MR Microinsurance_2012_03_29.indd - International Labour ...

386 Insurers and microinsurance
low policy volumes of both these products. For CIC the policy volumes are only
63 per cent of the targeted policy volumes set by the insurer after three years, and
for ICICI Lombard enrolment rates are below the target of 60 per cent for the
majority of clusters.
These insurers all receive input from the partners and community groups at
the inception stage and over time on possible improvements to the benefit design:
– CIC approaches the potential partner MFI or SACCO with the product idea, so
that the partner can provide input on whether sufficient demand for the product
exists. The product is then piloted with the partner and, if successful, rolled out
to other partners.
– ASR benefits from BANRURAL’s agents’ knowledge of customers. ASR receives
input from BANRURAL when developing a new product in order to evaluate
whether the product meets customers’ needs.
– The Manipal Group has a long-standing relationship with the community that
has helped ICICI Lombard develop health insurance that meets the needs of the
market.
– Old Mutual has relied on insights into the needs of the market from its social
responsibility initiatives. 2
– Customer inputs are a major component of Malayan’s product development
process.
Although the analysis of the factors underlying retention of business indicated
that providing benefits that were perceived by the customer as providing
value is important, the value of products to customers was not explicitly assessed
as a measure for the success of the initiative.
Incentives to sell and retain business
ASR and Malayan implemented incentive programmes for their partners’ agents.
ASR saw an increase in premium volumes after the implementation of a programme
that provided incentives to the sales staff at an individual as well as team
level.
Old Mutual structured its incentive packages for salaried agents to focus on
servicing existing schemes as well as selling new business. Old Mutual agents
2 The Foundation Market has strong ties to Old Mutual’s corporate social responsibility initiatives,
including a consumer education programme and a Masisizane Fund that provides loans to small and
medium-sized enterprises. Old Mutual has used its experience with these initiatives to gain an understanding
of the market and generate leads for marketing.