Simplyhealth is a leading health insurance provider in the UK. The company has been around since 1872 and serves more than 1 million customers across the country.
Challenge
Transitioning from legacy systems to a digital-first, automated approach that enables effortless customer journeys.
Solution
A customer-led voice assistant designed to contain common FAQs while identifying and transferring vulnerable callers.
Result
Containing 25% of calls, with vulnerable callers identified and routed straight to the right department for personalized customer experiences.
Creating a unique and understanding voice assistant
Simplyhealth looked at a number of solutions and was drawn to the quality of PolyAI’s voice assistant. Simplyhealth approached PolyAI
to build a voice assistant that could serve customers efficiently and treat vulnerable customers with extra care.
Creating a unique brand voice
PolyAI understood the importance of creating a natural, dynamic voice that Simplyhealth’s callers would want to engage with. The voice assistant needed to be unique to the brand and bolster their image as a trusted advisor.
Simplyhealth worked with PolyAI to co-create a voice assistant
that sounded genuine, and could clearly explain online processes. The voice assistant is designed to adjust its tone of voice according to the customer’s needs, and guides callers to a solution, even during difficult and sensitive calls.
“This is next-level conversational AI, and it’s far and away better than anything else I’ve heard in the market.”
Maximizing self-service through natural language understanding
75% of calls managed by Simplyhealth’s contact center are FAQs that can be solved using digital self-service channels. However, customers continue to call – especially digitally vulnerable customers who rely on the phone channel to access support.
To deliver genuinely helpful support, the voice assistant had to earn the customer’s trust. This meant understanding callers regardless of what they say and how they say it. This was crucial as digitally vulnerable customers would explain their claims at great length and in a way that felt natural.
Instead of telling customers to repeat themselves or just ‘go online,’ like a traditional IVR, the PolyAI voice assistant engaged callers in conversation to understand their queries fully.
Guiding callers through a natural conversation and making them feel understood gave them more confidence that they could resolve their problems without speaking to an agent.
For callers with online access, the voice assistant provides an SMS containing a direct link to Simplyhealth’s online resources that specifically answer their questions. This approach encourages customers to self-serve while reducing the number of repetitive call types managed by their agents.
When the voice assistant identifies a customer without online access, it can ask for more information about the issue to ensure the call gets routed to the right person.
“It’s the best and most seamless tech implementation I’ve ever experienced.”
Results
calls per week
calls resolved
The PolyAI voice assistant is now handling an average of 5,500 calls each week on Simplyhealth’s consumer line. 25% of calls are fully resolved by providing answers to frequently asked questions or directing callers to the most appropriate online resources. By reducing the volume of repetitive calls to the contact center, Simplyhealth can deploy staff to business areas where resources are needed the most, and digitally-vulnerable customers can receive a dedicated service more efficiently. Now that the call center has more capacity, Simplyhealth has changed the process for customers who need to order a paper claim form. Instead of being transferred to a voicemail, they’re now transferred straight to an agent for a more personal experience.
“The PolyAI voice assistant is now a part of how we speak to our customers on a day-to-day basis. Our customers love it because it means that they can save time and effort. They don’t have to wait on the phone to get through to an agent.”
The future for PolyAI and Simplyhealth
Simplyhealth has big ambitions for their digital transformation journey. PolyAI is supporting them on the next phase of deployment, which involves further integration of the voice assistants into back-end systems. This will allow the voice assistant to carry out the customer identification & verification process, saving agents time during the initial stages of a call.
