Take Notice
A friend e-mailed me a news brief, which may or may not be an urban legend, about a worker at a publishing firm who reportedly had been sitting dead at his desk for five days before anyone realized it. According to this unfortunate fellows boss, the employee in life was a quiet kind of guy who was the first one in the office and last one out. It took until Saturday, when an office cleaner asked him why he was working during the weekend, for someone to notice. Amazing what might be missed when we dont take the time to lookand therefore we should make every effort to do so.
Now, perhaps this suggestion is a no-brainer, but taking the time isntwere all distracted and consumed by gobs of conflicting priorities on the job and off. So how does this apply to insurance? In many waystake, for example, customer relationships and company Web sites. OK, I know nearly every carrier would say awareness of its customers needs is job one. But does that translate into business service or just the lip variety?
I recently was searching on a carrier site for a primary care physician, and one of my criteria was hospital affiliation. The insurer presented its list of participating physicians online, with name or location and type of provider and service as the primary search mechanisms. In addition, I could refine the search by a more specific location or provider network, language, or genderbut no hospital affiliation. With phoning each provider (and there were 135 pages worth listed for physicians within 15 miles of the ZIP Code I entered) seemingly my only option to get the bit of information I was seeking, I gave up.
To put my frustration in perspective and be fair, I randomly tried another insurers site to compare. On that site, I could search by name, service/specialty, location, language, genderand affiliation. Much of this information was on the previous site but somewhat less accessible. The latter insurer was better at noticing customer needwhich is what customers notice.
Maybe I expect too muchor maybe not; as the adage says, the customer is always right (for more on serving another carrier customeragentssee Easy Street, p. 26). But lets broaden this beyond just me. How about a humongous and growing group such as older adults? Last year, Fidelity Investments and AARP each did studies on designing Web sites for older users. AARP compared both organizations results and found them similar. In a March 2003 presentation at an AARP event entitled Tyranny of the Tiny Type, Tom Tullis, senior vice president of human interface design at Fidelity, offered several conclusions to the study he did with a colleague, including: Site design modifications that help older users often will help younger users, too.
So, whats the point? Because the needs of some frequently turn out to be the needs of many, it paysliterallyto take notice in a real and concrete way. Those companies that do will succeed and lead. Those that dont may find themselves in the sad condition of that poor working stiff above, and they wont be noticed, either.
Sharon S. Schwartzman
Editor-in-Chief
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