Owen Graham, Managing Director of Keys Finance, shares his thoughts on how client expectations are changing and what this means for the future of the insurance customer experience.
Over the last few years, I’ve noticed that client expectations have changed considerably.
Not just in insurance, but in almost every aspect of business life. When we buy something online, our details are remembered. Banking apps know our preferences. Accounting systems talk to other software platforms. Information is entered once and then reused.
In short, we’ve all become accustomed to businesses remembering who we are. Which got me thinking about insurance. For all the progress our sector has made, there are still points in the customer journey where clients are asked for information they’ve previously supplied. Sometimes there are perfectly good underwriting or regulatory reasons for this. But from a client’s perspective, that distinction isn’t always obvious.
Their reaction is often straightforward: “Didn’t I already tell you that?”
It strikes me that the next generation of business owners will become increasingly intolerant of friction. Not because they’re less patient than previous generations, but because every other service they use is working hard to remove unnecessary administration from the customer experience.
The businesses they deal with every day are setting new standards for convenience. And whether we like it or not, those standards don’t stop when they buy insurance. Many brokers have spent years investing in digital journeys, customer portals, and electronic documentation. All of those things are important.
However, I suspect the real opportunity lies elsewhere. Clients aren’t necessarily asking for more technology. They’re asking for less effort. That’s a subtle but important difference.
The brokers who stand out over the next decade may not be those with the most sophisticated systems. They may simply be the ones who make it easiest to do business with them. Because when a client has already provided information once, their expectation increasingly is that they won’t have to provide it again.
The principle itself isn’t new. I remember discussions several years ago around the concept of “ask it once”. In many ways it’s a simple idea. Collect information accurately, retain it effectively, and use it intelligently throughout the customer journey. Yet it remains surprisingly powerful. The same thinking can apply across almost every aspect of the broker-client relationship.
Whether it’s renewal information, policy data, payment preferences or supporting documentation, clients increasingly expect a joined-up experience rather than a series of disconnected processes.
Payment is a good example. Most business owners today are accustomed to flexibility in how they pay for products and services. Software subscriptions, vehicle leases, telecoms contracts and professional services can all be structured around what works best for the customer. Insurance is gradually moving in the same direction. But I suspect the real expectation isn’t flexibility alone. It’s convenience. Clients expect options to be available without additional paperwork, duplicate requests or unnecessary administration.
At Keys Finance, we recognise these changing expectations. Both brokers and clients want processes that are straightforward, efficient and easy to navigate. That’s why we’ve focused on simplifying the premium finance journey wherever possible, reducing friction, minimising administration and making finance easier to arrange.
Ultimately, I don’t believe technology will make brokers less important. If anything, the opposite is true. As administration becomes easier to manage, the value of advice, expertise, and personal relationships only increases. Premium finance should support that experience, not complicate it. By removing unnecessary obstacles and making payment options easier to access, brokers can deliver the convenience that modern clients increasingly expect.
The challenge for brokers isn’t replacing human interaction. It’s removing friction from around it. Because modern clients don’t compare their insurance experience with another broker. They compare it with every other service they use. And increasingly, the businesses that stand out are those that make life easy, value their customers’ time and remember who they are.
