How to Map and Improve the Life Insurance Customer Journey

Stage 1: Awareness and consideration

In the first stage, the person recognizes the need for life insurance. This doesn't mean they're ready to apply, but a life event has prompted them to research options and perhaps get an initial quote. Reasons include becoming a parent, getting married, buying a home, or wanting to protect financial dependents.

Your role: Your sales or support team needs to understand what's holding the person back, whether it's terminology, not wanting to think about the future, or difficulty comparing options. Offer clear explanations that help them grasp the basics and decide what to explore next.

Stage 2: Needs assessment and coverage selection

As a buyer's search narrows, the questions get more specific: how much coverage do they need, and what can they afford? Many aren't sure how to weigh more protection against a manageable premium. Unfamiliar quote fields, like coverage limits or beneficiary details, can leave them stuck.

Your role: Connect the coverage and price to the buyer's circumstances, explain the choices clearly, and help them find protection that fits their household budget. When a quote field causes confusion, your sales team needs to see where the buyer is stuck and guide them through it while they're still on the page.

Stage 3: Application and underwriting

The next stage of the life insurance customer journey is where the effort required to apply often causes people to drop off.

In a LexisNexis Risk Solutions study, 63% of people who abandoned their application said the length of the process was one of their top reasons for leaving.

Submitting the application doesn't end the uncertainty, either. During underwriting, applicants often don't know whether you're still reviewing their information or waiting for something from them.

Your role: An unfinished application doesn't automatically mean a lost customer. Measure common obstacles and drop-off points, like lengthy forms, sensitive questions, medical requirements, missing documents, and unexplained delays. Your goal is to help applicants complete outstanding tasks and understand what happens next.

Stage 4: Policy purchase and onboarding

Once the applicant receives a coverage offer, they review the terms, accept the policy, arrange payment, and learn how to manage their coverage.

Your sales team's job is done, and your onboarding team takes over. New members need a smooth transition with clear confirmation of what they bought, when coverage begins, how payments work, and whom to contact with any concerns.

Your role: Watch for onboarding pain points, like difficulty accessing the portal or uncertainty about whether anything remains outstanding. Members want peace of mind, so help them feel comfortable managing their policy.

Stage 5: Ongoing service, coverage reviews, and retention

The life insurance customer journey continues after the sale. Policyholders make payments, update information or beneficiaries, and ask questions. Over time, family circumstances and finances change, so reviews help establish whether the coverage still fits and address concerns that could lead to cancellation or lapse.

Your role: Delivering a good customer experience in the insurance industry is tough when contact is infrequent, and members lose sight of their policy's value. Make routine changes easy, answer payment questions clearly, and ensure coverage reviews reflect their current circumstances.

Stage 6: Claims and beneficiary support

For a death benefit claim, the experience shifts to the beneficiary. This may be their first contact with your company, and the policy itself is unfamiliar. They need to understand how to submit the claim, what information is required, and who is handling it. The process feels even harder when grief and financial uncertainty are involved.

Your role: Clear guidance is non-negotiable in this "moment of truth." Your claims team must help beneficiaries understand the process, offer respectful support, and communicate the outcome. Keep them informed about progress, any outstanding requirements, and when they can expect an update. For more on this stage, see our guide to the claims customer experience.

People get stuck in different places at each stage, but a few changes make a difference across the entire journey.

Explain coverage in plain language

The insurance industry has a reputation for being hard for first-time buyers to understand. Unfamiliar policy terms, unclear exclusions, unexplained coverage recommendations, and confusion about premiums make it harder for customers to understand what they're buying and feel confident in their choice.

What you can do: Explain terms as they appear, use concrete examples, keep comparisons consistent, and connect recommendations to the customer's circumstances to make the experience smoother and help them move forward.

Keep the journey connected across channels

Your omnichannel strategy should help customers switch channels and pick up where they left off. According to McKinsey's insurance survey, six in 10 applicants switch channels before purchasing.

In other words, they research your website, message you on social media, ask questions through live chat, and then finish an application with an agent. Their progress and information should follow them throughout that journey, so they don't have to repeat themselves or start over.

What you can do: Connect customer records, make previous conversations available to agents, preserve application progress, and coordinate messages across phone, email, social media, live chat, and your portal.

Make human guidance easy to reach

Live chat or chatbot? Choose both. AI chatbots help with simple, recurring questions, whether someone researching coverage wants to know how to apply or an existing customer needs help finding their policy documents. Make agents easy to reach when people need to discuss their circumstances, choose coverage, or resolve a complicated issue.

What you can do: Provide a clear handoff from chatbot to live chat, offer scheduled callbacks, show support hours, and pass the customer's conversation history to the person helping them.

Guide customers visually through difficult tasks

Even a small obstacle makes an applicant give up and close the page. From confusing navigation to unfamiliar fields, failed uploads, and difficulty locating documents, these issues stop their progress. Lengthy exchanges describing what appears on screen add to the frustration.

What you can do: Use cobrowsing to highlight the relevant field, explain an error, guide document submission, or show customers where to find policy information.

Tailor training to each team's role

Different roles handle different needs throughout the life insurance customer journey. Your training should reflect your organization's structure and prepare people for the decisions, questions, and difficulties they encounter in their work.

For example, sales agents need practice explaining how a recommended coverage amount relates to a customer's income, debts, and dependents. Meanwhile, onboarding staff need to explain when coverage starts, what remains outstanding, and how the first premium payment works.

What you can do: Build training around realistic customer scenarios, give employees current reference materials, and practice handoffs between departments. Coach each team on the conversations and tasks it handles most often.