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The State of Digital CX in Insurance: 2026 Benchmark Report from CX Pilots provides insurance industry leaders with comprehensive insights, detailed analysis, and actionable recommendations to drive CX excellence and measurable business results.
The complete report includes:
The insurance industry stands at a pivotal crossroads in 2026, where customer experience (CX) has emerged as the definitive competitive differentiator. CX Pilots' comprehensive benchmark report examines digital CX maturity across 40 leading insurance carriers and over 5,000 customer interactions, providing insurance industry benchmarks that reveal both unprecedented opportunities and formidable challenges for carriers navigating digital transformation.
Drawing on extensive research across property & casualty, life, health, and specialty insurance segments, this landmark study delivers actionable insights for insurance industry leaders seeking to elevate CX for insurance while driving measurable business results. The findings challenge conventional wisdom about digital-only strategies while highlighting the critical importance of hybrid experiences that blend technological innovation with human connection.
The insurance industry has experienced a fundamental shift in how customers acquire and service their policies. According to our insurance industry benchmarks, 47% of all insurance policy purchases now occur through digital channels—significantly outpacing traditional agent channels (35%) and more than doubling call center purchases (17%).
This digital migration varies considerably across insurance segments:
The financial implications for the insurance industry are substantial. When customers experience excellent digital interactions (satisfaction scores above 801), 92% indicate they will "definitely" return to digital channels. Conversely, poor digital experiences (satisfaction below 500) result in only 40% expressing willingness to return, creating significant attrition risk.
Our research reveals a widening gap between CX leaders and laggards in the insurance industry. The most successful insurance carriers have transformed customer experience into a strategic imperative that transcends departmental boundaries, achieving measurable advantages across key metrics:
Yet despite these compelling economics, only 6% of insurance carriers have reached transformational CX maturity, while 15% remain at the foundational stage, creating substantial competitive disparities across the insurance industry.
Artificial intelligence has moved from experimental to essential for CX in insurance. Our insurance industry benchmarks show that 89% of insurance CIOs are increasing AI investments specifically to enhance customer experience. Applications span intelligent chatbots, claims automation, predictive service models, and personalization engines.
The insurance industry shows varying AI adoption rates across key touchpoints:
Risk Assessment: 13.2% adoption
Despite accelerating investment, a significant trust gap persists within the insurance industry. Research reveals that 59% of insurance customers harbor distrust or complete skepticism toward generative AI tools, creating a fundamental tension between carrier investment priorities and customer preferences.
This skepticism exhibits pronounced generational divides that insurance industry leaders must address:
For CX for insurance initiatives, this means successful AI implementations must balance automation with human oversight, maintain transparency about when customers interact with AI, and provide clear escalation paths to human agents when needed.
One of the most significant findings challenges the digital-only narrative that has dominated insurance industry discussions. Our insurance industry benchmarks consistently demonstrate that digital-only experiences lag behind hybrid models in both effectiveness and emotional connection.
Despite 47% of policy purchases occurring digitally, 70% of insurance customers still express preference for human interactions throughout their insurance journey. The most successful insurance carriers recognize that digital excellence and human connection represent complementary strengths rather than competing priorities.
The data supporting hybrid approaches for CX in insurance is compelling:
For insurance industry leaders, the strategic imperative is clear: invest in journey orchestration capabilities that enable seamless movement between digital self-service and human assistance while maintaining complete customer context.
CX Pilots' proprietary Gold Standard CX Maturity Model provides insurance carriers with a structured framework to assess current capabilities and chart advancement strategies. Our insurance industry benchmarks reveal the following distribution:
Insurance industry benchmarks demonstrate strong correlation between digital CX maturity and business outcomes:
Customer Data Platforms (CDPs) serve as the technological foundation for advanced CX in insurance. Our research shows that insurance carriers with mature CDP implementations achieve 36% higher cross-sell rates and 28% improvement in retention compared to those with fragmented customer data environments.
Leading insurance industry examples demonstrate CDP effectiveness:
Forward-thinking insurance carriers are extending beyond traditional boundaries to create broader service ecosystems:
P&C insurance leads the industry in digital transformation, particularly in claims processing and self-service capabilities. Insurance industry satisfaction (scale 0-1000) benchmarks for top performers include:
Photo-based claims estimation has become standard in P&C insurance, with AI enhancing accuracy and reducing processing times by up to 70%.
Life insurance faces unique challenges due to product complexity and longer customer lifecycles:
Health insurance continues prioritizing navigation and integration, with retail health integration models demonstrating 23% higher satisfaction scores than traditional approaches.
Insurance industry benchmarks demonstrate compelling financial returns for strategic CX investments:
Growth Metrics:
Operational Efficiency:
Risk Reduction:
For insurance carriers making modest CX investments, our insurance industry benchmarks show:
Traditional metrics face increasing scrutiny across the insurance industry. According to Gartner predictions, 75% of businesses will abandon Net Promoter Score as a primary CX metric by 2026, creating both challenges and opportunities for insurance industry leaders.
Forward-thinking insurance carriers are developing holistic measurement frameworks combining:
Insurance customers increasingly evaluate experiences against digital leaders in retail, banking, and technology rather than insurance industry peers. Our research indicates 82% of insurance customers expect the same digital convenience from their insurance provider as from leading online retailers.
Critical expectation gaps exist across five dimensions:
Based on comprehensive insurance industry benchmarks, CX Pilots recommends insurance carriers prioritize these strategic imperatives:
As the insurance industry navigates digital transformation, carriers that view CX not as a departmental function but as an enterprise-wide strategic imperative will emerge as leaders. Those who successfully balance technological innovation with human-centered design will create experiences that foster trust, loyalty, and lasting competitive advantage.
Download your copy of "The State of Digital CX in Insurance: 2026 Benchmark Report" today and discover how leading insurance carriers are redefining customer experience excellence.
The State of Digital CX in Insurance: 2026 Benchmark Report from CX Pilots provides insurance industry leaders with comprehensive insights, detailed analysis, and actionable recommendations to drive CX excellence and measurable business results.
The complete report includes:
The insurance industry stands at a pivotal crossroads in 2026, where customer experience (CX) has emerged as the definitive competitive differentiator. CX Pilots' comprehensive benchmark report examines digital CX maturity across 40 leading insurance carriers and over 5,000 customer interactions, providing insurance industry benchmarks that reveal both unprecedented opportunities and formidable challenges for carriers navigating digital transformation.
Drawing on extensive research across property & casualty, life, health, and specialty insurance segments, this landmark study delivers actionable insights for insurance industry leaders seeking to elevate CX for insurance while driving measurable business results. The findings challenge conventional wisdom about digital-only strategies while highlighting the critical importance of hybrid experiences that blend technological innovation with human connection.
The insurance industry has experienced a fundamental shift in how customers acquire and service their policies. According to our insurance industry benchmarks, 47% of all insurance policy purchases now occur through digital channels—significantly outpacing traditional agent channels (35%) and more than doubling call center purchases (17%).
This digital migration varies considerably across insurance segments:
The financial implications for the insurance industry are substantial. When customers experience excellent digital interactions (satisfaction scores above 801), 92% indicate they will "definitely" return to digital channels. Conversely, poor digital experiences (satisfaction below 500) result in only 40% expressing willingness to return, creating significant attrition risk.
Our research reveals a widening gap between CX leaders and laggards in the insurance industry. The most successful insurance carriers have transformed customer experience into a strategic imperative that transcends departmental boundaries, achieving measurable advantages across key metrics:
Yet despite these compelling economics, only 6% of insurance carriers have reached transformational CX maturity, while 15% remain at the foundational stage, creating substantial competitive disparities across the insurance industry.
Artificial intelligence has moved from experimental to essential for CX in insurance. Our insurance industry benchmarks show that 89% of insurance CIOs are increasing AI investments specifically to enhance customer experience. Applications span intelligent chatbots, claims automation, predictive service models, and personalization engines.
The insurance industry shows varying AI adoption rates across key touchpoints:
Risk Assessment: 13.2% adoption
Despite accelerating investment, a significant trust gap persists within the insurance industry. Research reveals that 59% of insurance customers harbor distrust or complete skepticism toward generative AI tools, creating a fundamental tension between carrier investment priorities and customer preferences.
This skepticism exhibits pronounced generational divides that insurance industry leaders must address:
For CX for insurance initiatives, this means successful AI implementations must balance automation with human oversight, maintain transparency about when customers interact with AI, and provide clear escalation paths to human agents when needed.
One of the most significant findings challenges the digital-only narrative that has dominated insurance industry discussions. Our insurance industry benchmarks consistently demonstrate that digital-only experiences lag behind hybrid models in both effectiveness and emotional connection.
Despite 47% of policy purchases occurring digitally, 70% of insurance customers still express preference for human interactions throughout their insurance journey. The most successful insurance carriers recognize that digital excellence and human connection represent complementary strengths rather than competing priorities.
The data supporting hybrid approaches for CX in insurance is compelling:
For insurance industry leaders, the strategic imperative is clear: invest in journey orchestration capabilities that enable seamless movement between digital self-service and human assistance while maintaining complete customer context.
CX Pilots' proprietary Gold Standard CX Maturity Model provides insurance carriers with a structured framework to assess current capabilities and chart advancement strategies. Our insurance industry benchmarks reveal the following distribution:
Insurance industry benchmarks demonstrate strong correlation between digital CX maturity and business outcomes:
Customer Data Platforms (CDPs) serve as the technological foundation for advanced CX in insurance. Our research shows that insurance carriers with mature CDP implementations achieve 36% higher cross-sell rates and 28% improvement in retention compared to those with fragmented customer data environments.
Leading insurance industry examples demonstrate CDP effectiveness:
Forward-thinking insurance carriers are extending beyond traditional boundaries to create broader service ecosystems:
P&C insurance leads the industry in digital transformation, particularly in claims processing and self-service capabilities. Insurance industry satisfaction (scale 0-1000) benchmarks for top performers include:
Photo-based claims estimation has become standard in P&C insurance, with AI enhancing accuracy and reducing processing times by up to 70%.
Life insurance faces unique challenges due to product complexity and longer customer lifecycles:
Health insurance continues prioritizing navigation and integration, with retail health integration models demonstrating 23% higher satisfaction scores than traditional approaches.
Insurance industry benchmarks demonstrate compelling financial returns for strategic CX investments:
Growth Metrics:
Operational Efficiency:
Risk Reduction:
For insurance carriers making modest CX investments, our insurance industry benchmarks show:
Traditional metrics face increasing scrutiny across the insurance industry. According to Gartner predictions, 75% of businesses will abandon Net Promoter Score as a primary CX metric by 2026, creating both challenges and opportunities for insurance industry leaders.
Forward-thinking insurance carriers are developing holistic measurement frameworks combining:
Insurance customers increasingly evaluate experiences against digital leaders in retail, banking, and technology rather than insurance industry peers. Our research indicates 82% of insurance customers expect the same digital convenience from their insurance provider as from leading online retailers.
Critical expectation gaps exist across five dimensions:
Based on comprehensive insurance industry benchmarks, CX Pilots recommends insurance carriers prioritize these strategic imperatives:
As the insurance industry navigates digital transformation, carriers that view CX not as a departmental function but as an enterprise-wide strategic imperative will emerge as leaders. Those who successfully balance technological innovation with human-centered design will create experiences that foster trust, loyalty, and lasting competitive advantage.
Download your copy of "The State of Digital CX in Insurance: 2026 Benchmark Report" today and discover how leading insurance carriers are redefining customer experience excellence.
