AXA Asia
Award Category
Finalist Innovation
Question 1: Give a high level overview of your digital insurance innovation.
Emma by AXA (Emma) provides an intelligent and empathetic virtual assistant for both customers and prospects, enabling them to seamlessly navigate insurance matters while also supporting individuals and their families’ health, wealth and life needs in a unified experience. The experience is delivered via web, app and in the future, through WeChat and Line. It is a cornerstone of how the company is digitalizing its services and moving from being a Payer (offering policies and handling claims) to a Partner (supporting customers’ holistic wellbeing across their life journey). Emma differentiates itself by: 1) Being Humanized: a fully-realized ambassador and empathetic AI-powered chatbot who provides personal support and guidance for customers using natural language conversations 2) Being Holistic: Seamless access across traditional insurance and wellness services in an industry where digital presence is often disjointed and fragmented. 3) Having Heart: A specific focus on providing mental and emotional support options within a broader suite of health and wellbeing services Emma allows AXA to humanizes and differentiate the brand, increasing engagement with customers in the digital space, whilst supporting the growth of its Health & Protection business.
Question 2: How have you demonstrated a strong customer focus through your project?
AXA conducted detailed market research in Hong Kong and the Philippines to identify customer pain points. Results showed two clear issues that that consumers were struggling with. In Hong Kong, a significant segment were universally aspirational, but struggling to balance personal achievement and wellbeing with family commitments and concerns. Meanwhile, in the Philippines, a significant segment were ‘overextended busy bees’ – they focused on work success, but de-prioritized personal health and reported more stress than other segments. This directly informed Emma’s development and functionality: – a unified app to offer a one-stop digital touchpoint for clients to manage and meet all of their personal and family insurance needs, avoiding frustrating back-and-forth across different channels – ¬tailored health and mental health resources sourced through AXA’s network of partners; for example, in Hong Kong Emma offers access to a health symptoms library as well as sign-up for AXA’s pioneering pilot program with Oxford VR that uses virtual reality to treat mental health issues – accessibility to all of these elements facilitated by the Emma chatbot, enabling users to ask questions and seek advice using conversational, natural language queries The result is a digital-first, customer-centric solution that fills a gap under-served by competitors in the marketplace.
Question 3: How did you use technology in your project – please expand on things like your use of analytics, AI, etc, as applicable.
The chatbot at the heart of the Emma experience was brought to life through collaboration with world-class experts from Microsoft. Their Azure-bot framework underpins the service alongside the LUIS Natural Language Processing (NLP) engine which gives the bot it’s AI-powered ‘brain’. Like any infant brain, it needs a constant stream of data to adapt; both interpolating and extrapolating to recognize a rapidly expanding range of phrases which users may type as part of a natural and organic conversation. A team of internal subject matter experts such as conversation designers and ‘trainers’ utilize a range of analytics tools to keep nurturing Emma’s ability to deliver relevant, tailored answers in an empathetic and supportive tone. The importance of training in the early stages cannot be overstated and the analogy of parents guiding a baby or toddler is an apt one. The next iteration of Emma in Hong Kong will integrate with a home-grown machine learning and analytics engine called ‘Next Best Offer’ which offers Spotify-style recommendations based on a customer’s profile and seamlessly hand-off to a marketplace (within Emma) allowing customers to complete their digital policy purchase journeys. Based on customers’ responses the engine automatically refines its recommendation capability.
Question 4: How have you measured the results and growth of this project (if available please provide data on traction, partnerships, cost-savings, revenue, etc). All information shared in this section is kept confidential.
Across the Phase 1 markets (Hong Kong, Philippines, mainland China and Japan), Emma aims to increase the number of users AXA engages with in the digital space by over 2.5m (160% increase over 2019 levels), all of whom will be able to enjoy a seamless experience in accessing both Payer and Partner services. This increased engagement will impact 1) business growth via cross-sell / up-sell and lead generation 2) increased retention through ‘stickiness’ generated by a value-added services ecosystem and 3) efficiency through increased self-service in the digital space, reducing the reliance on traditional touchpoints such as call-centers. In Hong Kong, after a year of launch, AXA has already achieved key quantitative results: • E-claims submission via MyAXA [precursor to Emma] were 16% of total in Jan 2019; in Jan 2020 via Emma, it’s more than doubled to 33% • As of January 2020, over a quarter of a million claims have been submitted and processed via the Emma platform • Nearly 100,000 users have been able to find a doctor and, when getting to the doctor's office, have been able to enjoy cashless service using the built-in E-Health card – this means they don't need to remember to carry their plastic insurance cards
Question 5: Please provide internal or external testimonials relating to the project if available.
Below is a customer testimonial on the Rescue Line feature embedded within Emma in the Philippines, which through effective UX design, tailored services and back-end processes could deliver on the service promise of Emma: "It was during rush hour last Christmas when I had a car accident. I couldn’t help but panic at the time. I used Emma’s Rescue Line feature to call roadside assistance and, thanks to that, I was able to calm myself down. I felt like the agent genuinely cared for me the whole time, even calling back and checking up on me, asking if I would be needing any towing assistance or an ambulance. The service was great. It only took 1 or 2 rings before someone answered. With just one tap, I’m already connected to the contact center, compared to other services that would go to an automated line and would make me wait too long." - AXA Philippines customer
Question 6: Is there any other relevant written information you would like to share as part of your entry?
As a responsible corporate member of the communities we’re a part of across Asia, we are keenly aware of the role we can play to help increase awareness of topics such as Mental and Emotional Wellness. These features may not generate the most material business impact or traffic to our digital offering, but we believe piloting elements such as stress-related conversations in the Philippines helps provide unique ways for our customers to at least begin to engage with what can often be difficult topics in a neutral, safe and anonymous environment. To experience how such conversations with Emma are structured, use the following link to access a test environment. Once the chat launches, type "I am stressed" and Emma will guide you through a few options. Link: https://emma-chatbot-bo-nprd.axa.com.ph/webchat Emma in Hong Kong has already proved an invaluable tool to help AXA play a part in keeping our customers and their families as informed and safe as possible by sharing coronavirus related articles and guidance through our Health news feed feature as well as through the chatbot.