Insurance is intangible - you can't touch, feel or sense it. The benefit of things not gauged by your sensory lenses can become difficult to evaluate. No one wakes up in the morning and wants to buy insurance. No one cares to check in on their insurance - be it the due date or the features. No one knows the free group insurance benefits (value add insurance) provided to them via their banking, lending, and credit card relationships.
<aside> 💡 The guys at BimaPe are doing a great job of helping customers hidden insurance benefits in their personal finance portfolio.
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In fact Insurance is one product in which you may not be able to see "benefits" hence it is a difficult sell (no one wants to entertain thoughts of their car getting stolen or their limbs taken). No one wants to come to a point to "use insurance".
Insurance continues to be thus primarily a push product as it is difficult to value it monetarily. Agents and Independent Brokers dominate the landscape - from that friendly "LIC Uncle" in a family function to the likes of Marsh.
Insurance is notoriously difficult to understand. Actuarial folks (who decide how much an insurance product should cost) study years to develop an understanding of risk mathematics. The insurance industry is the king of fine print - they don't want you to "game the system". Valid argument. But it makes the product too complicated to be sold without any expert advice. It is rather difficult to share all relevant details succinctly on an app with limited real estate.
So then, what do we have here:
<aside> 💡 How do you then form a relationship with customers concerning a product they would rather not want to use?
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<aside> 💡 How do you, in this day and age, become a fully digital insurance provider?
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<aside> 💡 General Insurance companies hardly make "underwriting profits" (Claims Paid - Premiums Earned) in India - relying heavily on Investment Income to post profitability? Is there a way out?
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Underprice and be efficient in costs
Technology adoption & Lean Ops thus helps. Ideally Back office should be NULL
Simplistic and Transparent UX
This is No Science - Test, Measure & Repeat the only way. Marry the understanding of insurance companies about the policy and research on what customers look for in insurance. Designers & Engineers will have to drive insurance products & product marketers will need to eat the humble marketer's pie.
Hybrid Sales Closure for 2020s