In comparison with banking, retail, and even F&B, the insurance coverage trade has been relatively sluggish to embrace digitisation.
That mentioned, COVID-19 was most likely the kick within the butt insurers wanted to stand up to hurry. Today, shopping for insurance coverage on-line is commonplace — particularly on the subject of easy issues like journey and automobile insurance coverage.
However is it potential for the extra difficult insurance coverage varieties, like crucial sickness and medical health insurance, to go the way in which of e-commerce?
MoneySmart surveyed 562 respondents in Singapore about how far they’re prepared to go digital on the subject of insurance coverage. Under is a short abstract of our findings.
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How do Singaporeans get info on insurance coverage?
Gone are the times the place your primary supply of details about all the pieces insurance coverage is out of your friend-of-a-friend monetary advisor.
The web has democratised info, and the survey outcomes present — 73% of respondents get their details about insurance coverage from monetary aggregators like MoneySmart.
In distinction, solely 56% of them get their info from the insurer’s web site, 50% of them get it from their advisors, and 27% get their info from social media.
The insights from the respondents’ feedback make clear digitally savvy prospects’ behaviour. Figuring out that the web is dwelling to each truth and fiction, they depend on trusted info sources like MoneySmart, over the less-reliable content material discovered on social media.
Moreover, prospects are prone to cross-check their on-line analysis on monetary aggregators and insurance coverage web sites by validating it with their private advisors.
Shopping for insurance coverage on-line or offline: which will we choose?
Today, prospects anticipate all the pieces to be accomplished on-line, and that is no completely different for insurance coverage. 86% of respondents mentioned they have been glad with on-line self-service purchases for insurance coverage merchandise.
However does this paint an entire image? Not essentially. 91% of respondents report being glad with human advisor-assisted insurance coverage purchases, i.e. the normal approach of shopping for insurance coverage.
Earlier than you whip out your calculator and inform me that it doesn’t add as much as 100%, sure, you might be a part of each camps. If something, this can be a very robust indication that insurance coverage prospects would like a ‘phygital’ expertise — a hybrid digital and bodily expertise.
The explanation for that is easy — variations when it comes to product complexity. For easy merchandise akin to automobile insurance coverage, we discovered that prospects have been greater than prepared to buy their safety on-line.
However as insurance coverage merchandise get extra advanced, the stakes are perceived to be greater. In these instances, advisor help helps insurance coverage prospects really feel snug and guarantee the next success price of claims.
What about insurance coverage claims?
Shopping for insurance coverage is one factor, however claiming it’s a complete completely different story. That is the realm the place a lot of the client ache factors are, and the outcomes are in favour of advisor help as the character of their claims get extra advanced.
The survey respondents famous that the present on-line self-serve channels aren’t ample to deal with buyer doubts or questions. “A single, wrongly submitted piece of knowledge might price rather a lot, so I’d relatively speak to their folks than submit the shape myself,” famous one respondent.
This ties in with the purpose that self-service claims shouldn’t have a 100% success price, preferring their private advisor to look over their declare submission to deal with any gaps.
After the claims submission, having a private level of contact is extremely useful as effectively. “You’ll be able to chase the agent for something. For on-line platforms, I don’t know who to chase when the claims are made,” mentioned one other respondent.
Clients are usually extremely glad and warranted when advisors help in doc assembling, claims processing and submissions. This sense that somebody on the “inside” is working laborious in your greatest curiosity is not present in digital insurance coverage experiences.
How do Singaporeans deal with insurance coverage merchandise otherwise?
Anybody can let you know that not all insurance coverage merchandise are the identical — as is their complexity. For this research’s objective, we surveyed prospects throughout 4 distinct insurance coverage product classes.
So as of least advanced to most advanced, with 1 being the least and 4 being probably the most:
| Complexity degree | Insurance coverage Class |
| 1 | Automotive |
| 2 | Crucial Sickness |
| 3 | House Contents |
| 4 | Hospitalisation |
1. Automotive insurance coverage (least advanced)
When shopping for automobile insurance coverage, 73% of shoppers care about which is the perfect automobile insurer. That is amplified by the truth that automobile insurance coverage is obligatory in Singapore.
Not a lot human interplay is required both, so prospects continuously purchase automobile insurance coverage by digital means. They expertise related ranges of satisfaction when submitting automobile insurance coverage claims digitally as effectively.
2. Crucial sickness insurance coverage (much less advanced)
Clients don’t thoughts window looking for crucial sickness insurance coverage on-line: 63% of them report being glad with on-line self-serve purchases for this insurance coverage kind.
Nonetheless, on the subject of submitting and processing the crucial sickness insurance coverage claims, the outcomes are overwhelmingly in favour of advisor help, with 71% of respondents preferring it.
By way of their advisors, they see extra worth in screening their submissions for optimum success charges, and in addition their involvement in pushing their claims in the direction of a beneficial payout.
3. House insurance coverage (extra advanced)
Clients felt dwelling contents insurance coverage to be one of many extra advanced forms of insurance coverage, maybe as a result of everybody attaches a unique perceived worth to their properties and belongings. Clients trying to purchase are extra eager on consulting their advisors.
Claiming dwelling contents insurance coverage is identical story as effectively — 68% of respondents report making their claims by their advisors, even with digital self-serve choices obtainable.
The complexity of submitting the house contents insurance coverage claims is responsible right here, with a number of necessities for proof, elements which are simply missed when trying to do it themselves.
4. Hospitalisation insurance coverage (most advanced)
As a result of complexity of Singapore’s healthcare and medical health insurance techniques, prospects search to purchase and declare medical health insurance by their advisors relatively than on-line.
Until you could have skilled a declare personally, it’s obscure your protection wants, dangers, premium quantities and the way reimbursement works. Thus, prospects are prone to welcome recommendation from human advisors who’ve processed precise instances.
It’s no shock that 74% of survey respondents overwhelmingly choose claiming their hospitalisation insurance coverage by their advisors. Advisors play a useful function in accumulating and compiling the required documentation to submit a profitable declare.
Transferring ahead: what ought to insurers do to satisfy buyer wants?
The folks have spoken overwhelmingly in favour of trying on-line for info earlier than making their buy, counting on monetary aggregators like MoneySmart to satisfy their informational wants. However it’s putting that solely half of respondents get their details about merchandise from the insurers’ personal web sites.
To enhance on this metric, insurers must be extra clear and goal, highlighting exclusions and different related info relatively than hiding them contained in the coverage paperwork.
Clients just like the comfort of digital companies, however there’s a important wants hole in addressing buyer doubts and questions on-line. Insurers ought to contemplate filling this hole through round the clock help from chatbots and/or human advisors.
From this, insurers can anticipate to personalise and consolidate insurance coverage packages for people or households, in order that prospects can save themselves a headache from having to maintain observe of many shifting elements — be it the phrases of the plans they’ve, the various premiums they must preserve observe of, and submitting their claims individually.
So… bots or our bodies? The reply is each. Whereas “bots” get fundamental duties like buying and easy claims accomplished, it’s human “our bodies” who expedite or improve the success price of the shopping for and claiming strategy of insurance coverage.
Examine & store to your insurance coverage wants on MoneySmart
While we work in the direction of the ‘phygital’ future, MoneySmart can deal with your insurance coverage wants through our comparability device, and our Insurance coverage 101 information. By way of these instruments, it is possible for you to to make an knowledgeable determination on what your insurance coverage wants are, and be sure that you get the perfect value to pay to your premiums.
Have doubts or questions? There are MoneySmart insurance coverage specialists able to allay them. Reaching out to them is so simple as answering 3 questions primarily based in your question and kind of insurance coverage that you simply’re looking for. There’s additionally no strain so that you can decide to a purchase, they’re merely there to reply your questions.
Obtain Bots vs Our bodies, MoneySmart’s insurance coverage white paper, for additional studying and extra survey findings.
