shows how to check if an option is licensed (reminder: Route’s is). Watch ABC4 News clip & read Route's guide: https://lnkd.in/ggaSdsxV #Ecommerce #ShippingInsurance #ConsumerProtection #RiskManagement

Looking at consumer outcomes for closed products will be very interesting over the next several months, clearly more challenging than open products.

Picking the right insurance solution to address this is going to be a game changer. There are a lot of embedded insurance B2C solutions which put the onus on the consumer to insure themselves. Couple of problems with this. It's not really a consumer's responsibility. Retailers shifting the problem does not go down well. Friction in the shopping experience is just the start. And this doesn't provide any additional insight to fix the problem and reduce the issues. Retailers staying with the unregulated insurance offered by couriers is a better route, but unfortunately, you've got some issues there as well. Insuring yourself with an unregulated product where there is no commitment to payout or any incentive to use the data to improve business = painful claims processes, limited payouts and nothing to give retailers the ability to address the customer's needs. So what is the solution? If you are a retailer that handles a significant number of shipments or has a basket size above £250, embedded regulated B2B insurance could be a game changer. How? 🚀 Automated loss claims with a 98% payout rate means you don't have to wait to support your customers. Address the issues immediately. 🚀 Also, automation frees your customer service teams to focus on actually helping customers, not chasing claims! 🚀 Damage claims that take a few minutes to address with a simple photograph as proof = no more fighting or asking for proof at a stressful moment with the customer. 🚀 And data. Data continues to be a source of pure gold for retailers. The more data you have created by monitoring shipments correctly through the insurance process the more data insights for improvements, reducing fraud and opportunities to make future investments. #ecommerce #retailers #fulfilmentprocess #shippinginsurance #parcelinsurance #datainsights #fraudprovention #riskreduction

🖥️ What is online retail insurance? 🛍️ In the era of online shopping and E-commerce, the way we shop has changed. The convenience it brings is unmatched, but it also comes with its own set of risks. ⚠️ Online Retail Insurance can be crucial in providing protection against unforeseeable events such as supply-chain disruptions, technical failures, and cyber-attacks that can jeopardise customer data. #RetailInsurance #Ecommerce #OnlineShopping

Dark patterns in online selling have become a significant topic of discussion, with consumer affairs organizations actively working to assist and educate consumers about these deceptive practices. Recent news highlights this issue, particularly in the context of insurance policies. According to LocalCircles, there has been a noticeable increase in complaints about mis-selling or manipulative selling tactics—commonly referred to as dark patterns—over the past nine months, as more consumers turn to the internet for purchasing or renewing insurance. #insurancenews #policyholder #Insurance #onlinesales #misselling #darkpatterns

With the evolving digital expectations of policyholders & agents, #insurance orgs must prioritize the ultimate #customerexperience. Check out InvoiceCloud’s Kyle Evancoe in Digital Insurance for more on how to not only streamline & personalize #CX, but to anticipate customer needs. https://ow.ly/Cfka50StZBv

A new report by J.D. Power Insurance Intelligence, produced in collaboration with TransUnion, has revealed consumers’ reasons for shopping around for auto insurance.  In its latest loyalty indicator and shopping trends report, J.D. Power noted: “As the current hard market cycle began, the leading reason for shopping auto insurance cited by consumers was they were ‘just browsing rates’. This indicates a ‘passive’ shopping experience and is consistent with results prior to the onset of the hard market. 

A new report by J.D. Power Insurance Intelligence, produced in collaboration with TransUnion, has revealed consumers’ reasons for shopping around for auto insurance.  In its latest loyalty indicator and shopping trends report, J.D. Power noted: “As the current hard market cycle began, the leading reason for shopping auto insurance cited by consumers was they were ‘just browsing rates’. This indicates a ‘passive’ shopping experience and is consistent with results prior to the onset of the hard market.