Customer Empowerment
Enabling insurance customers through AI and financial storytelling
Pensions & Life Insurance | 2020
MY ROLE
Head of Strategic Design
IMPACT
+32%
Mobile-originated calls successfully deflected to messaging (via signposting on the IVR/phone channel)
+82%
Customer NPS improvement compared to the phone channel
4.3
closed chats per agent per hour (baseline 2.0)
ABOUT
A trust-driven, AI-enabled service transformation that reduced repetitive demand, clarified complex policy journeys, and empowered customers to self-serve — increasing satisfaction while freeing operational capacity for high-value and vulnerable cases.
CONTEXT
Zurich’s customer-service operation faced rising contact volumes and agent overload from repetitive policy queries, leaving limited capacity for vulnerable customers and complex cases.
CHALLENGE
How might Zurich expand capacity and improve satisfaction without losing the human empathy that defines its brand?
SOLUTION
As programme lead reporting to the UK Customer Services Director, I shaped the CX and AI strategy while building a financial model to test ROI scenarios and secure sponsorship.
The Experience Economics framework connected financial data with operational and design insight — revealing where customer-demand patterns offered the strongest leverage for automation.
The analysis guided the prioritisation of four high-value self-service use cases. In parallel, a unified channel strategy made the new service visible and trusted across every major touchpoint, from IVR menus to policy communications.
The initiative resolved a long-standing demand inefficiency in customer operations and became Zurich’s blueprint for AI governance, later scaled to Switzerland and B2B operations.
KEY LEARNING
The ROI of AI emerges when customers trust it — and choose to self-serve.
SPOTLIGHT
01
Making it simple and easy for customers to enter the new service channel
02
Researching user engagement patterns and service provision complexity, to inform high-value self-service use cases
03
Iteratively shaping the future together with customers and senior stakeholders
CUSTOMER FEEDBACK
"Less of the repetitive work — and more time for what truly counts." — Customer Service Agent at Zurich UK
"Adopted quicker than expected - a long-standing issue finally resolved." — Customer Service Director at Zurich UK
"Their agents are good, but it used to take a serious amount of time and effort to get a simple answer" — Policyholder with Zurich UK
FINAL WORD
By aligning AI capabilities with customer-demand patterns and crafting a unified communication strategy, the programme strengthened trust, accelerated adoption and resolved long-standing operational inefficiencies — demonstrating how clarity and responsible automation create sustainable value for both customers and the organisation.
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