In short. Optimising the insurance customer journey means connecting every stage, from quote to claim settlement, on the same data and the same business logic, whatever channel the policyholder or their broker uses. In 2026 the challenge is no longer adding channels but orchestrating them. According to J.D. Power, 22% of claimants have to go through several channels to get a single answer, and 52% of those who rate their digital experience as poor are considering leaving.
This guide is written for P&C insurers and delegated authority brokers. It describes the six stages of the journey, the most common friction points, the indicators to track and a method for starting the project without rebuilding the whole information system.
What is an omnichannel insurance customer journey?
An omnichannel insurance customer journey is one where the policyholder, the broker and the claims or policy handler see the same information at the same moment, whatever the entry point: website, broker extranet, app, phone, email or messaging. A file started online can be finished with an adviser without re-keying anything.
Multichannel, by contrast, puts channels side by side, each running on its own tools and its own data. The policyholder has to repeat their request, and the handler rebuilds the file by hand.
| Multichannel | Omnichannel | |
|---|---|---|
| Data | One database per channel | A single policy, customer and claim repository |
| Continuity | The policyholder starts over on each channel | The journey picks up where it left off |
| Broker’s role | Intermediary who re-keys data | Participant connected to the same flow, with their own permissions |
| Steering | Indicators per channel | End-to-end view of the lifecycle |
In P&C insurance the distinction matters more than elsewhere: the relationship often runs through a third party (broker, delegated authority, third-party administrator, loss adjuster). Omnichannel therefore has to cover the policyholder and the entire distribution and servicing chain.
Why insurance customer experience is a profitability issue in 2026
Customer experience in insurance is no longer a matter of image: it shows up in the accounts. McKinsey finds that P&C insurers leading on customer experience delivered total shareholder returns 65 points higher over 2017-2022, with revenue growth 4 points higher and an expense ratio 2 points lower.
Expectations are not yet being met. A few sourced figures:
- Policyholders switch channels. Six customers in ten switch channels before buying (McKinsey, 2023).
- Underwriting is still heavy. 35% of customers find the terms complex and 27% find the application too long (Capgemini, World Life Insurance Report 2025).
- The claim is the moment of truth. In France, 57% of P&C claims are still reported by phone, and satisfaction drops from 93% to 68% when handling takes more than three months (Viavoice for Deloitte and Guidewire, 2021).
- Digital status updates disappoint. Insurers provide a satisfactory digital update in only 22% of cases (J.D. Power, 2025).
Three factors make the topic urgent in 2026. Simplified cancellation makes policyholder retention more fragile. AI raises expectations on turnaround times. And delegated distribution multiplies the parties that have to stay in sync around a single policy.
The 6 stages of the insurance customer journey, from underwriting to claims
Each stage has its own friction points. Smoothing them one by one is not enough: it is the hand-off from one stage to the next that loses the policyholder.
1. Quote and rating
The policyholder or broker wants a reliable price within minutes. The friction: long forms, pointless questions, a price that changes after validation. The lever: a dynamic form that only shows relevant questions, pre-filled when the data already exists, connected in real time to the rating engine.
2. Underwriting and signature
This is where the conversion rate is won or lost. The friction: supporting documents requested by email, systematic manual approval, a policy sent several days later. The lever: collecting and checking documents within the journey, automatic acceptance rules for simple risks, immediate e-signature.
3. Issuance and onboarding
The policy must be active, documented and accessible the moment it is signed. The lever: automatic issuance in the policy administration system and a customer and broker portal opened with certificates available.
4. Policy servicing
Endorsements, changes of address, adding a vehicle, certificates: these simple requests swamp handlers. The lever: self-service for the policyholder and the broker, with permissions by profile, and workflows that only call on a handler for complex cases.
5. Claim reporting and handling
This is where loyalty is won or lost. The friction: incomplete phone reports, chasing for missing documents, no visibility on progress. The lever: AI-assisted digital first notice of loss (eFNOL), a unified file shared with loss adjusters and third-party administrators, and proactive status notifications.
6. Renewal and retention
The renewal date is a chance to get in touch, not just an invoice. The lever: using the policy and claims history to adjust the offer, propose suitable cover and anticipate cancellation risk.
Orchestrating omnichannel: the role of the management platform
An omnichannel customer journey cannot rest on an interface layer. It relies on an orchestration layer that centralises data and rules, between the channels on one side and the business building blocks on the other.
Four conditions make this orchestration possible:
- A single repository. Customer, policy, premium notice and claim share the same identifier, visible to each party according to their permissions.
- Configurable business rules. Business teams adjust forms, acceptance thresholds and workflows without a development cycle.
- An API-first architecture. The existing rating engine, document management, payment or signature tools plug in without replacing the whole IT system.
- Fine-grained permissions by profile. A delegated broker sees their portfolio, a loss adjuster their file, a white-label partner their journey.
For delegated authority brokers, this last point is decisive. They handle underwriting and claims on behalf of several insurers. Without orchestration, each risk carrier imposes its own tool, and digitising insurance services comes at the cost of permanent double entry.
Personalising the customer relationship: what AI concretely changes
Personalising the customer relationship in insurance is not just a first name in an email. It means adapting the journey to the risk, the channel and the moment. AI contributes most where data is already structured and shared.
The gap between players is widening. In life insurance, Capgemini finds that 78% of the most advanced insurers have automated underwriting, against 15% of the others, and 56% use AI in claims processing, against 3%.
Four uses have a direct effect on the experience:
- Document reading. Automatic extraction of data from a vehicle registration, an accident report or an invoice, with a completeness check as soon as it is uploaded.
- Pre-filling and conditional questions. The form adapts to the profile and only asks for what is missing.
- Triage and routing. Simple claims move forward on their own, complex or suspicious cases go to a handler.
- Fraud detection. A score per file flags anomalies; the final decision stays human.
One caveat: AI does not replace human contact at sensitive moments. McKinsey notes that the adviser remains the highest-rated channel for satisfaction. The goal is to free up time for those conversations, not to remove them.
KPIs to measure insurance customer journey optimisation
A journey is managed stage by stage and end to end. The indicators below cover policyholder satisfaction and retention, but also commercial performance and team productivity.
| Stage | Indicator | What it reveals |
|---|---|---|
| Quote | Quote-to-policy conversion rate | Form friction and price relevance |
| Underwriting | Time from quote to signature | Weight of manual approvals |
| Underwriting | Automatic acceptance rate | Maturity of acceptance rules |
| Policy servicing | Share of requests handled in self-service | Workload avoided for handlers |
| Claims | Share of digital reports (eFNOL) | Adoption of the digital channel |
| Claims | Average settlement time | Policyholders’ top satisfaction criterion |
| Claims | Number of follow-ups per file | Quality of data collected at reporting |
| Whole journey | NPS, CSAT, Customer Effort Score | Overall perception of the experience |
| Renewal | Retention rate at renewal | Cumulative effect of the experience on loyalty |
The Customer Effort Score deserves particular attention in insurance: it measures what the policyholder had to do to get an answer, which is exactly what omnichannel sets out to reduce.
Method: 5 steps to get the project started
Insurance customer journey optimisation works better product by product or channel by channel than as one big programme. Capgemini reports that only 41% of insurers met their latest transformation goals, and cites integration complexity as the main obstacle (50%).
- Map the real journey. For a given product, list every stage, every channel, every party and every re-keying. The break points become obvious.
- Choose a pilot scope. One P&C product, one broker network or one claim type. The criterion: enough volume and measurable friction.
- Unify the data before the interfaces. A shared policy, customer and claim repository underpins everything else. Without it, every new channel adds a silo.
- Connect rather than replace. Connect the existing rating engine, document management or back office via API. The IT system is modernised domain by domain, with no big bang.
- Measure, then extend. Track the KPIs defined at the start on the pilot, then roll the same logic out to other products and channels.
How Korint orchestrates the omnichannel customer journey
Korint is a modular, AI-native insurance suite that covers the entire policy lifecycle for insurers, wholesale brokers, MGAs and delegated authority brokers, in P&C as well as individual health. Each module works on its own or with the rest of the suite, on the same data repository.
| Journey stage | Korint module | What it brings |
|---|---|---|
| Quote and rating | Engine | Real-time rating, or connection to an existing rating engine via API |
| Underwriting and signature | Reach | No-code dynamic forms, AI document reading, e-signature, broker extranet and white label |
| Issuance and policy servicing | Core | Portfolio management, policies and endorsements, distribution network management |
| Claims | Claims | AI-assisted FNOL, unified file, configurable workflows, fraud score |
| Ecosystem | Marketplace | 49 native integrations (payment, signature, messaging, reporting) |
A few benchmarks from Korint’s product pages:
- Under 4 weeks to put a new underwriting journey live.
- From 6-9 months to 6-8 weeks to launch a product, for a broker specialising in embedded insurance.
- ISO 27001 and SOC 2 Type II, GDPR compliance, hosting in France and Ireland.
The approach is progressive: Korint connects to the existing IT system via API, so you can modernise one domain at a time, the underwriting of one product or the claims handling of one network, without starting from scratch. Request a demo to see a journey applied to your portfolio.
Sources
- McKinsey, Elevating customer experience: a win-win for insurers and customers (September 2023, 8,500 customers in North America)
- Capgemini Research Institute, World Life Insurance Report 2025 (October 2024, life insurance, 6,186 customers in 18 countries)
- J.D. Power, 2025 U.S. Claims Digital Experience Study (December 2025, 5,958 auto and home claimants)
- Viavoice for Deloitte and Guidewire, Les Français face aux sinistres IARD (June 2021, 3,502 French policyholders)
- Korint product pages: Reach, Claims