A policyholder files a claim, then waits. When the next step isn't clear, the easiest thing to do is call and ask what's happening.

That single question, "where's my claim," is one of the most common calls a claims operation gets, and it's usually preventable.

Why Claim Status Calls Happen Even When a Portal Exists

Having a portal doesn't automatically stop the calls. The calls keep coming when the portal doesn't answer what the policyholder is actually asking.

As one industry piece put it, "claim status calls are not only a service volume issue." They're often a visibility problem: the policyholder genuinely doesn't know what's happening next.

What Policyholders Actually Want to Know After Filing a Claim

After filing, most policyholders aren't looking for technical claim detail. They want plain answers to a short list of questions.

• Was my claim received?

• Has anyone reviewed it?

• Do I need to upload anything else?

• Who is handling the claim?

• What happens next, and when should I expect an update?

• When should I call someone instead of waiting?

If a status page can't answer these clearly, the phone starts to feel like the more reliable option.

What Actually Reduces Claim Status Calls

A few specific things make a measurable difference, more than a status page alone.

• A real timeline, with stages like submitted, under review, documents requested, inspection scheduled, and closed, instead of a vague "pending."

• Plain-language status labels that a policyholder can understand without knowing how claims operations work internally.

• Proactive updates at real milestones, like when a claim is received, an adjuster is assigned, or payment is issued, so the policyholder doesn't have to go check.

• A clear path to a human for the claims that genuinely need one. The goal isn't zero calls. It's routing the right claims to a person and letting the rest self-serve.

How Insurers Should Measure Whether It's Working

Call reduction should be tracked as an operational outcome, not just a digital adoption number.

Useful measures include claim status call volume before and after changes, repeat calls per claim, and the time between a status update and the next inbound call. Escalation rate from self-service to phone is another useful signal.

How InsOps Helps

InsOps is building toward supporting this kind of policyholder-facing status visibility inside LiLa, surfacing claim status and next steps from an insurer's own systems without requiring policyholders to call in for routine updates.

This isn't a shipped feature today, and any policyholder-facing communication InsOps supports would keep a clear path to a human for the claims that need one. Contact us to talk through what this could look like for your operation.

FAQ

Can a portal replace claims representatives?
No. A portal shouldn't replace claims representatives. It should reduce avoidable status calls and route complex, urgent, or sensitive claims conversations to the right human support.

What information should policyholders see after filing a claim?
Claim confirmation, current status, who's handling it, any documents still needed, key milestones already reached, and a sense of when the next update should arrive.

How should insurers measure claim status call reduction?
By tracking claim-related call volume, repeat calls per claim, self-service usage, document upload completion, and escalation rates from self-service to phone or chat, before and after changes.