… ask the right questions!
I don’t know if you’ve noticed but companies seem to have forgotten the art of gathering the right data.
And this is an easy way to customer dissatisfaction.
I was on the wrong end of this recently when I was looking to renew my car insurance.
My current provider hit me with a renewal quote that’s almost 50% higher than last year!
Now, I’m no speed demon and nothing has happened on the roads in the past year to justify such a steep increase.
So, I did some good old comparison shopping.
Lo and behold, I come upon a quote that’s a whopping £75 cheaper!
Great, so I start filling out those online forms on their website.
As I’m diligently reviewing the information they have about me, I come across a question: “How many cars are there in your household?”
3 was ticked, which was true back when my stepson lived with us.
But times have changed, and it’s just two of us now.
So, I adjust the answer, thinking this could potentially lower my quote. But wait for it… my quote shoots up by nearly £12! What in the world?
Naturally, I wanted to know why.
When I rang them here’s what they said:
Apparently, the fewer cars there are in the household, the more I’ll be driving mine.
So more time on the road equals a higher risk of incidents and claims.
I can see that logic, except for one tiny detail—they assumed I had access to my stepson’s car, which I didn’t because, well, I wasn’t insured for it!
You see they made a wrong assumption because they asked the wrong question.
If they’d asked, “How many cars do you have access to?” instead of the misleading “How many cars are there in your household?”, they wouldn’t have gone down a rabbit hole of flawed risk assessment.
Sadly, they didn’t see things my way, so I took my business elsewhere.
This whole episode serves as a timely reminder: When you’re collecting data, it’s absolutely crucial to ask the right questions!
You’ll get the right answers that will lead you to better decisions and happier customers.