By Sabine VanderLinden

Discover:

• How insurance CX is evolving beyond wallets: building a “fabric” that integrates data, touch-points & personalization to outpace commoditization.

• The urgent competitive edge: embedding AI & real-time feedback loops to boost loyalty, reduce churn & unlock new product innovation.

• For incumbents and startups alike: actuating CX fabric isn’t optional anymore—it’s the lever for sustainable growth, market resilience & regulatory alignment.

Picture This: A Travel Disaster Turned Delightful

It's nearly midnight in a foreign airport. Your connecting flight has just been canceled, and you’re bracing for a long, uncomfortable night. Suddenly, your phone buzzes with a lock-screen notification from your insurance wallet. Surprised, you tap it and your digital travel card opens in your Apple Wallet. Instantly, you see a personal message from your insurer confirming that trip disruptions are covered, along with a link to book a nearby hotel – on the insurer’s dime. Within minutes, you’ve arranged a room and even initiated a quick claim for the delay. By the time most passengers are still lining up at the service desk, you’re already en route to a hotel, calm and taken care of. And you did it all without scrambling for an app or calling a hotline – the help found you.

This seamless experience highlights the importance of customer satisfaction, which is primarily about how much consumers like or dislike a product, service, or experience. In contrast, a bad customer experience in this situation—such as being left without guidance, waiting in long lines, or struggling to contact support—could result in frustration, lost trust, and a negative perception of the insurer.

This scenario is just one of several examples of how digital engagement can transform insurance interactions. Providing a better experience not only increases customer satisfaction but also leads to greater loyalty and retention.

As an insurance industry leader, I live for moments like this. This vivid scenario isn’t science fiction – it’s happening today, thanks to forward-thinking insurers leveraging a new kind of digital engagement platform. Miss Moneypenny Technologies calls it the Customer Experience Activation Fabric, and it turns the humble mobile wallet into a dynamic, context-aware launchpad for real-time brand engagement. I’ve spent decades in this industry, and I can confidently say: this CX Activation Fabric is poised to become the next big thing in insurance customer experience and engagement.

From Insurance Wallets to a CX Activation Fabric

Why wallets? Simply put, that’s where your customers already are. Over 4.5 billion people worldwide use mobile wallets for daily payments, boarding passes, and more. These Digital wallets are trusted tools that securely store cards, tickets, and IDs. In fact, the global mobile wallet market – about $10 billion in 2024 – is projected to soar to over $104 billion by 2034 (a staggering 26.3% annual growth). Insurers have noticed, instead of struggling to lure users into yet another app (we all know app fatigue), savvy carriers are meeting customers where they already spend their digital lives – in the native Apple and Google Wallet apps, starting from the customer's perspective. Listening to customer feedback helps identify areas for improvement in customer experience, ensuring that these wallet-based solutions continue to meet evolving needs.

An “insurance wallet” essentially transforms a standard digital wallet app into a dynamic insurance service layer. Early digital insurance cards were static – basically just on-screen versions of paper ID cards. Now, with an Activation Fabric approach, those wallet passes become interactive, two-way communication hubs. The wallet app on your phone isn’t just for payments and boarding passes anymore; with a smart insurance card, it becomes a living touchpoint for insurance services. The insurer can push real-time updates and personalized notifications, collect feedback or claims data, and deliver instant services – all through a medium the customer doesn’t have to remember to open. There’s no new app to download, no password to recall, no clunky portal to log into. The engagement is native to the phone, frictionless, and surprisingly engaging, delivering a truly personalized experience.

Insurance policies have long been “set-and-forget” products with few touchpoints beyond purchase and claims. A Customer Experience Activation Fabric changes that by enabling ongoing micro-engagements throughout the policy lifecycle. Think of gentle lock-screen nudges: a coverage tip before a big storm, a reminder that your travel policy covers you as you board a flight, or a “happy anniversary” note on a policy’s yearly milestone. These aren’t intrusive robocalls or spam emails – they’re timely, context-aware messages delivered via the wallet card, a channel that feels convenient and relevant. The result is a steady drumbeat of engagement that keeps your brand present in the customer’s life in a helpful way, rather than “out of sight, out of mind.” Optimizing customer journeys, rather than focusing solely on individual touchpoints, leads to more impactful improvements in customer satisfaction and business outcomes.

And this isn’t just theory or hype. Early adopters of insurance wallet programs (now evolving into full CX Activation Fabrics) are already seeing eye-opening results. Some insurers report engagement rates up to 80% on wallet-based interactions – a significant increase compared to traditional insurance apps or email campaigns. These wallet passes prove incredibly sticky, with pilot programs showing retention rates above 90% for active users. When over 80% of users click on a call-to-action embedded in a wallet card, you know you’ve found a channel that resonates. No wonder major carriers are jumping on board. Zurich Insurance’s innovation team, for example, has begun rolling out digital insurance cards to every customer across multiple business units – deeming it a promising pillar of their customer-centric strategy. Meanwhile, Europe’s ERGO Insurance piloted a wallet-based “travel companion” card that replaced static cards with real-time policy info and emergency help; they compressed a 12-month development timeline into days and saw conversion rates jump while costs dropped. Upselling to a loyal customer base is simpler than selling to new leads, and these wallet-based interactions provide an excellent opportunity to strengthen customer loyalty and drive additional sales. Targeting potential customers with relevant offers through these channels further enhances conversion opportunities. It’s clear this approach isn’t a gimmick – it delivers real value. In fact, a 2023 survey found 81% of financial executives believe embedded insurance is transitioning from a nice-to-have to an essential offering. The message is loud and clear: meeting customers in their moments of need (instead of waiting for them to come to you) is the future of our industry, and building a long-term relationship with the customer is key.

At Miss Moneypenny, we call this holistic approach the CX Activation Fabric. It’s more than just a digital card – it’s a strategic, mobile-first service layer that forms a core part of a modern CX strategy, keeping your brand present, relevant, and trusted in every moment that matters. Think of it as a wallet-native launchpad connecting customers instantly to the services, channels and support they need, exactly when they need them. (And while we’ve focused on personal lines like travel and auto, this concept extends to any insurance product – health, life, even commercial coverage – anywhere an insurer wants to move from reactive transactions to proactive service.) Unlike a standalone app or portal, it works within the fabric of customers’ daily digital habits. It allows modern insurers (and MGAs alike) to show up at the moment of need, not just at the moment of sale – to be useful and visible throughout the customer’s life, not just at purchase or renewal. It’s a chance to break down the silos of traditional channels and meet customers on their terms. Instead of forcing customers to start journeys in our apps or portals, we start the customer's journey wherever the customer is and then lead them to the right channel at the right time. That’s a paradigm shift in how we deliver service. The payoff is huge: customer-centric companies are significantly more profitable than those that neglect CX, and this always-on engagement fabric gives insurers a concrete way to deliver that superior experience consistently. By improving customer experiences across all touchpoints and understanding the customer's needs and preferences, organizations can drive loyalty and growth.

Understanding Customer Expectations in the Digital Age

In today’s digital age, customer expectations are higher than ever. With instant access to information and a world of choices at their fingertips, customers expect more than just basic services—they demand a great customer experience at every interaction. This shift means that companies must go beyond traditional offerings and focus on delivering seamless, personalized experiences that anticipate and meet customer needs.

Customer experience management has become an integral part of business success, especially in industries like insurance, where trust and reliability are paramount. Customers want quick responses to their inquiries, easy access to their policies, and interactions that feel tailored to their unique situations. To achieve this, businesses must actively listen to customer feedback and leverage data analytics to gain valuable insights into customer preferences and behaviors.

By understanding what customers truly want, companies can develop customer engagement strategies that foster strong customer relationships and drive loyalty. This involves not only meeting but exceeding customer expectations at every touchpoint—whether it’s through a web page, a mobile wallet, or a customer service interaction. The ability to adapt and respond to evolving customer needs is what sets leading organizations apart, ensuring they deliver a consistently great customer experience and remain competitive in a rapidly changing market.

The Technology Infrastructure Powering the Fabric

Behind these seamless experiences are the robust technologies of mobile wallets themselves. Modern smartphones and wallet apps provide tap-and-go convenience via NFC and strong security via tokenization – every transaction or pass update uses unique encrypted tokens, keeping sensitive data safe. The Activation Fabric smartly leverages these capabilities, plus the phone’s sensors and location services, to enable real-time, context-aware responses. Because this all runs on the native Apple and Google wallet platforms, it inherits enterprise-grade security and a user experience that customers already trust. As one Zurich executive noted, customers have “all the information right there in their pocket… in their digital wallet app that they already know, use and trust.” That built-in trust is gold for insurers. Instead of asking customers to download yet another app (and hoping they remember yet another login), you’re leveraging an app that’s essentially part of their phone’s operating system – likely opened daily. AI agents can autonomously resolve complex customer requests, such as processing refunds or directing consumers to help center articles, further enhancing the efficiency and reliability of these wallet-based solutions.

On the back end, a platform like Wallet Studio integrates with your existing systems through secure APIs and webhooks. That means a wallet-based interaction isn’t a dead end – it can trigger processes in your core policy or claims systems just like an app or website would. For example, a claim filed via a wallet pass can auto-create a case in your claims software and then feed status updates back to the customer’s pass in real time. Modern wallet platforms handle authentication and consent management as well, working within insurers’ security requirements (Wallet Studio was honed in Germany’s strict regulatory environment, so enterprise security and compliance are baked in). In short, the tech foundation is solid and scalable. You get all these new capabilities without rebuilding your IT stack – the Activation Fabric lives on top of your existing infrastructure, safely and seamlessly.

Notably, this isn’t just happening in one region – it’s a global trend. In South Korea and Latin America, for instance, mobile-first consumers and underbanked populations are leapfrogging straight to wallet-based financial services – driving rapid adoption of embedded insurance. Meanwhile, in mature markets, established banks and insurers are leveraging their resources to integrate insurance offerings into digital wallets. Across the world, consumers are gravitating toward seamless digital experiences – and the Activation Fabric answers that call.

Measuring Customer Experience: Metrics That Matter

Delivering a better customer experience starts with knowing how to measure it. In the insurance industry, tracking the right metrics is essential for understanding whether you’re meeting customer expectations and where there’s room for improvement. Three of the most important metrics are customer satisfaction rates, net promoter score (NPS), and customer effort score (CES).

Customer satisfaction rates provide a quantitative snapshot of how happy customers are with your services at various stages of the customer journey. The net promoter score goes a step further, measuring how likely customers are to recommend your company to others—a key indicator of brand loyalty and the potential to retain loyal customers. Meanwhile, the customer effort score reveals how easy it is for customers to complete important tasks, such as filing a claim or updating their policy. A lower effort score means a smoother, more seamless experience, which is crucial for keeping customers satisfied.

To gain a holistic view, many organizations use customer journey mapping to visualize the entire customer journey—from initial awareness through purchase, service, and renewal. This process helps identify pain points and moments of delight from the customer’s perspective, providing valuable information for refining your customer experience strategy. By consistently tracking these metrics and analyzing the data, companies can pinpoint areas for improvement, address customer pain points, and develop targeted strategies to retain loyal customers and drive business growth.

Gathering Customer Feedback: The Voice of the Policyholder

Customer feedback is the lifeblood of a great customer experience. It offers direct insight into how customers perceive every aspect of their interactions with your company, from the initial purchase to ongoing service and support. By actively gathering feedback through surveys, social media, and other channels, insurers can capture the authentic voice of the policyholder and gain a deeper understanding of customer needs and expectations.

Analyzing customer feedback provides valuable information about the entire customer experience, highlighting what’s working well and where improvements are needed. This feedback loop enables companies to identify trends, spot recurring pain points, and develop targeted strategies to boost customer satisfaction rates and strengthen customer relationships. When customers feel heard and see their feedback translated into action, it builds trust and loyalty—turning satisfied customers into brand advocates.

Ultimately, making customer feedback an integral part of your customer experience strategy ensures that your services evolve in line with customer needs. By listening to and acting on the voice of the policyholder, insurers can deliver a consistently better customer experience, drive higher satisfaction, and secure long-term business success.

Travel Insurance: Service at Your Fingertips

Let’s look at how this works in the wild, starting with travel insurance – a line where customer experience can make or break loyalty. As we saw in the opening story, a proactive real-time response can turn a travel nightmare into a moment of delight and loyalty. Imagine you’re vacationing in Bali when a 6.0 earthquake strikes nearby. Within seconds, your insurer pushes a notification via your wallet card: “Earthquake reported in your area – you’re covered. Here’s what to do.” The card updates in real time to list emergency contact numbers and guidance on finding safe shelter. You didn’t have to search for your policy or call a hotline – the help found you, proactively. It’s a dramatically improved service experience – one that could literally be life-saving. This is a good customer experience that builds trust and loyalty.

Another scenario: your suitcase vanishes en route. You can open your insurance wallet card and be guided through a quick lost-baggage claim right on your phone – snap a photo of the airline receipt, fill in a few details, and submit within minutes. The card even updates with your claim number and status. A frustrating travel hassle turns into a smooth digital interaction that builds trust.

Throughout the journey, the insurance wallet is like a guardian angel in your pocket, always there when needed. It can welcome you to a new country with a note about finding a local doctor under your policy, or ping you about a flight delay the moment it happens and walk you through your coverage options. The customer feels looked after at every step, not just sold a policy and forgotten. That kind of continuous, context-aware service is customer experience gold.

Motor Insurance: A Smoother Ride for Customers

The same approach is transforming auto insurance. For starters, showing proof of coverage is a breeze – two taps on your phone instead of fumbling for a paper ID card – and it’s legally accepted in almost every state. Now, suppose you’re in a minor fender-bender – stressful even on a good day. The other driver might be shaken, and you’re anxious – but now you have clear instructions to follow, turning chaos into calm in real time. 

Your insurer’s wallet card can detect the incident (or let you quickly report it) and immediately walk you through the steps on your phone. It might prompt you to capture photos, exchange details with the other driver, and even request a tow, all via a guided process right on the spot. (In one innovative twist, Zurich even added a feature where a third party can scan a QR code on the insured’s digital card to instantly notify Zurich of an accident – triggering immediate outreach to both parties.) No digging for paperwork or waiting on hold – help is right there when you need it. Even routine needs get simpler: your wallet card can nudge you when it’s time to renew your auto policy (with a one-tap payment link) or remind you about your car’s upcoming inspection. By turning these moments into quick, app-free interactions, motor insurers not only streamline the experience but also earn greater trust and loyalty from their drivers. It’s like having a virtual claims adjuster riding shotgun, coaching you through the ordeal.

Why the Activation Fabric Boosts Customer Experience and the Bottom Line

• Higher Customer Retention: Wallet-based engagement keeps your brand in front of customers in a positive way. When policyholders regularly interact with your company (and find value each time), they’re far less likely to stray at renewal. In fact, early programs have seen retention rates above 90% – significantly higher than industry norms. Reducing churn directly boosts profitability, so this impact is huge.
• Cross-Selling Opportunities: A wallet pass opens up a friendly new channel for introducing other products. The key is timing and relevance. For example, if a customer has a travel policy in their wallet, you can offer motor insurance right before a road trip – or vice versa. Or a home insurance client could get a gentle prompt about flood coverage when a big storm is forecast. Because these offers are context-aware (delivered as helpful suggestions, not spam), customers are more receptive. Insurers find that wallet-driven cross-sell campaigns convert better, increasing each customer’s lifetime value.
• Efficiency in Claims & Service: Every interaction handled via the wallet means less work for your call centers and back office. A wallet-based claim submission, for example, feeds directly into your system, reducing manual steps and errors. This speeds up service for the customer and drives down costs for you. Miss Moneypenny’s team has seen that turning static cards into interactive tools leads to efficient data collection and significant cost reductions for insurers. In short, a smoother digital experience for customers is also a leaner, cheaper process for the business.
• Higher Digital Engagement: Most people rarely log into their insurer’s app or website. But a wallet card is part of the phone’s native ecosystem, so using it is almost effortless. Engagement levels skyrocket – some wallet campaigns see click-through rates above 80%, numbers that traditional channels can only dream of. More engagement means more opportunities to educate customers on their coverage, alert them to new services, and gather feedback. In an industry where products can be commoditized, customer experience is the battlefield – and this always-on mobile channel gives you a fresh advantage. By staying continually useful, you stop being just a faceless company and become a trusted partner in your customer’s life. 

Early evidence shows the payoff of great CX is well worth it. Research by the Temkin Group found that companies earning $1 billion annually can expect to gain, on average, an additional $700 million in revenue within 3 years of investing in customer experience. Yet many insurers still struggle to meet rising customer expectations – which means those who move now to engage customers in these new ways stand to capture significant competitive advantage.

Bringing the Activation Fabric to Life

One example of this concept in action is Miss Moneypenny’s Wallet Studio – a no-code SaaS platform that essentially serves as the engine of the CX Activation Fabric. It gives your brand a live mobile presence inside your customer’s wallet, with no apps, no passwords, and no friction.

• Intelligent Push Notifications: Insurers can send personalized, real-time push alerts straight to the customer’s lock screen via the wallet card. Think payment due reminders, claim status updates, or safety warnings based on weather or location. These aren’t generic blasts – they’re triggered by actual context (policy events, user actions, or geofenced locations), so customers perceive them as timely and helpful, not spam.
• Embedded Journeys: You can embed interactive micro-services directly into the wallet card experience. For example, a “File a Claim” button on an auto insurance card can launch a mini guided form right from the pass interface – no separate login required. Customers can complete tasks like reporting a claim, adding a driver, or requesting roadside assistance with just a few taps, all in the moment they need it.
• Geofencing & Context Triggers: The Activation Fabric allows you to set up automated triggers based on location or other signals. For instance, a travel insurance card might pop up a “Welcome to Spain!” message with local doctor info when the customer lands abroad, or an auto insurance pass could flash a hailstorm warning if a storm is forecast in the customer’s home ZIP code. It’s the promise of being truly proactive – delivering the right message at the right place and time, automatically.
• Workflow Integration: Wallet Studio ties these front-end interactions into your back-end systems. A claim submitted via the wallet can automatically create a record in your claims system, assign it to an adjuster, and then send the customer real-time status updates via the wallet pass. The platform handles authentication and consent as needed, working within insurers’ security requirements. (Wallet Studio was honed in Germany's strict environment, so enterprise security and compliance are baked in.)
• No-Code Speed: Perhaps best of all, solutions like these are extremely fast to deploy. Because Wallet Studio is a no-code platform, your team can configure cards and automations through a visual interface – no heavy IT project required. Insurers have gone from kickoff to live in a matter of weeks (in one case, under a month from idea to rollout). And because this is a no-code platform, even a lean team – say at an MGA – can launch a sophisticated mobile service without a large development staff. An omnichannel approach ensures customers do not have to repeat information to different support agents, further streamlining the customer experience. This agility means you can start capturing value (and feedback from customers) right away, then iterate on the experience.

The fact that global brands like Zurich, ERGO, and even mobility giant SIXT have embraced wallet-based engagement speaks volumes. The technology is here, it’s proven, and it’s delivering real results for insurers across the world.

Embrace the CX Activation Fabric Revolution

The next big thing in insurance engagement isn’t coming – it’s already here. Early adopters reap the rewards of customer satisfaction, loyalty, and efficiency. The only question is: Will you be among them, or will you be playing catch-up later? If you’re a chief customer officer, transformation lead, or innovation driver at an insurer, MGA or MGU, now is the time to explore how the Activation Fabric can elevate your strategy.

This isn’t just tech for tech’s sake – it’s a tangible way to become more customer-centric, something our industry has aspired to for years. I encourage you to see this technology in action. Set up a pilot. Get a demo. Talk to peers who have experimented with wallet-based CX. You’ll find that it doesn’t take long to deliver meaningful outcomes for your customers and your business.

Consider this a personal invitation to reimagine how you connect with your customers. The mobile wallet is fast becoming the new front door for customer interactions. Together, let’s step through it and lead our industry forward. Those who activate seamless, relevant, and human experiences – without adding friction – will be the ones to win the future of insurance.

I’ll be at InsureTech Connect (ITC) in Las Vegas this October 14–16, together with Miss Moneypenny’s co-founders Anna Bojic and Marc Lampe. If you’re attending, consider this a personal invitation to meet us (we’ll be at our booth and around the conference) – we'd love to continue this conversation one-on-one. Experience how wallet-based digital engagement can boost your customer experience strategy and overall innovation roadmap.

Safe travels, and see you in Vegas!