Modern Insurance Magazine Issue 66

INSURTECH
Guardians of our Customers’ Future:
Rethinking Sales in Insurance
The fact that our industry is in the grip of a credibility crisis is no
surprise. Considering insurance is often viewed as a ‘grudge purchase’
laden with complex legalese baffling the average buyer, coupled
with premiums that are rapidly escalating due to unchecked claims
inflation, it becomes clear why customers may harbour distrust. Add
to this the perennial perception that insurers proactively avoid paying
claims, and we have the perfect storm.
Ed Halsey,
VP Marketing, Genasys
As an industry, it’s crucial that we proactively address these
misconceptions, acknowledging our responsibility to protect
our customers’ futures. Despite prevalent negative customer
sentiment, the reality is that in many sectors of our industry,
the rate of claims settlement is impressively high (often
exceeding 90%, according to ABI data). Addressing the gap
between perception and reality is essential if we’re going to
improve customer trust and satisfaction. So, where’s it all
gone wrong?
Articulating the benefits
Well, the difficult reality is we’re not very good at sales. You
might argue that insurance is sold, not bought, and we’re a
multi-trillion-dollar global market. In many cases, however, it’s
a legal requirement or enforced obligation – think mortgage
offers enforcing buildings cover, through to contractors
requiring public liability. We don’t need to convince anybody
of anything – they have to buy it.
For evidence of our shortcomings when we actually have
to sell to customers, you need only look at how badly
we’ve failed to articulate the benefits and necessity of vital
coverage, such as cyber insurance. The 2024 Cyber Security
Breaches Survey reveals 74% of large businesses reported
an attack in the last year, while Aviva’s research shows only
36% of businesses have some form of cyber cover. We have
to ask – how good is our industry at selling and reframing the
insurance narrative?
Time to differentiate
When everybody looks, feels and sounds the same, how
is the business-to-business and business-to-consumer
customer meant to decide which insurer to choose?
Customers are met with a sea of logos, names, and
potentially-interchangeable ad campaigns. Insurtech
has bought us some exceptions, particularly with risqué
marketing and hype campaigns. In my opinion however, the
mainstream market remains conservative and too risk averse
to rock the boat, with only a handful of exemplary creative
approaches.
The result? Well, does anybody outside of our industry really
know what each insurance business stands for, and how
they truly differentiate? Ironically, these are the people that
we’re most trying to attract! In the majority of cases, the only
thing that customers can sense check is price, but they lack
meaningful context around an insurer’s point of difference,
and where they sit against the competition. I recently
compared three major home insurers, and they all led with
messaging of prices “from just £X”. Yet on closer inspection,
they were within just £7 of one another without any clear
steer as to what made them stand out against the crowd.
Leading with audacity
We need to stop answering “Why buy?” and start answering
“Why buy from us?”. When you differentiate your offering
with something the customer desires, it’s proven time and
time again that you’ve reframed the conversation away from
price. This is where a number of insurance businesses have
got it right, and they are reaping the rewards waiting for the
rest of the market to catch up.
The foundation for this involves being braver with how you
differentiate in a crowded market. It requires dedication to
upskill Sales teams, getting them to think with sophistication
about how their product will enhance their customer’s
life, and really explaining its value while demonstrating an
awareness of what makes your customers tick. It’s looking
at how we change the way insurance is done to make it
simpler and more relevant, underpinned by a seamless,
personal customer experience from point of sale to point
of claim. Only then can we change the perception of the
annual ‘grudge purchase’ and improve customer trust and
satisfaction.
If we continue to sell insurance with the mindset of a bygone
era, we risk becoming relics ourselves. Instead, let’s lead with
audacity. Let’s redefine our value propositions and prove our
industry is as vital and dynamic as the lives we promise to
protect. Are we simply sellers of policies, or are we guardians
of our customers’ future? The answer lies in our next move.
Let’s be bold.
MODERN INSURANCE | 73