It’s another installment of ‘Meet the miler’, the series where we chat to some of our talented people about their work. Today we’re talking to Faith, our Head of Customer Experience (or CX if you enjoy a good abbreviation).
Faith was actually the very first person to join the By Miles CX team. We’ve all come a long way since then, but Faith’s journey has been particularly inspiring. So let’s hear about it. Over to Faith…
Building from the ground up.
“I started at By Miles in the summer of 2018 as a customer experience executive. The company was pretty much brand new. I was really, really, really, really lucky to kind of get into a team that was so passionate about what they were creating – so much so that it was infectious right from that very first interview.
“As a person who doesn’t drive – and who’s never purchased car insurance – I remember having pay-by-mile policies described to me and thinking ‘How does this not exist already?’ And that’s what drew me to the team: the product, the mission – all of those good things.
“In the years since, that sense of purpose has only been compounded as we’ve welcomed thousands upon thousands of members who agree that this is something that’s transforming their access to driving.
“It’s been fulfilling and exciting, but beyond that I’ve been able to create an experience that many of our members have gone on to vote for as exceptional – and they continue to work with us to make sure we continue to improve it day in day out.
“As our product evolves, the myriad of people it attracts all have differing needs – so it’s certainly not been boring. I’m looking forward to seeing what the next four and a half years bring.
Creating an award-winning experience.
“In 2019 we won our first UK Customer Service Excellence award. What did it take for us to build an award-wining team? It started with having the pleasure of working with people that helped us to find and onboard talent with a passion for what we do: speaking to people and solving their problems.
“We’ve been able to scale out a department that cares so deeply about our kind of customer and member outcomes, that it seeps in through every interaction that we have. It was really exciting to demonstrate that for the team at the Customer Service Excellence Awards and have them affirm that they agree too. They saw the lengths we were willing to go to, and found them to be exceptional and one of a kind.
“So it starts with an incredible team that is willing to go above and beyond, working in collaboration with our wonderful Customers and Members who are constantly willing to give us feedback, and a little grace when we need it.
“I say, all of that to say we really do appreciate receiving that award as a result of all that hard work.”
Maintaining excellence alongside growth.
“We constantly look to respond to the evolving needs of our customers and members. We know it’s not enough for us to say ‘well, we’ve won some awards now, so that’s it.’ We’ve got ten times as many members now, so we’re not resting on our laurels. We’re continuing to listen and adapt our offering in line with what our customers want.
In recent years we’ve seen thousands and thousands of people become lower mileage drivers practically overnight – and they needed a policy like ours that created its own challenges.
“Whilst rapid growth is an incredible problem to have, it did mean we saw contact volumes that tripled in a very short space of time.
“We see serving customers as a kind of collaboration. We can’t claim to have all the answers, all the time, so as long as we listen to our members, they’ll guide us. It’s just a case of taking that feedback and channeling it into a five-star experience – both in terms of immediate reactions, but also longer term planning.”
Doing it differently.
“Part of the difference in our approach was hiring. We almost exclusively went with people who hadn’t necessarily worked in insurance before, simply because when you are trying to completely change the way things are done, oftentimes people coming with a lot of experience, however positive and beneficial that might be, will actually have a lot of unlearning to do.
“We have people from very diverse professional backgrounds, from hospitality to teaching. That brings lots of different perspectives and experience towards solving these problems for a vast member base.
“For me, coming in without prior experience in the insurance space meant not taking things for granted. If the status quo didn’t make sense to me, I could just ask ‘Why do we do it like that? What’s the reason? How can we do things differently?’ That really helps push more common sense solutions.
“Crafting a customer-centric approach is easier when you’re not bogged down with legacy approaches from the centuries old insurance industry and its conventions. Of course, we do have lots of insurance experience in the team now, but we continue to be curious, ask questions and refuse to take things at face value. “
Powered by passion.
“Often our team are the first to point out where they think we could improve things for customers, or do something more in line with our virtues. I’m often dumbfounded by how much care and thought they put into advocating for members. It shows how engaged our team is that they continue to show up like that.
“I’ve been talking to customers everyday since 2018, but to see people coming in and picking up the mantle like this is fantastic. It makes me feel so good. To see everybody nailing it like that. Obviously, nothing is perfect, nobody can be at 100% all the time – we have to take a step back and understand how people ebb and flow. But the team’s incredible. I pretty much fangirl over them constantly, so hopefully they know that!”
Going beyond expectations (by miles).
“Our app allows us to find cars that have a Miles Tracker fitted if they’re lost or stolen. We’ve recovered a huge number of cars and it’s always a thrill. One of my first experiences helping a customer involved them getting there car back, and there’s nothing like it.
“It’s about more than just a car for loads of people, you know, people have important parts of their lives stored in their cars. They can be almost like a mobile home for many people. So it can be such a traumatic experience to have it stolen. Getting to prevent that and stop all the anxiety and questions that come up after a theft is really thrilling.
“We’ve even had an instances where a gentleman directed the police to a garage where he could see his car had been taken and they were able to find dozens of other cars being prepared for export. He essentially uncovered a crime ring.”
If you’re ready to try a new, smarter fairer kind of insurance, why not get a quote? If you’re a lower mileage driver, you could just save a good chunk of money.
