EasyPost Insider: A New Insurance and Claims Experience With Olivia Qin and Brittany Williams From EasyPost - Ep. 34

July 24, 2024 | 24:08

In This Episode

In this special episode for EasyPost customers, Olivia Qin and Brittany Williams introduce the new and improved claims process for EasyPost Shipping Insurance.

What sets EasyPost Shipping Insurance apart?

For customers not currently using EasyPost’s insurance, Brittany and Olivia share some key features that set the offering apart from other insurance services on the market. Olivia says, “What's great … is that it's one pricing. It's from anywhere to anywhere, except for U.S.-sanctioned countries. And it's also carrier agnostic.”

“It is insurance that the business buys, but they can pass on that cost to their customers if they want to,” Brittany adds.

A better claims experience

Now, businesses purchasing insurance through EasyPost will have access to a smoother, more streamlined claims experience. Brittany explains what’s changing:

“What is rolling out here in the end of July is a fully rebuilt claims experience. So we're adding the ability to file claims via API. We're adding a new web form to file claims with just a few clicks. And we're also creating a dashboard in the EasyPost web application where you can go and view the claims that you submitted, view what status they're in, watch them live as they're being processed on our side.”

Why purchase shipping insurance?

Brittany, Olivia, and Lori discuss the importance of shipping insurance for ecommerce businesses. As Brittany points out, package loss, theft, and damage is inevitable. When shipping disasters strike, insurance “will guarantee that your customers are going to be happy with how you're handling their experiences.”

Olivia offers a quick tip for companies using shipping insurance for the first time: understand your policy’s requirements. “Make sure that you know what evidence is required when you file a claim. [And] make sure that you are telling your customers what's needed in case something happens.”

Transcript

Lori Boyer 00:00

Welcome back everyone to a very special edition of Unboxing Logistics. I'm your host Lori Boyer, and today we are having an episode dedicated straight to our EasyPost customers. This is EasyPost Insider. So today we're going to be talking about an update to one of our awesome and beloved EasyPost features, and that is our insurance.

And I wanted to be able to give our EasyPost customers all of the latest info, what they need to know. And so I have pulled out two of the amazing team members at EasyPost who have been working on this project, getting everything going. So excited to have them here. So I'm going to throw it over to Brittany and Olivia to introduce themselves and tell us your role at EasyPost. Let's start with Olivia and then we're, we'll hear from Brittany.

Olivia Qin 00:53

Hi, my name is Olivia. I've been with EasyPost for almost three years and have been overseeing the insurance and carrier claims product and have been very grateful to see it grows and become one of customers' favorite. Yeah, and I'll pass it on to Brittany.

Brittany Williams 01:09

Hi, I'm Brittany Williams. I'm a senior product manager here at EasyPost and work to bring this product to you guys.

Lori Boyer 01:16

Awesome. Thank you so much. Insurance, everyone in the community here, and of course today we're specially talking to our EasyPost customers. Although everyone else is welcome to stay and listen.

Everyone in our community though is always concerned about the safety of their packages. Obviously, there are a lot of issues when it comes to package theft and damage and all of those things. So, I'm excited to talk about the different offerings that are coming out and the cool new features that are going to be available through our shipping insurance.

But, before we do, one of the things we like to do is to get to know our guests. And that is especially true for me when it is some of my co-workers. So I'm going to ask you both a question. And this time we'll start with Brittany, and then we'll go to Olivia. And I am wanting to know, what is your go-to comfort food? When you just want to feel the love and comfort of home, and you know, what is the food you'd go to?

Brittany Williams 02:20

So for me, my go-to is scrambled eggs and pinto beans on toast. But it has to be not canned beans. Homemade beans.

Lori Boyer 02:33

Oh, wow. Okay, I, this is terrible. I don't even know how to make homemade beans.

Brittany Williams 02:41

Oh, it's so easy and so much better, like tasting. It, especially if you have like a slow cooker. You don't even have to think about it, you just pop it in and come back and you've got great food.

Lori Boyer 02:52

Okay, next time we're, we're together in the same office, I, I'm going to need a cooking lesson. That sounds amazing. Olivia, what about you?

Olivia Qin 03:00

Mine is the Shin Ramen Packs. And I think a lot of Asian people will relate to that something we grew up eating.

Lori Boyer 03:08

Just the, the regular old kind of cheapy ...

Olivia Qin 03:12

Yeah, it's the ones like, two dollars from Safeway.

Lori Boyer 03:15

Do you fancify them? Do you put egg in it, or what do you do with it?

Olivia Qin 03:20

Yeah, I put an egg in, but that's pretty much it. I don't fancify it too much at all. The, the idea, it's quick and simple.

Lori Boyer 03:27

Ah, love it. I love a, I love some green onion in my ramen. So that's probably what I would throw in. I, I just love green onions. So, okay. Awesome. Well, we're going to talk about this awesome EasyPost shipping insurance product, the updates that are coming out with it, what everyone should expect. So let's kick it back though first to Olivia. Can you share what, historically, this isn't a brand new product. What is EasyPost Insurance?

Olivia Qin 03:54

So EasyPost Insurance is a package insurance that if anything happens to your package, we protect loss, theft, and damage. What's great about it is that it's one pricing. It's from anywhere to anywhere, except for U. S. sanctioned countries. And it's also carrier agnostic.

Everything that we support on EasyPost network, we can cover. So you don't have to worry about what is your custom pricing based on the mix of your carriers or where it's going to. So that's also why it's our customers' favorites.

Lori Boyer 04:24

And Brittany, so is this insurance, is it insurance the consumer buys? Is it insurance the business buys? How does that work?

Brittany Williams 04:32

It is insurance that the business buys, but they can pass on that cost to their customers if they want to. Most of the time, I think that businesses want to take on that the cost of the insurance, just so they can provide a good experience for their customers without, you know, leaving it up to them.

If they're protected or not, they do it as a service and a courtesy to their, to their end customers. So they can continue providing that whatever their best services that they want to do.

Lori Boyer 05:01

Okay. So they can choose to offset some of those costs, but a lot of people just choose to do it as a way to provide that amazing experience. Olivia, is it, you know, so how does it work in terms of when you're paying for it? Do you have to get it for every single package that you're shipping through EasyPost? Is it that you can pick and choose like, oh, I'm shipping some really expensive items, everything over 500 or something I'm going to want to insure? How does that work?

Olivia Qin 05:34

Yeah. So what's great about this, it's all of those can work. So you can do, insure a certain amount on all of your packages. You can do, let your customers choose which package to insure, they can trigger that action through our API. And we can also, yeah, you can also try to insure only things that are 500.

It's up to you to build the business rules, we have the API for it. You can even insure packages that you didn't purchase labels through us, and you just want to purchase insurance. So yeah, anything, pretty much any kind of business rules that you have in mind, we can probably do that.

Lori Boyer 06:12

Okay, so you're not then, Brittany, you're not locked in that you're saying like, oh, I have to insure X number of packages a month.

Brittany Williams 06:18

No, no, absolutely not. You can insure, you can choose to insure during certain times of year. So like during peak season, you maybe want to insure your packages because damage or loss or theft goes up during that time. It's totally customizable. Whatever your needs are, whatever your preferences are you can, you can set it up however you like.

Lori Boyer 06:38

Okay, cool. And Olivia, you mentioned it was carrier agnostic. What, can you explain what that means?

Olivia Qin 06:44

Yeah, it means we insure all the carriers that EasyPost’s network supports, and it's also all over the world, and it's the same price.

Lori Boyer 06:53

Okay, so if I ship to Russia, or if I shipped down the street, then that Russia one is still just as affordable?

Olivia Qin 07:01

Yes.

Lori Boyer 07:02

Okay, cool. So, background on the product. We all got an idea. EasyPost Insurance. Our customers who already use it, glad to have you. So there's a big update coming out. Some changes to it. Brittany, can you introduce kind of what these changes are and why that we decided to do it?

Brittany Williams 07:19

Yeah. So we've always had this really great insurance product. Very simple, flat rate extensive carrier coverage. None of that has changed. We still have all those great benefits, but what is rolling out here in the end of July is a fully rebuiltclaims experience. So we're adding the ability to file claims via API. We're adding a new web form to file claims with just a few clicks.

And we're also creating a dashboard in the EasyPost web application where you can go and view, view the claims that you submitted, view what status they're in, watch them live as they're being processed on our side. And so now what we've got with this fantastic insurance project product that everybody loves.

We also have this fantastic claims experience. So the whole, the whole end to end cycle is now lovely and simple and transparent.

Lori Boyer 08:14

Oh, cool. Olivia. So why, you know, was this just a need that we saw? It sounds like this is a UI kind of a user experience sort of change more than than an actual change to the insurance itself, right? Why, why did we decide to make this shift?

Olivia Qin 08:29

Yeah, it's definitely something that our customers have been looking for. I think it just helps them understand where they're at with insurance, what's the benefit of it and having real up, up to date information about where it's the status of the claim. So yeah.

Lori Boyer 08:47

Okay, cool. Brittany, can you walk me through again? Maybe I think you just mentioned them, but what are all the features that are involved in this in this update?

Brittany Williams 08:56

Yeah, so, one of the guiding principles at EasyPost is to make shipping simple for our customers. And we took that to heart when we were conceptualizing what we wanted this to look like.

And to that end, we've got some key features. I touched on them briefly, but to go again, you know, you've got the one flat rate, you have the extensive carrier coverage, you have the ability to be purchasing labels through us or not. So if you needed just the point solution or the full package from us, we've got all that flexibility, but now we've also got the sort of the backend.

So you bought your insurance, you're covered, but now the situation, the inevitable finally came up and you need to file a claim. So there's many ways that you can do that, that's whatever suits your business. If you're doing high volumes, you might want to automate your claims filing with our API, plug it directly into your support center software, whatever you're using, or you might just want to use the new form, which is point and click.

It's guided and dynamic. So you're going more quickly. You're making less errors. Things are going in clean. So we can process them much more quickly on our side. And then, of course, that transparency, you really get to see, you know, keep an eye on things live and see your high-level information or drill into what's going on with specific claims or specific packages. Everything is in our dashboard now. So It's all together a very good end-to-end experience.

Lori Boyer 10:27

Okay. I love that. I love, as soon as you said the word simplify, I just I, I imagine crowds roaring and applause and because boy, our industry is complex. So anything we can do to make it easier is so needed and so necessary.

Olivia, walk me through. So let's say, you know, we've got customers on listening, they haven't used the insurance before. Okay. So let's start with customers who haven't used the insurance before. What do they need to do in order to kind of get going?

Olivia Qin 10:59

Yeah, so currently we have a couple of ways to purchase insurance. We have our shipping API, so when you purchase a label through us, you can also add on insurance at the time of label purchase. We also have the standalone API, which means you bought label elsewhere, but you only want to purchase insurance. And then we can also allow the label purchases through the UI.

You can also add on insurance through there. So really three ways for you to think about how you want to purchase insurance. And once you purchase insurance and the inevitable will happen, now we have a claim form. So you can just submit all the evidence needed through the claim form and our support team will take care of you and make sure that you get the compensation needed.

Lori Boyer 11:39

Okay. So once you're logged in then to, you know, your account with EasyPost, it's just easy to find all that information.

Olivia Qin 11:47

You mean for filing a claim?

Lori Boyer 11:48

Yeah. Or for any of it, making sure that you're, you know, obviously when you're doing a label, you can just select, but is all of that just easy to find?

Olivia Qin 11:56

Yes. So all of them, you will be able to see like, what are the insurance purchases in the past? What the tracking numbers are, when were they shipped? I think when were they purchased. And also including all the claims that you have filed in the past, what's their status. So yeah, you can log into your dashboard and you will have visibility for all of that.

Lori Boyer 12:15

Okay, cool. So let's say you're already an insurance customer. You're used to using EasyPost Insurance. Brittany, what, is it, what day is it coming out? Will it just be updated automatically that people will see this new dashboard?

Brittany Williams 12:29

Yeah. So the date that this is going to be going live is July 23rd. And the way that an existing customer can see the experience is just to log into your EasyPost dashboard.

You will see on the left side a navigation menu item for claims and insurance, and once you click on that, you'll just have this really simple, clean-looking dashboard that shows summary-level data about how much package value protected, where your insurances are and everything like that. Plus file a claim button and that will navigate you straight to the claim form should you find yourself in a position where you need to actually file a claim. So it's all in one central sort of hub now and that will be live July 23rd.

Lori Boyer 13:13

Okay. Awesome. Olivia, if people have any questions, should they be reaching out to their customer support? Where inside of EasyPost should they get help for that?

Olivia Qin 13:23

Yeah. We have a support team right now dedicated for insurance, so just email support at EasyPost.com and they will be the best people to take care of you. You can also, you know, chat with your CSM on a call and they will also direct the same questions to our support team. And if they can find it out, they will find all the answers through our other experts in the company. But either way, CSMs or support will get you the answers you need it.

Lori Boyer 13:48

Okay, perfect. Brittany, gotta ask about cost. My people want to know. So, you know, this sounds really cool. What is changing, you know, is it going to cost, is the cost going to go up down? What is the pricing?

Brittany Williams 14:04

So if you're on our dev plan, you will see the cost of insurance go up from the rate that it was to one percent. Which is still lower than the rest of the market. And remember that that is one flat rate, period. No matter if you're shipping domestically, internationally, next door, across the other side of the world.

It's one percent flat rate for the cost of your or the value of your package. There is no extra cost for accessing things like the claims API or the dashboard. So, you know, you get that one predictable, simple flat rate to insure your packages and build a positive experience for your customers in spite of the fact that they're going through a loss, stolen or damaged scenario.

Lori Boyer 14:49

Yeah, that unfortunately happens. Olivia, what if you are shipping a lot or you maybe have some negotiated rates with EasyPost already? Is there a way, I guess, for that one percent to get lower?

Olivia Qin 15:03

Yeah, absolutely. So first of all, if you are enterprise customers who had a contract with us, your rate is going to stay until the end of your contract or until renewal.

And if you are also currently not using EasyPost Insurance, you're thinking about it, absolutely reach out to your CSM, see if you can get a lower rate. We also have other pricing plans that could potentially, for example, come back as a rebate form. So if you're a platform the premiums that your customers did not use up as a payout could be 25 percent going back to you.

So we do have different ways of incentivizing our customers to use more insurance. Absolutely negotiable.

Lori Boyer 15:43

Okay, awesome. So then Brittany, that one percent is kind of the ceiling. Is that what I'm hearing?

Brittany Williams 15:48

Yeah, that's the most you'll, you'll see.

Lori Boyer 15:50

Okay, and that's awesome because that really is very affordable compared to the rest of the industry, that's rock bottom. So it's amazing that it's been lower than one percent up to now. So that's really cool. Do either of you have maybe some case studies or examples of customers who have been using the insurance? Or even could you just walk us through maybe a simulated scenario of what it would look like from start to finish this process.

Brittany Williams 16:17

If you're, if you're interested in this product and you're already buying labels through EasyPost, there is no new integration needed. The existing integration that you have to purchase labels, just all you need to do is pass through the value of the package and that you want to insure it. So it is a very, very simple element to turn on. And again, you can customize when you buy insurance based on whatever your business rules are. Maybe there's a fragile item. Maybe there's an extremely expensive item. Those are the types of scenarios you can choose to buy insurance or not. If you are interested, but you are not buying labels through EasyPost, the standalone insurance API is a point solution.

And that is equally as simple. We basically just need a tracking number and the value. And you can be insuring your packages as long as they're on one of our over 100 carriers in our network. So it's super easy to turn on. It's super easy to configure your roles. And then filing claims, which you will have to do because in ecommerce, some percent of your packages will be stolen or damaged or lost in transit.

It's an unfortunate reality, unavoidable. But in that event, you'll be promptly served with a response to your claim filing. And we're here to walk you through any questions you might have. Olivia, do you have anything to add?

Olivia Qin 17:38

I think that was a very thorough explanation of how the process looks like. So that was very great. I think regards to case study one of our biggest customer is a laptop return company. And basically what they do is if say, Olivia leaves EasyPost tomorrow, God forbid that I do because I love you. I know, right? That would be so sad. And if I leave, the laptop return company will ship me a box with label on it.

I'll package my computer in it and ship it back to EasyPost. What's great about the partnership with this company is that they are very transparent up front about what is needed for evidence. So we usually look for invoices as proof of value, even if it's invoiced from five years ago. As long as you can prove that this is the computer that you indeed was in this box.

And then it also matches the address, which is the business that it's shipping to that's kind of what we're looking for as evidence. And also they are, you know, they were able to focusing on the shipping part and the product itself. And we were able to take on that risk assessment and support and customer service.

And it was just a great partnership. They kind of outsource things to us and they do their own thing. It's definitely a good example of what's a great partnership. And similar companies could be bad examples or bad partnerships with us, maybe because they couldn't provide the invoice or maybe they wouldn't be as transparent as to what's required for in, for evidence. So I guess the moral of the story here is definitely to make sure that you know what evidence is required when you file a claim.

We do have support articles on this. You can also reach out to support to ask more about the details. But make sure that you are telling your customers what's needed in case if something happens.

Lori Boyer 19:26

Okay, so you're saying Olivia, I can't, I can't ship some band aids and then pretend it was a beautiful Faberge egg worth 10 billion. I had to have proof.

Olivia Qin 19:36

Exactly. Yes.

Lori Boyer 19:37

Okay. So best, best practices for all insurance. Make sure you're keeping your invoices, that you have all of that evidence. But if you have questions about what evidence is needed, they can reach out to the support team.

Olivia Qin 19:48

Yeah.

Lori Boyer 19:49

Okay, perfect. That sounds great. Brittany, I know that you're always kind of a forward thinker. As this product, you know, continues to develop and grow, are there any, do we get any insider tips, insider glimpse into what might be coming in the future with this?

Brittany Williams 20:05

Yeah, so we're. As with any project or product that we launch one of the big things that we'll do for the next, you know, six months is listen to our customers. How did this product land with you guys? What are your recommendations? If there are any, or, or, you know, just that feedback is so, so valuable and will help us drive improvements, iterations, new features, those sorts of things. So absolutely, we're always looking to improve and add new, new things that our customers want, whatever it may be.

So expect for us to have an open ear and be looking for those opportunities amongst you all as you use this product. And yeah, you know, we'll see, we'll see how this thing progresses.

Lori Boyer 20:50

Yeah, I just shout out to the product team here at EasyPost. They are incredible when it comes to really paying attention to the feedback of our customers. I'm one of those kind of people who tends to just not think and just grumble when I have a problem or a concern or even something I love about a product. And I never reach out and give feedback.

But this team here at EasyPost has really opened my eyes into, they are really listening to you. So if you do have feedback, if you're trying out this new insurance dashboard and you have a great idea, or if you have feedback of something that was a little clunky for you, absolutely reach out. Olivia, where is that, is it best to go to just a general support email? What, where's the best place to give their feedback?

Olivia Qin 21:35

Yeah, absolutely. General support email, your CSMs that's another great source for us to get feedbacks. But really anywhere you could reach us, it does, we're a pretty close knit company, I would say. It does get passed to the right people.

Lori Boyer 21:49

Yep. People even send me feedback sometimes and I send it on to the product team. So absolutely just, you know, don't be like me and just think, oh, I shouldn't say anything. So reach out, give us your feedback. I am so excited. This update, this is so awesome to make it simple and easy for you to insure your packages.

I have done multiple podcast episodes around porch piracy, and theft, and damage issues. And those are just really on the rise in our industry. So it is timely and important for us to remember about insurance. So thank you so much, Brittany and Olivia, for being here. Any final words, any advice for customers if they're wanting to reach out? We'll start with Olivia, then we'll end with Brittany.

Olivia Qin 22:34

Yeah, definitely reach out. We hope you enjoy it. And if you don't, let us know as well. We're always here to listen and to improve and I look forward to meet more new customers.

Brittany Williams 22:45

And on my side, I think I'd just reiterate that, you know, this is lost, stolen and damaged packages will happen to some percentage of the things that you're shipping to your customers. And they're going to remember what the experience is like when they reached out and said, hey, this package was damaged.

You don't want to be the business that is frustrated with how noisy that process could be just handling that experience. But you also don't want to be the business that's telling the customer, you know, take it up with the carrier and then, or paying out of pocket for making it right. Any of those types of things.

If you're one of those businesses and you don't want to be this product will simplify. Get rid of all the noise in the process. It's predictable. It's easy. And it will guarantee that your customers are going to be happy with how you're handling their experiences.

Lori Boyer 23:35

I love that. So community, EasyPost customers, give it a try through this peak season. It's a perfect time to test out insuring some things. We want to get your feedback. Thank you so much, Brittany and Olivia for being here. And thank you everyone who joined us for this special Inside EasyPost edition, and we will see you next time. Bye bye.