The Importance of an Intuitive Customer Portal in Today’s Digital Age

In a world full of unknowns, change is inevitable, like it or not. Your favorite ice cream brand “tweaked” it’s mint chocolate chip recipe and your taste buds aren’t here for it? That’s not a great change! Your insurance company or employer rolling out a new portal offering 24/7 self-service? Great change! 

Technology advancements are constantly changing how we interact with companies including our employers and insurance carriers. How many times have you meant to call a customer service department only to remember at 5:04 p.m., right after they’ve closed for the day? If they had a self-service portal, that frustration could be avoided. 

What is a Portal?

So, what exactly is a portal? No, we aren’t talking about traveling via a Tardis to a parallel universe or using a boot to go to a wizard’s fair for you Doctor Who and Harry Potter fans. A portal is a web-based platform that allows users access to pertinent information and documentation. All you need is an account and a web browser. 

Do you need to know the status of your medical diagnostic testing? Your doctor’s office likely has a portal set up for patients to view their chart. Oftentimes you can even request prescription refills or “chat” with your provider via the portal. 

You can do all of that without the hassle of having to remember to call during business hours, wait on hold, or wait for a return call. Technology is changing how users expect to interact with various providers, and it’s becoming increasingly important for providers to meet these evolving customer needs. 

Customer Portal and Improved Benefit Administration

For an insurance carrier or an employer handling their own leave or disability claims in-house, this means providing 24/7 self-service support saving time for both the carrier/employer and the claimant/employee. 

Being diagnosed with an illness or having an ill family member can be one of the most stressful times in your life. A complex or timely process for applying for leave or disability only adds to the stress. Given most individuals have no experience with this, insurance carriers or employers with an intuitive, easy-to-use portal can provide a better customer experience that can help individuals when they need it most. 

ClaimVantage Customer Portal

Our User Experience Researcher has spent hundreds of hours working with and interviewing users to determine what claimants and employees find essential in a claim’s portal. Using our agile approach to product development, our new portal has been rolled out using an iterative process.

From the onset of building our new portal, we wanted to help relieve some of that stress. Immediately upon logging into the portal, it is clear the user is in the right place with a personalized welcome message. The information and links on the homescreen are what users said are most important to them, providing easy access and eliminating confusion in the process.  

We used an intuitive approach throughout the portal, prompting additional questions/screens based on answers provided. It was also important to have an easy-to-read and understandable format. Once all requested information is provided, the portal indicates which benefits or leaves are applicable and what information is needed for claim processing. Even after submitting the claim, claimants or employees are able to view the status of their claim, what information is outstanding, and upload any required documents. 

As a prior disability case manager, I know first-hand how much time a simple status call can take, not just for the case manager, but for the claimant/employee as well. Five status calls all lasting 5-10 minutes per call and then documenting each call for another 5 minutes per call takes away over an hour of a case manager’s time and prevents them from focusing on other work. If the claimant/employee could easily log into the portal to check the status and even send a note to the case manager, countless hours would be saved all around.

Change and technological advancements are not an easy adjustment for most. However, when looking to increase efficiency, risk/time management and provide superior customer service, insurance carriers and employers should take the time to consider a portal that will positively impact all of those areas.  

Are you looking for a portal to enhance the self-service functionality available to your claimants or employees? Request a demo for a walkthrough of our redesigned portal.