Broadening service-centricity to include customer-centricity

Erie Insurance is one of the largest property, home and auto insurers in the US, with five million policies in force. Treating the customer right has been at the heart of ERIE’s business for over 90 years. Today, its Customer Experience program is pivotal in driving and reinforcing a mindset of end-to-end customer feedback to inform ERIE’s ‘way of doing business’.

ERIE’s CEO and executive team have made the customer a strategic priority with an emphasis on obtaining feedback and taking action. This has led to a dedicated Voice of the Customer department; an increase in the breadth and depth of the Voice of the Customer program from ERIE’s original post-claim survey to an ongoing engagement survey; and integration of feedback into departments including sales, marketing, the web team and the customer care contact center.

As a direct result of customer feedback, ERIE has made changes across its organization, including increasing its soft skills and training around the claims process, prioritizing keeping in touch with customers over speed of contact, and engaging contact center employees through recognition and rewards based upon feedback.

“The success of our VoC program has relied on what we believe to be a unique combination: executive management sponsorship, listening and action; transparency and access across divisions; a closer link between performance and pay; ongoing investment in the expertise of Confirmit; and our unwavering commitment to our founding principle of service, which has a natural alignment with the customer.”

- Barbara Lincoln, Director Customer Integration & Satisfaction

Driving Action:

• Evolving the existing business culture of ‘great service’ to incorporate what customers think and experience, broadening service-centric to include customer-centric thinking
• VoC insight now used by over 50% of ERIE employees, from feedback to follow up, with continuing expansion of this figure
• Increased OSAT scores across multiple departments, including a 13% improvement for online accounts.