Almost everyone has a smartphone now. Pew Research Center puts U.S. adult smartphone ownership at 91%, with usage even higher among adults under 65. The average phone carries 35 apps, according to Think with Google, and people are using them more than ever. SensorTower’s State of Mobile report found users spending an average of five hours a day on mobile devices, with 5.1 trillion collective hours spent on apps in a single year.
Consumers now expect that same convenience from every business they interact with, insurance included. In a Chase study, 78% of respondents said they use their mobile banking app weekly, and 62% said they can’t live without it. HubSpot research finds 55% of customers would rather use a self-service channel than speak with a representative. If people already expect self-service for banking and shopping, they expect it for insurance claims too, especially for something that requires ongoing status checks and document uploads.
What J.D. Power’s New Digital Claims Study Actually Found
For years, insurers have pushed customers toward mobile apps and websites to file and manage claims. The question has always been whether those tools actually deliver on that promise. In December 2025, J.D. Power answered it directly with its first U.S. Claims Digital Experience Study, and the results are a mixed verdict for the industry.
The good news: when insurers manage the claims process digitally, satisfaction scores are consistently highest across the entire workflow, from first notice of loss through the estimate and status updates. The bad news: most insurers still aren’t delivering that experience consistently.
A few findings stand out:
- Proactive digital updates are rare. Receiving adequate updates through digital channels is one of the top drivers of claims satisfaction, but insurers deliver on it only 22% of the time.
- Apps are underused for the thing they’re best at. Satisfaction is highest when status updates come through a mobile app, yet only 36% of auto insurance customers and 31% of homeowners insurance customers actually receive updates that way. Most still get email, phone calls, or texts instead.
- The experience is still fragmented. 22% of customers say they have to use multiple channels just to get an answer to the same question.
Mark Garrett, J.D. Power’s director of global insurance intelligence, put it simply: the more insurers can anticipate what customers need and proactively deliver it digitally, the more satisfied and brand loyal those customers become. Right now, most insurers are leaving that opportunity on the table.
Poor Communication Frustrates Consumers
Long hold times are a top complaint. HubSpot research shows customers tend to hang up after about two minutes on hold, and roughly a third won’t call back. Even policyholders willing to wait it out are still likely to walk away frustrated. RingCentral found that 57% of people specifically cite long hold times as a source of frustration.
Inconsistent experiences across channels compound the problem. Having to repeat information every time you switch from app to phone to email is exactly the kind of friction that erodes trust. Retailers already learned this lesson: a Harvard Business Review study of 46,000 shoppers found omnichannel retailing drives measurably higher revenue. Insurers are still catching up.
Policyholder Satisfaction Is Under Real Pressure
J.D. Power’s 2025 U.S. Auto Claims Satisfaction Study found overall satisfaction largely flat at 700 out of 1,000, up just 3 points year over year, even as auto insurance rates finally began declining from their 2024 highs. The strain shows up in how customers now manage their coverage: 26% of auto insurance customers carry deductibles of $1,000 or more, and 7% say they’ve avoided filing a claim entirely for fear their rates would rise.
Claim severity is climbing too. Total losses now make up 27% of claims, up from 24% a year earlier and 16% back in 2022. Satisfaction drops 9 points among customers who experience a total loss, and only 58% say the settlement fully met their expectations. These are exactly the higher-stakes, higher-emotion claims where a confusing or opaque process does the most damage to a policyholder relationship.
The Impact of Claims on Churn and Shopping
Policyholders are already unhappy about rising costs. A poor claims experience is often what pushes them to leave. Among auto insurance customers who report a poor claims experience, 80% have either left their insurer or are planning to, according to J.D. Power’s Auto Claims Satisfaction research. Accenture puts a number on what that adds up to industry-wide: poor claims experiences could put as much as $170 billion of global insurance premiums at risk from policyholder churn over a five-year period.
To insurers, rate increases and claims experience might look like separate issues. To policyholders, they’re the same thing. If you’re paying more, you expect more, and a claims process that doesn’t deliver gives policyholders no reason to stay loyal.
Speed Isn’t Everything. Communication Is What Actually Matters
A ValuePenguin analysis of NAIC complaint data found that delays in claim handling are the single most common complaint against insurers. But speed alone doesn’t fully explain policyholder frustration. Expectations matter as much as actual timelines: a claim that takes 15 days feels fine if the customer expected 20, and feels terrible if they expected 5. Perception, not just elapsed time, drives satisfaction.
The worst version of this is a claim that takes 15 days with zero visibility along the way. When claimants don’t hear anything, they start to wonder if anyone is actually working their file, and when a resolution finally arrives, they may not trust that it’s fair. Transparent, proactive communication isn’t a nice-to-have here. It’s the difference between a policyholder who renews and one who starts shopping.
How a Self-Service App Changes the Claim Journey
Consider two versions of the same claim.
Without an app: A policyholder’s car is stolen. She calls to report it, waits 10 minutes on hold, then has to email over supporting documents like a police report. A few days later she calls again for a status update and gets reassurance but no timeline. A week later she gets a notice that the claim was approved, but by then she’s frustrated enough to consider switching carriers.
With an app: The same policyholder reports the theft through her insurer’s app, uploading documents directly from her phone. She gets confirmation within minutes and discovers, right in the app, that her policy includes rental car coverage. She uses the rental to keep working and handling life while the claim processes, checking status in the app and messaging her adjuster with questions along the way. When the claim settles a week later and payment lands digitally, she’s satisfied with the whole experience, not just the outcome.
Same claim, same timeline, completely different relationship with the insurer.
What This Means for Your Claims Operation
Policyholder relationships are under real strain right now. Many customers are already shopping for new coverage, and even those who’ve stayed may be one bad experience away from leaving. A self-service app closes several of the exact gaps J.D. Power’s new study identified.
VCA’s InsuredConnect app gives policyholders a direct, self-service way to navigate the claims process, letting them access policy details, report claims, and check status updates from their phone. That directly addresses the update-delivery gap J.D. Power found, since proactive in-app updates are the format tied to the highest satisfaction scores.
Key features:
- 24/7 access to policy information. Policyholders can view policy details and documents anytime, from any device.
- Instant claim reporting. Claimants submit claims with supporting photos and video for faster processing, supported by VCA’s FNOL software.
- Timely, in-app updates. Continuous status updates keep claimants informed without them needing to call in, which is exactly where J.D. Power found most insurers still fall short.
- Digital claims payments. Once a claim settles, digital payments close the loop without a mailed check delaying the moment a policyholder actually feels made whole.
Self-service alone isn’t the full answer. It needs to be backed by a claims operation that can actually keep pace, which is where a connected claims management system matters. When InsuredConnect is tied directly into your claims management software, status updates in the app reflect what’s actually happening in the file in real time, instead of a policyholder-facing app running on a delay from your internal systems.
Can You Keep Up With Claimant Expectations?
The insurers winning on retention right now aren’t the ones with the lowest rates. They’re the ones closing the digital experience gap J.D. Power just measured. If your claims process still routes policyholders to a phone queue for basic status checks, that’s a retention problem hiding in plain sight.
See how VCA’s claims management software supports carriers, TPAs, and independent adjusting firms with a connected claims management system and the InsuredConnect self-service app, or request a demo to see it firsthand.
