The number of worldwide email accounts is expected to increase from 3.3 billion in 2012 to nearly 4.3 billion by year-end 2016, according to a report from technology research firm The Radicati Group. The forecasted 30 percent surge is particularly astonishing given the amount of email addresses already in circulation. North America alone accounts for approximately 602 million of those accounts. And with the majority of Americans having at least one profile on a social networking site – and almost a quarter using social networking sites several times per day, as reported by Edison Research – there's a world of information waiting to be found and used for a variety of purposes, including claims handling and investigation.
ISO ClaimSearch, the property/casualty industry’s only comprehensive claims database, now has a new data field enabling the capture of email addresses. ISO ClaimSearch users can input email addresses to add another contact method and also to make it easier to investigate a claimant’s digital footprint.
Having the added benefit of including a claimant’s email address to support a Web Presence Search in Decision Net, the ISO ClaimSearch third-party data portal, adjusters and investigators can further explore a wide range of online behaviors that can inform an investigation – either corroborating existing facts to support rapid claim adjustment or offering an opportunity for mitigation. From the now infamous “gym selfies” occasionally posted by bodily injury or workers' compensation claimants to tweets hinting at a second job “off the books,” the email address captured in ISO ClaimSearch becomes a starting point for a rich online investigation through Web Presence Search that adjusters can conduct quickly and thoroughly.
To use Web Presence Search, an adjuster doesn’t need an email address to research a claimant, but having this information can improve the quality of the results, especially for common names, where an email address can reduce the risk of false positives.
To learn more about the new email field in ISO ClaimSearch and how you can use it in conjunction with Web Presence Search, contact your ISO ClaimSearch account executive or client support at 1-800-888-4476 or info.claimsearch@iso.com.