Writing about the new generation of insurance customer, Toan Huynh at Cloud Sherpas says data privacy concerns will be negligible and “[f]urthermore, these new customers will have little or no brand loyalty when it comes to insurance. Instead, they’ll seek out individual products that are easy to purchase (for example online and via mobile), guilt-free and innovative.”
I want to push back on this a little, without sounding cynical or old fashioned. First, I agree carrier brand loyalty has taken a beating. But I notice brand loyalty now attaches to aggregators and portals. One function of brand loyalty is to deliver ease of purchasing, so brand will always be important. The interesting question is – whose brand?
Second, I'm not so sure we want to make insurance too easy to purchase – a thought that's linked to “guilt-free”. I wouldn't say feelings of guilt put people off buying insurance. In fact, feelings of responsibility and concern for the future are obvious motivators for purchasing. If we make insurance too easy and thoughtless, then we're encouraging people not to buy it. There should be a simple button at the end of the purchasing process, and this should deliver the goods.
And this is where innovation comes in. We need product innovations, for sure. We will also see novel bundling of insurance with other products and services. However, a major focus for innovation is surely in the sales channel. The always-on era allows us – invites us – to treat the sales process as a conversation carried out over multiple channels. It may be a stop-start conversation, controlled by the customer. The conversation may also intersect with marketing activities.
Dialog with the customer does not just help to drive sales. It's also at the heart of brand building. I suspect we are on the cusp of a new age of insurance branding. Yes, the customer will be king or queen. But insurance will never sell itself. The New Insurance Customer
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