Using empathy to market health insurance in the UK: Bridging the gap between brands and consumers

UK health insurance brands face rising competition, complexity, and customer expectations. In this environment, empathy is a key differentiator—helping insurers build trust, improve engagement, and strengthen loyalty.

By embedding empathy across the entire customer journey—through clear communication, personalisation, responsive support, and inclusive digital experiences—brands can bridge the gap between products and real customer needs. When combined with AI and behavioural insight, empathy can scale effectively, enabling insurers to deliver more human, equitable, and impactful experiences.

The growing challenge for UK health insurance brand

Health insurance brands in the UK are operating in a turbulent, increasingly complex, highly regulated environment. As they grapple with external pressures, it’s easy for transparency and effective communication to falter – eroding engagement and shaking customer loyalty.

At the same time, competition has intensified. Consumers have a huge array of choices, and policyholders will vote with their feet, switching if their current provider doesn’t meet expectations.

To attract and retain customers in a crowded and volatile market, infusing empathy into the end-to-end experience is the way to go. Empathy is acknowledged to play a crucial role in differentiation within healthcare, and in building strong relationships with patients. This has taken on fresh significance in an age where digital technologies are transforming every sector, and uncertainty is the norm.

Those brands that commit to making empathy-driven connections will not only rebuild trust by providing the quality of services that customers deserve; they also have an exciting opportunity to disrupt their industry.

What is empathy?

Empathy is “the ability to share someone else's feelings or experiences by imagining what it would be like to be in that person's situation”, according to the Cambridge Dictionary.

In a healthcare context, this involves understanding not only a customer’s medical history and health status, but also their concerns and expectations, and the information they require to make decisions.

The provider must then demonstrate that they recognise and value the customer’s perspectives and needs. This means consistently behaving in a way that gives consumers confidence that their voice has been heard, and acted on.

And this needs to happen at every touchpoint in the policyholder’s journey, from their research into and purchase of the plan, right through to processing claims, and all the interactions that happen in between.

The decline in health equity

By its very nature, health insurance is an emotive and sensitive area – and people’s need to feel confident, secure and safe has taken on greater importance in recent years. Customers have been through a lot: for instance the pandemic, ongoing economic uncertainty, and huge pressures on the National Health Service (NHS), the UK’s publicly funded healthcare system.

Hall & Partners research shows that patients in the UK are contending with many environmental and social challenges that burden their physical and mental health – including income volatility, rising food costs and housing instability. Ultimately, these are undermining their ability to access healthcare services and receive essential care.

Around half of healthcare professionals in the UK (54%) say that health equity – the principle that everyone deserves a fair and just opportunity to achieve good health – is a problem, with 22% believing it has declined over the years.

In this complex and challenging environment, health insurance customers want genuine connections with brands that can meet their unique needs. One-size-fits-all communications and plan management will fall short; meaning they’re likely to leave, even if the products and services are exceptional.

The complexity of health insurance can also create a confusing and frustrating experience – and there’s a risk that digital technologies are creating another layer of detachment between patient and services. Not everyone has access to the latest technology or is comfortable using apps and portals to manage their plans.

By introducing empathy throughout the customer experience, providers have the opportunity to break down barriers and build authentic connections that benefit the customer and the brand.

What does this look like in practice?

• Listening. True empathy involves gaining accurate and deep insights into consumers’ daily struggles, priorities, and perceptions – and this can be done in a number of ways. For instance, providers can analyse recorded phone calls, or employ tools to see how customers interact with their websites. Conducting surveys and research also enables an understanding of what is truly missing or needs to be fixed from the customer’s perspective.
  
• Enhanced communication. Everything providers share must be accessible and easy to comprehend for all customers, whatever their level of education or language proficiency. Present all information in a clear, straightforward and relatable way, and avoid jargon. Making information available via multiple channels and in multiple languages is good practice. Be transparent with the details of coverage and costs, and ensure that customers have a full understanding of the plan they’ve bought.
  
  Hall & Partners research demonstrates that the ease with which a patient can manage their condition is greatly influenced by how difficult it can be to access and understand personal health information. The research also shows that a healthcare provider’s communication skills have a higher impact on trust levels than other factors. Eight in 10 patients report that the way a provider talks to them, and the amount of time they dedicate to the visit, determine whether the provider is trustworthy.
  
• Personalisation, with communication and experiences that are tailored to policyholders’ individual needs and preferences.
  
• Proactive solutions. Anticipating policyholders’ needs, and crafting products and solutions that meet them, demonstrates empathy in action.
  
• Exceptional customer support. Addressing customers’ concerns and challenges in a timely and effective way will improve satisfaction and trust, and help them feel that they’re being listened to. 
  
• Streamlined processes. Making processes more efficient and transparent, particularly those around submitting and processing claims, will minimise delays and frustration.
  
• Digital engagement. Investing in user-friendly tools and platforms – including mobile apps and self-service tools – can enhance accessibility, and make plan management more convenient.
  
  Empathy is also key to ensuring that technology doesn’t exclude anyone, however. Customers might need reassurance that they won’t be completely pushed into the digital realm. A study Hall & Partners carried out with a private healthcare provider in the UK revealed how much the physical ‘human touch’ still matters to those who receive healthcare services. The study found that many customers were reluctant to access online help resources because they believed their problems couldn’t be accurately diagnosed and resolved without in-person contact and physical touch.

AI-powered empathy

Used strategically and with empathy front of mind, AI can be leveraged to create more personalised, added-value experiences. AI can guide and customise interactions in real time, making sure, for example, that members with urgent needs are prioritised. Chatbots can be trained to respond empathetically to queries, and ‘converse’ with customers using natural language.

Applying AI to analyse customer behaviour, sentiments and preferences can build a cohesive view of an individual and their circumstances, which supports the crafting of tailored insurance products and coverage recommendations. AI can also be used to quickly connect and summarise large data sources, to identify broad patterns and predict future trends.

Applying behavioural science delivers a greater understanding of patients and HCPs first and foremost as humans, not just healthcare system users or clinicians.

Hall & Partners’ BeSci x AI tool combines AI-powered classification with insights from behavioural scientists, to shape behaviour change strategies. This gives the resulting insights an extra layer of depth, and leads to more profound connections. This knowledge can be used to design better customer experiences.

No healthcare company should be prohibited from becoming more patient-centric because they lack the bandwidth or budget to bring patient voices into their market research. It’s down to research providers like us to create solutions that are both efficient and affordable.

Key Takeaways

• Empathy is a differentiator, not a soft skill
  In an increasingly commoditised market, empathy helps brands stand out by building deeper, more resilient customer relationships.
  
  

• Trust is driven by communication, not just coverage
  Clear, transparent, and jargon-free communication has a greater impact on trust than many functional aspects of the service.
  
  

• Health equity challenges demand personalised approaches
  One-size-fits-all solutions fall short in a landscape shaped by economic, social, and digital inequalities.
  
  

• Digital must enable - not replace - the human touch
  While digital tools improve efficiency and access, customers still value human interaction, especially in sensitive healthcare contexts.
  
  

• AI can scale empathy when used responsibly
  From real-time personalisation to sentiment analysis, AI can enhance customer understanding - but must be designed with emotional intelligence in mind.
  
  

• End-to-end experience matters more than isolated touchpoints
  Empathy must be embedded consistently across the entire customer journey to drive meaningful impact.
  
  

• Stronger emotional connections lead to stronger loyalty
  Customers who feel heard, valued, and cared for are more likely to stay, even when competitors offer similar products.

The rewards of focusing on the human element

With expectations at an all-time high, empathy can help a health insurance provider to win in a crowded marketplace. Through humanising a brand in a world where relationships seem increasingly faceless and impersonal, showing empathy will support health equity, and enhance trust, engagement and satisfaction.

Empathy also forges relationships between the brand and its customers at a level which is much deeper and longer-lasting than transactional relationships built on pure rationality. Brand relationships built on human connection are more resilient, and survive occasional dips in brand performance because customers are more willing to remain loyal if they connect to the brand through feelings and emotions.

Consumers won’t tolerate being treated as though they’re just a number in the CRM database. On the other hand, if they receive a superior experience that makes them feel heard, valued and cared for, they’re more likely to buy, and to remain loyal.

Empathy is far more than just a marketing tactic. It’s a core aspect of providing quality healthcare, and building enduring relationships with policyholders. That’s why strengthening and demonstrating true emotional intelligence should be a priority within every health insurance brand’s strategy.