Digital Self-Service Claims: Why Insurers Can't Skip It in 2026

Almost everyone has a smartphone now. Pew Research Center puts US 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 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 do well. 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. A further 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 have avoided filing a claim entirely for fear their rates would rise.

Claim severity is climbing too. Total losses make up a growing share of claims, well above where they sat a few years ago. Satisfaction drops among customers who experience a total loss, and many say the settlement did not fully meet 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 are the same thing. If you are 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 closes when the customer expected it to feels fine, and the same claim feels terrible when it runs past what they were led to expect. Perception, not just elapsed time, drives satisfaction.

The worst version of this is a claim that drags on with no 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 is fair. Transparent, proactive communication isn't a nice-to-have here. It is the difference between a policyholder who renews and one who starts shopping.

How self-service changes the claim journey

Consider two versions of the same claim.

Without self-service: A policyholder's car is stolen. She calls to report it, waits on hold, then has to email over supporting documents like a police report. Days later she calls again for a status update and gets reassurance but no timeline. A week after that she gets a notice that the claim was approved, but by then she is frustrated enough to consider switching carriers.

With self-service: The same policyholder reports the theft herself from her phone, uploading documents as she goes. She gets confirmation right away and discovers, in the same place, that her policy includes rental car coverage. She uses the rental to keep working and handling life while the claim processes, checking status online and messaging her adjuster with questions along the way. When the claim settles and payment lands digitally, she is 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 have stayed may be one bad experience away from leaving. Self-service closes several of the exact gaps J.D. Power's study identified.

VCA's InsuredConnect gives policyholders a direct, self-service way through the claims process, letting them report a loss and check where their claim stands from their phone or computer. That directly addresses the update-delivery gap J.D. Power found, since proactive digital updates are the format tied to the highest satisfaction scores.

Key features:

• Around-the-clock access to policy information. Policyholders can view policy details and documents anytime, from any device.

• Instant claim reporting. Claimants report a loss with photos and location through InsuredConnect's first notice of loss intake, and it arrives on the claim with no rekeying.
• Timely digital 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, ClaimsPay closes 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 that platform, the status a policyholder sees reflects what is actually happening on the claim, instead of a policyholder-facing tool running on a delay from your internal systems.

Frequently asked questions

What did J.D. Power's digital claims study find?

J.D. Power's first U.S. Claims Digital Experience Study, released in December 2025, found that satisfaction is consistently highest when insurers manage the claims process digitally, from first notice of loss through the estimate and status updates. Most insurers still are not delivering that experience consistently. Adequate proactive updates through digital channels are one of the top drivers of claims satisfaction, yet insurers deliver them only 22% of the time, and a further 22% of customers say they have to use multiple channels to get an answer to the same question.

Is claim speed or communication more important to policyholders?

A ValuePenguin analysis of NAIC complaint data found that delays in claim handling are the most common complaint against insurers, but speed alone does not explain policyholder frustration. A claim that closes when the customer expected it to feels fine, and the same claim feels terrible when it runs past what they were led to expect. When claimants hear nothing, they start to wonder whether anyone is working their file, so transparent, proactive communication is often the difference between a policyholder who renews and one who starts shopping.

How does a poor claims experience affect policyholder retention?

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 estimates that poor claims experiences could put as much as $170 billion of global insurance premiums at risk from policyholder churn over a five-year period. Policyholders see rate increases and claims experience as the same issue: if they are paying more, they expect more.

Can you keep up with claimant expectations?

The insurers winning on retention right now aren't the ones with the lowest rates. They are 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 is a retention problem hiding in plain sight.

See how VCA's claims management software supports carriers, TPAs, and independent adjusting firms with a connected platform and InsuredConnect for policyholder self-service, or request a demo to see it firsthand.