Your marketplace aims to create a good experience for all users, but sometimes, accidents happen. What happens next can make or break your company. If you offer a positive claims experience, you can cement your company as a respected and trustworthy marketplace. If you fail, you can undo all the work you’ve invested to build a strong brand reputation.
Your Reputation is Your Greatest Asset
It can be hard to put a dollar value on reputation, but this doesn’t make it any less valuable. In fact, your company’s reputation might be your single greatest asset.
Think about it. When individuals decide to use your platform to rent out their possessions or to rent items from others, what drives this decision? Why do they choose you instead of your competition? It may be because you offer the best deal or because your platform is especially easy to use, but price and convenience can take a backseat to trust.
According to Salsify, 46% of U.S. consumers say they’re willing to pay more for brands they trust. This is up from 30% in 2021, showing that trust is an increasingly important issue for consumers. Furthermore, many consumers will research a company before using it: 42% say they research customer service and 32% say they research consumer opinion.
One Bad Claims Experience Can Spoil Everything
You work hard to create a marketplace that your users will love, and you probably hope that this earns you some customer loyalty. Unfortunately, it might not work that way. PwC found that approximately one in three consumers will stop doing business with a brand they love after a single bad experience.
If they’re not handled expertly, claims can easily be the one bad experience that spoils everything. Claims are stressful by their very nature. The situation can quickly become antagonistic if the consumers involved don’t understand what’s happening, if the settlement amount is less than expected or if the claim is denied inexplicably.
If a claim doesn’t go well, your users might start to wonder whether they can really trust your company. They might decide to leave your company for one of your competitors. Even worse, they might spread the word.
How Bad Reviews Can Harm Your Company's Reputation
Let’s say a user has a bad claims experience and decides to stop using your company. You’ve just lost a customer, and that’s bad enough, but the damage may not stop there.
The dissatisfied consumer might tell others about the issues they experienced, and those people might decide against using your company, too. And thanks to the internet, we’re not just talking about a handful of friends and family members. With online reviews and social media, one unhappy user can influence the decisions of millions of other potential customers.
These online reviews can have a big impact on other consumers. According to ReviewTrackers, around 70% of consumers say they use rating filters when searching for businesses, and most refuse to look at businesses with a rating below four stars. Meanwhile, Inc. says that it takes around 40 positive reviews to counteract a single negative review.
Claims Can Be Your Opportunity to Shine
When a claim occurs, something has already gone wrong, and your users are probably already upset. Preventing claims is always ideal, and good screening may help you in this regard. Nevertheless, the inevitable reality is that some claims will occur.
This is your chance to prove yourself.
Although a claim might seem like a bad situation all around, it can also be an opportunity to prove that your company provides reliable service and may result in some very positive reviews. Some customers may be willing to write reviews and post on social media just because things are going as expected, but other customers will need something exceptional to happen before they feel motivated to write a review. This event could be good or bad, but it has to stand out.
Customers who never encounter any problems may like your company, but they might not ever take the time to sing your praise from the rooftops, either. On the other hand, if a problem like a claim occurs and your company exceeds expectations, customers may feel moved to tell everyone about their experience.
Claims Will Test Your Company—Are you Prepared?
Claims are bound to happen, and when they do, they can test your company. If claims are handled poorly, your customers may tell everyone why they’re leaving, damaging your brand reputation. If claims are handled well, your customers may tell everyone how trustworthy your company is, earning you a lifetime advocate and a strong reputation.
DigiSure offers a claims experience that is fast, painless and empathetic. Want to learn more?
