How New York Life further evolved its claims experience with Empathy

Why New York Life sought innovative ways to support beneficiaries

New York Life, America’s largest mutual life insurer, has been an important source of support for families in their toughest moments for over 175 years. While a life insurance payout certainly provides financial peace of mind to beneficiaries, those experiencing the loss of a loved one can also face needs that go well beyond the financial. New York Life sought to also deliver emotional and practical support for those navigating a loss.

Choosing Empathy to provide comprehensive bereavement support

Loss presents much more of a burden than most people expect. Bereaved families are faced with an average of 420 hours of work to handle the estate, spanning 13 months for the average family (and up to 20 months when a full probate process is involved). And these responsibilities hit at an already emotionally challenging time: the family’s grief is made harder by the logistics, and the logistics are made harder by their grief. These challenges take a high toll on bereaved individuals—93% suffer from at least one negative physical or mental health symptom. 

New York Life partnered with Empathy to support beneficiaries through every aspect of this difficult process. Using Empathy’s award-winning product, which combines time-saving tools and useful resources with real-time guidance from a professional care team, beneficiaries received assistance for every emotional and practical issue they faced after their loss. With Empathy’s help, New York Life established seamless and ongoing support from the moment a claim was received, providing a superior customer experience—and making good on New York Life’s promise to be there for the families of policy owners when they need it most.

– Sean Madgett, Vice President at New York Life

Key challenges

• While life insurance beneficiaries receive meaningful financial support from payouts, there was opportunity to provide additional support in addressing the loss-related challenges that lie beyond the financial

• Improving the support provided to beneficiaries, while maintaining claims-center costs 

• Fostering long-term relationships with what can sometimes be one-time transaction beneficiaries

Empathy’s launch plan: quick setup, minimal resources, maximal results

Empathy provided New York Life with a hassle-free, zero-code implementation that streamlined the launch across the range of policies and beneficiaries that New York Life supports, while ensuring tailored resources for each business unit and touchpoint. 

The value-add that keeps families with New York Life

New York Life remains committed to delivering human advice and guidance. In supporting beneficiaries’ emotional and practical peace of mind, Empathy worked with the company to give beneficiaries the option to connect with a New York Life agent or advisor for additional support—transforming the value chain into a value loop.