.png)
As customer expectations evolve and digital-first behaviors become the norm, insurers face rising pressure to deliver intuitive, tailored, and responsive experiences – without losing the element that has always defined their industry: trust.
There is, as a result, a shift towards digitally enabled engagement as a core business imperative; one that combines convenience and compliance with the reassurance of human connection.
What does this digital age look like?
In short, basic transactional portals and mobile apps are evolving to become seamless, omnichannel journeys that anticipate customer needs, minimize friction, and deepen loyalty, while reinforcing trust at every touchpoint.
The change in customer preferences
There are a number of shifts in customer behavior that are driving this change.
Demand for seamless omnichannel approaches
According to Deloitte’s 2025 Digital Maturity Report, customers consider excellence in digital experience to involve:
- Seamless, Omnichannel Journeys: Customers expect journeys that anticipate their needs, minimize friction, and deepen loyalty, moving beyond mere transactional portals and mobile apps.
- Hyper-Personalization: Excellence is defined by the ability to deliver the right message, offer, or support at the right time, enabled by real-time analytics.
- 24/7 Self-Service: Customers now expect round-the-clock self-service capabilities.
- Instant Updates: They want instant claims processes, status updates and contextual communication.
- Invisible, Instant, and Integrated Insurance: Today’s customers expect insurance to be “invisible, instant, and integrated,” meaning it should be offered at the point of need (e.g., when buying a car or booking a flight).
Strong preference for online channels – especially for servicing
The above service preferences are only possible through digital channels, which is reflected in the strong preference for these channels as reported by Deloitte. This is particularly true for servicing activities (such as managing a contract, claims, or getting support).
In fact, the report finds that claim follow-up is considered important to be available online by 92% of respondents, while managing invoicing is important to 91% of respondents.
Challenges to meeting service expectations
However an EY report highlights a number of challenges to meeting these service expectations, especially when it comes to digital transformation. There appears to be a temptation to prioritize cost savings over service enhancements when digitizing the customer journey.
This is further complicated by the European Union’s tightening regulatory agenda, as insurers need to conform to the AI Act and the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA), while also needing to prepare for the Financial Data Access (FIDA) legislation. And that is of course without forgetting the need for GDPR-compliant messaging in insurance.
What can insurance companies realistically do?
The need to offer better customer experiences is undeniable, but internal complexity, legacy systems, and a tightening regulatory landscape often make progress difficult. To move forward, insurers need solutions that not only enhance service but also build trust through secure, compliant, and human digital interactions.
This is where Unblu’s Secure Messenger comes in, enabling insurers to connect with customers in a compliant, authentic, and meaningful way. By combining convenience with privacy and regulatory assurance, Secure Messenger allows insurers to deliver the kind of responsive, trusted engagement that today’s customers expect.
The experience of UNIQA Group illustrates how this approach can transform traditional customer relationships into lasting digital connections.
UNIQA: Digital tools to boost customer engagement in insurance
For UNIQA, one of Europe’s leading insurance companies, the concept of trust has always been central. With over 17 million customers and more than two centuries of history, the insurer’s brand is synonymous with reliability and personal relationships. Yet, as customer expectations evolve and digital interactions become the dominant mode of communication, even a company built on human connection must adapt.
UNIQA’s transformation journey demonstrates what this evolution can look like in practice. They combine regulatory compliance, operational efficiency, and customer-centric digital innovation to create lasting value.
From tradition to transformation
UNIQA recognized that maintaining meaningful relationships in a digital-first environment required rethinking how insurance agents and customers interact. The company’s sales model was deeply relationship-driven, but its legacy systems and communication tools weren’t designed for seamless, compliant digital engagement.
The challenge was not just technological. It was cultural – aligning long-established sales practices with modern expectations for real-time, omnichannel communication, while ensuring data protection under GDPR and other regulations.
Introducing a secure, human digital channel
To bridge this gap, UNIQA integrated Unblu’s Secure Messenger into its digital ecosystem, launching UNIQA Messenger within its My UNIQA app and web portal.
This solution offered customers and agents a secure, branded, and intuitive messaging environment that felt as familiar as WhatsApp, yet fully compliant with European data protection requirements. Initially introduced for customer service, its popularity quickly extended to insurance product sales advisors, enabling personalized, ongoing digital conversations with clients.
Adoption through collaboration and iteration
Rather than imposing a top-down rollout, UNIQA took a phased, collaborative approach. Early pilot programs gathered feedback from regional agents, ensuring that the Messenger reflected real working habits and sales cycles.
By 2024, the national rollout in Austria was complete, and the results were tangible. Agents reported greater efficiency, customers valued faster and more personal communication, and engagement through the Messenger doubled year-on-year.
Improving insurance agent–client communication digitally
What began as a secure chat tool evolved into a broader digital software platform for engagement. UNIQA started exploring new use cases such as:
- Proactive outbound messaging to reach customers with personalized content, whether updates or offers.
- Inbound conversations to simplify service interactions like policy management, updates, or renewals.
- Conversational AI integration to automate common queries and hand over seamlessly to human agents when needed.
The Messenger became the cornerstone of a hybrid engagement model – one that merges the empathy of traditional advisory relationships with the convenience and speed of digital interaction.
Looking ahead: continuous innovation and mobility
Building on this success, UNIQA plans to introduce capabilities for mobile devices to help agents in 2025. This next phase will allow advisors to initiate and manage client conversations on the go, reinforcing the insurer’s commitment to accessibility and responsiveness.
As Glück puts it, “For us, the Messenger was never just a web application. It’s a fundamental step in how we build trust and engagement in a digital world.”
Key outcomes
Meeting modern expectations
UNIQA’s story illustrates how insurers can transform customer engagement without losing the personal touch that defines their brand. By combining secure communication, intuitive digital tools, and human-led service, insurers can meet modern expectations while strengthening the core value of trust – one conversation at a time.
Improve your customer engagement with Unblu
The insurance industry needs to transform to deliver the customer experience that is expected today. Adopting a customer-centric approach is not without its challenges but by taking the time to improve digital communications can have a long-term impact.
Everything from faster response times and quicker claims processes to outbound information about insurance products can improve customer loyalty and sales.
Unblu offers a digital platform for omnichannel support on mobile decides, self-service portals, digital hubs, and more that can help insurance agencies to improve their market share.
