DMA HK: Bupa's Yvonne Leung on redefining the customer journey with AI

By now, marketers can’t underestimate the power of AI within customer experience (CX) as the technology is well-liked by consumers across Asia. According to the 2024 Global Customer Engagement Report by Vonage, positive sentiment correlates strongly with consumer experiences using AI, from China’s 90% to North India’s 94%. These positive experiences lead to higher customer satisfaction, brand loyalty, and positive feedback. 

Business Market Insights also reported that CX services spending in Asia Pacific is expected to reach an impressive US$7.5 billion, expanding at a CAGR of 18.8% by 2028. This growth trajectory highlights the increasing importance of CX in the region's business strategies.  

In a conversation with MARKETING-INTERACTIVE, Yvonne Leung, director of customer transformation and growth, Bupa Hong Kong, said in the future, AI is set to transform many more aspects of customer care including more effective monitoring of the health of customers, faster clinical decision making, and helping deliver increasingly personalised care.  

“Ultimately it will become the best assistant possible for a healthcare professional, supporting them to make better decisions and provide better care. While significant advancements in the field have been made, many challenges surrounding AI need to be addressed before its true potential is achieved,” she added. 

Taking Bupa as an example, Leung said Bupa is exploring the use of AI across its businesses and has examples of AI already being used to deliver a better experience for customers such as harnessing AI technology to analyse and categorise extensive customer feedback, allowing the team to extract valuable insights across different micro-moments.  

“These insights empower us to make well-informed decisions that significantly enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty. Furthermore, this advanced analytical capability has notably reduced the time and effort required to manage large data sets, enabling us to concentrate on deriving insights that lead to more effective, customer-centric solutions,” she added. 

Its recent launch of “Blua Health”, an all-in-one AI-powered health and wellness digital app, aims to deliver a rapid assessment of users’ physical and mental health status in just 30 seconds regardless of location and time, Leung said. 

Current feature enhancements include “AI Fit PT” which helps users track their fitness progress and exercise posture directly through their mobile devices. The app also streamlines the process of booking appointments with healthcare professionals, ensuring users can promptly and conveniently address their health concerns, she added.  

Incorporating AI into the user interface 

To enhance the customer journey across all digital touchpoints, Leung said Bupa has employed Large Language Model (LLM) technology to automate the process of retrieving verbatim insights from user feedback.  

“This technology enables us to rate feedback sentiment and classify responses into categories such as aesthetics, usability, and functionality. With quick access to these insights since last year, we have intensified efforts to test and validate UI/UX design concepts, successfully improving our overall Net Promoter Score (NPS) by 22%,” she added. 

Furthermore, Bupa’s collaboration with local startups specialising in AI health technology has birthed two innovative features and a series of health missions on the Blua Health app. “The first feature, “AI HealthShot,” allows users to take a selfie and receive instant feedback on their health status, including heart rate, oxygen levels, and blood pressure, all within a simple and clean UI design,” she said.  

The second feature, “AI Fit PT,” serves as an AI-powered personal trainer that analyzes motion, counts repetitions, and tracks progress in real time, according to Leung. “Since launching, we have proudly achieved three million health missions completed, of which more than 300,000 uses of AI HealthShot and 95,000 uses of AI Fit PT.”  

With AI gradually becoming the centre of business growth and enhancement, Leung said it’s important to upskill employees to master the technology.  

To spark innovation in this field, Bupa has rolled out “BDisruptive”, a global campaign that aims to upskill its more than 80,000 employees around generative AI and unlock their ideas to provide a better experience for customers.  “Our employees will be split into global teams for a two-day hackathon with the goal of producing concepts Bupa can look to develop and integrate into the business,” she added. 

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