Involving a nurse or a nursing organisation as an added-value service within an insurance policy could help earn or improve upon customer trust, according to RedArc, ahead of Nurses’ Day on 12 May 2019.
Nurses are the most trusted profession, according to an Ipsos MORI poll showing that 96 per cent of people have faith in nurses to tell them the truth – that’s more than any other profession and has been the case since 2016 when nurses were first added to the survey. Nurses are ahead of doctors, teachers, judges, the police and the armed forces to name but a few.
Christine Husbands, managing director, RedArc Nurses said: “In times of a crisis or a challenging life situation, customers rightly rely upon their insurer to supporting them financially, for example via a paycheque from group protection, health insurance or motor insurance. However, having a nurse on board is an immediate and more obvious sign to the customer that the company has their best interests at heart and, as the Ipsos MORI survey shows, is a shrewd association for any organisation wanting to improve upon public trust.”
However, not all people feel comfortable talking to insurers.
Husbands continued, “We know that some customers are very wary about revealing the full scope of an illness, particularly in terms of mental ill health, to an insurer unless they have to, for fear that their claim may be affected, insurance premiums will be inflated or that they will be uninsurable at a later date.
“However if an insurer can give medical support from an independent external provider, the individual is much more likely to seek support earlier, be more open to discussion and therefore the outcome is often better.
“Trust should be a core tenet of any customer relationship but in some areas of financial services it has been rather hard to come by. However, patients tell us overwhelmingly hat when an insurer, in particular, goes beyond simply providing financial support at difficult times in peoples’ lives, they improve their view of their insurer substantially, thereby building stronger and more loyal, long-term relationships with their customer.”
For any employer that feels it is lacking in this area, associating with nurses, the most trusted profession in the UK, has so much potential to show a real duty of care and re-establish relationships between the company and its current and future customers.