Covéa uses CustomerSure to drive up response rates and boost employee recognition.

• Company Covéa Insurance
• Location Halifax, UK

Covéa Insurance Plc is the UK underwriting business of leading French mutual insurance group Covéa.

One of the top 75 employers in West Yorkshire and Humber, and the winner of multiple industry awards, they have a longstanding commitment to an effective Voice of the Customer programme.

They knew that to improve further, they needed a more flexible software platform, and a trusted partner to help with implementation.

We interviewed Tom Hepworth, Research & Insight Manager.

Tell us about Covéa.

Covéa Insurance has a strong people and service ethos and holds ServiceMark accreditation with Distinction for its Personal Lines operation and its Commercial & HNW Claims teams, as well as Chartered Insurer status for its Commercial business.

Covéa is signatory to the HM Treasury Women in Finance Charter and the Insurance Inclusivity Pledge. In 2022 they were named Insurer of the Year at the British Claims Awards and Personal Lines Insurer of the Year at the Insurance Times Awards.

What challenges were you facing?

Getting insight from our customers and broker partners is invaluable to us as a business, but we wanted to ensure we were doing so in the most engaging and efficient way.

Over the past few years, we had rapidly grown our Voice of Customer programme but due to varying system constraints, it was becoming increasingly inefficient.

We needed the ability to be agile and drive our programme in real time.

How did CustomerSure help?

We were looking for a provider that would enable us to be both proactive and reactive in collecting feedback. CustomerSure gives us that.

Their platform allows us to build, launch and amend surveys in real-time. This has proven priceless on several occasions, letting us create quick, targeted surveys focussed on specific elements of the customer journey.

By doing this, we get fast, reliable feedback on what delights and frustrates our customers and broker partners at different points.

What results have you achieved?

Using the CustomerSure platform and working with their great team, we have been able to enhance our Voice of Customer programme substantially.

The agile nature of the tool has led to us regularly reviewing our question-sets whilst monitoring newer areas of our journeys. A key driver of this has been to ensure we are providing good outcomes to our customers across all touchpoints.

We’ve also not been afraid to trial new approaches or questions to understand what additional insight they can provide. In most cases this has added true value to the business — in a couple it hasn’t, however that’s the capability of the tool — allowing you to try, fail fast and make improvements.

Another focus for us was to increase our survey and response rates and the tool has allowed us to do that by conducting A|B testing with invitation messaging.

We’ve seen really strong increases on response rates as a result.

Has there been anything memorable in the feedback you’ve received?

The standout for us as a company, is the volume of feedback we receive highlighting the phenomenal service colleagues interacting with customers provide. We’re so proud of this, we regularly share feedback across our teams so everyone is aware of what we do.

Verbatim feedback has also been a fantastic tool for internal recognition – We make sure to feedback to colleagues where a customer has mentioned them by name, so they know their efforts make a difference.

What would be your advice to somebody who’s about to start a Voice of the Customer project?

Don’t get bogged down by a specific metric or a target you’ve been set. Explore what your customers are telling you and embrace that feedback – positive or negative.

Comments from customers are real and genuine; they expect to be listened to.

Asking the right questions and in the right format is key. Ask questions where feedback can make a difference within your business; and make sure your colleagues are prepared and equipped to take that feedback on board; and drive actions from it.

Finally, find a voice of customer partner who reflects the values you have, and can support your way of working. We feel we have found that in CustomerSure.