Premium bereavement care that passes the test

How Amica Turned Its Claims Process Into a Differentiating Bereavement Experience

Amica Mutual Insurance Company has built its reputation on a simple but powerful belief: empathy is their best policy. With one of the highest customer satisfaction ratings in the insurance industry, Amica treats every interaction as an opportunity to lead with empathy and reinforce trust — not just process a transaction. Nowhere is that philosophy more consequential than in life claims. When a beneficiary calls to report a death, they aren't just initiating paperwork. They're reaching out in one of the most vulnerable moments of their lives.

Amica's life claims team operates with a clear mandate: Meet people where they are. No call-length quotas. No rushed scripting. Representatives give out their direct extensions so that families who build a rapport during an initial call can return to a familiar voice. The team's guiding principle is that grief is not linear — some beneficiaries call within days of a loss, others take months before they're ready to file — and Amica's process is built around that reality.

Challenge

Even with the compassionate, personalized claims support Amica is known for, the team saw an opportunity to make the customer experience even better.The logistical complexity following a death — closing accounts, navigating probate, handling estate paperwork, understanding entitlements — doesn't wait for grief to subside. Families were walking away from warm, supportive conversations and into an often overwhelming maze of to-dos with no guide.

Amica needed a way to extend the spirit of that first call. A resource that could continue showing up for families throughout the settlement process and beyond — not just in the moment of notification, but in the weeks and months that followed.

— Anna, Life Claims Officer, Amica

Solution

Amica partnered with Empathy to embed Loss Support directly into its life claims workflow — making it a standard offer on every life claim, for every beneficiary, from the very first call.

Implementation was designed with the life claims team's culture in mind. Rather than rigid scripting, Amica gave representatives an initial framework and let them adapt it over time. The team used data from the Empathy portal to understand which resources families found most valuable, including estate administration, account closures and guidance for small estates. They then incorporated those real-world examples into conversations with beneficiaries, helping them see how the service could support their specific needs rather than offering a broad overview of its benefits.

Amica also built a multi-touch system to ensure every customer was heard:

• First call: Every representative verbally offers Empathy on every new death claim, a requirement tracked through Amica's speech analytics program.

• Acknowledgement package: A digital link or printed pamphlet is included in every acknowledgement sent to the beneficiary — by email or by mail, depending on their preference.

• Follow-up letters: For life claims with extended timelines, Amica's monthly and quarterly follow-up letters include a reminder that Empathy remains available.

• Settlement letter: When the claim closes, Empathy is mentioned one final time — ensuring that families know support doesn't end when the payment does.

Early in the rollout, the team identified that beneficiaries were hesitating because they assumed Empathy was a paid add-on service. Once representatives explained that it was included at no cost as part of Amica's partnership, hesitancy dropped and activation climbed.

 — Anna, Life Claims Officer, Amica

Impact

Amica has achieved a consistently high activation rate of around 40% — one that the team tracks and reports on a quarterly basis. The success is grounded in a few intersecting factors:

A team built on personal connection. The life claims representatives aren't just professionally trained for difficult conversations — some have personally navigated loss and draw on those experiences when supporting families. That authenticity is hard to manufacture and easy to feel. When representatives can share their own experience with Empathy, the conversation becomes more authentic and relatable.

Multiple touchpoints that respect the beneficiary's timeline. Grief doesn't have a schedule, and Amica's approach doesn't either. The layered communication model means that a family who wasn't ready to engage on the first call may find the right moment in a follow-up letter. Across all touchpoints, Empathy remains visible — not as a sales pitch but as a standing offer of support.

Alignment between brand promise and product experience. Amica's customer-service culture creates a natural runway for Empathy's value proposition. The offer feels like an extension of who Amica already is.

Beyond the numbers, Amica's team reports meaningful anecdotal signals: incoming calls where beneficiaries specifically mentioned that Empathy had been helpful, spontaneous thank-you calls from families, and representatives sharing stories that reinforce why the work matters.

— Anna, Life Claims Officer, Amica

What's Next

Amica continues to look for ways to deepen integration and drive awareness. The team plans to keep refining how use cases are communicated on calls, using real activation data to stay current on what resonates most with bereaved families. Empathy also remains part of Amica's employee benefits offering — a point of pride the team actively shares internally, ensuring representatives understand they have access to the same support they're extending to families.

The ROI of Compassion at Scale

For life insurers, every claim is a moment of truth. Beneficiaries arrive with a mix of grief, confusion, and — increasingly — the expectation that carriers will support them more fully. Amica's experience demonstrates that embedding Empathy into the life claims process is not a cost; it is a differentiator.

Beneficiaries who feel supported are more likely to return calls, complete required documentation, and close claims efficiently. Families who are navigating estate logistics with guidance are less likely to stall. And claimants who experience genuine care at their most vulnerable moment are far more likely to remember who showed up for them — and to consider that carrier the next time they or a family member needs coverage.

For insurers, the benefits extend beyond a smoother settlement process. By providing meaningful support to bereaved beneficiaries, carriers can strengthen relationships with a segment that is often left without ongoing engagement.

What makes Amica's approach so effective is its authenticity. It is a natural extension of its values. It has a meaningful impact on insureds and their families, while reflecting the care, compassion and commitment that have long defined the company.

— Anna, Life Claims Officer, Amica