Go digital or die. Are Middle East insurers ready?

Olivier Bauchart Apr 2015

Going digital. Are insurance companies in the Middle East ready?

How quickly would they go in adopting the right digital/business transformation? How far would they go? What would the enablers be? What would the benefits be in doing so…but why would they embark on this journey in the first place? How would an aggregator manage to attract global brands to enrich their panels and increase their conversion rate? As far as eCommerce, Online Insurance and Aggregators are concerned, let’s structure this outlook in 3 sections spanning Market Reality, Digital Transformation and Business Transformation.

Go digital or die. Insurance companies in the Middle East, are they ready?

A permanent challenge for any business is to constantly identify ways to improve and drive revenue generation. Learning how to leverage the web experience is a must to drive incremental profitable revenue. Although this present exciting opportunities, the journey to the next generation web experience doesn’t happen overnight.

Going digital, the Middle East customers are early adopters

The Middle East is showing a trend for faster adoption of new technologies for self-service by customers. •  Process automation and migrating customers to self service are global trends. •  61% use of Social Media vs 41% Global sample, 44% use of SMS vs. 28% Global sample, 25% use of smartphone apps for online help

vs. 15% Global sample. •  Getting customers to self select to serve themselves became the #1 issue. (Source: Dimension Data 2013)

Market reality Digital Transforma3on

Business Transforma3on

Customers cares about experience sharing. •  1/3 of customers give feedback at least once a month, •  2/3 of them are more comfortable to comment on the products and services online rather than in person •  Consumer opinions are consulted before and during purchase act (mobile) (Source: Elia Consul9ng Jan2015)

The digital maturity curve in the Insurance industry varies very much among the players. •  The Insurance industry has not kept pace with digital features and functions that can elevate customer acquisition. One-way

communication of product information and company image. Static web pages with little or no interactive or dynamic functionality. •  For every 100 people that consider a brand, 59 will visit the company's website, 33 will solicit a quote but only 2.4 will bind on the

website.

Customers who feel they are treated as individuals are more satisfied with their experience and more inclined to remain loyal •  Personalized content may be advertising, recommended items, screen layout, menus, news articles, or anything else accessed via Web. •  Customers return more frequently to sites where they receive specific benefits, and personalization provides these benefits.



Online insurance is now a hybrid model with similar patterns than the eCommerce industry

The pattern that the Middle East is following is no different to the global one.

•  All devices

•  All ages

•  With going

online becoming the norm

50% 58%

would prefer to have a quote online

willing to buy insurance online

Genera3on X: 55+

•  With similar

motivations to go online

•  A permanent combination of traditional retail-physical branches and internet based transactions.

1 2

3 4

5(Source: Elia Consul9ng Jan2015)



Online insurance and aggregators obviously have exciting opportunities ahead of them

Online Car insurance is a strong reality evidenced across 3 Europeans countries…

…out of which the aggregator channel is an indisputable credible player. Differences in the digital maturity curve are noticeable across countries

% of aggregators policies vs. new online car policies

Given the steady evolution recorded in more mature markets like Europe, late digital adopters in both price comparison websites and traditional insurance companies in the Middle East equally have exciting opportunities ahead of them.

Late digital adopters in the price comparison websites in Spain and France have exciting opportunities.…

(Source: eDynanics 2013)

Should Aggregators would want to attract more global insurance brands to widen their panels and increase their conversion rate, they may want to ensure them that their respective value add and DNA would be well picked out.

Customers demand greater simplicity and transparency •  to help them make beBer informed decisions and take greater control of the purchasing process. •  Personalized content may be advertising, recommended items, screen layout, menus, news articles, or anything else accessed via Web. •  Financial Services Customers return more frequently to sites where they receive specific benefits, and personalization provides these

benefits. •  Customers carry mental models from non-‐financial industries and increasingly expect the same from insurers such as Gamifica3on, Rewards, etc…



Even in a negative economy, customer experience is a high priority for Insurance consumers

# of customers switching brands has doubled between 2005 and 2011, rising sharply since 2008.

x 2

2 out of 3 of all customers are at risk of taking their custom elsewhere due to poor customer experience.

Social is the new sales channel •  Engage with your audience where they spend their time, where they get their

information. •  Think about your website as mobile site

Build up a rapport with them •  The next generation of websites is evolving fast to become contextual and collaborative. To be informative, transactional and

persuasive are no longer enough. Their content and experience are driven by visitors context: social, personal, mobile, interactive. •  A responsive design: first.1. One website (not a separate mobile and desktop site) 2. HTML5 & CSS3 (new technologies to create sites

that respond to screen sizes and orientation) 3. Future proofing (do you know what is next?).

Build great ease-of-use •  84 % of insurance consumers in North America say that it is important to them that the products and services offered by their insurance

provider are identical (same functionality, support, cost and so forth) across the different channels available. (Source: Accenture Global Multi-Channel Executive Survey)



Engage with your customers where ever they are

Speak to the customer concern •  By adding video ads, a fortune 300 insurance company reached prospective customers earlier in the consideration cycle, video views

increase 646%. •  People weren’t searching for videos using broad terms such as “life insurance” or “car insurance.” Instead, they were discovering,

watching, and sharing videos about “Identity theft,” particularly on social networking sites.

Build your reputation online •  Leverage the Web, Social Media to engage with customers •  Build communities for brand positioning and customer engagement •  Become newsworthy with Twitter •  Leverage LinkedIn - discussions, updates, posts, blogs….etc. •  Build internal communities, link social to your marketing assets such as your website and email •  Utilize social media to connect with partners •  Ensure that blogged and tweeted comments reflect their brand values. (source: Global Consumer Insurance Survey 2012)



6 stages of the online insurance funnel strategies to invest in

Build up a new ecosystem that covers the entire funnel with digital activities. Market reality Digital Transforma3on




Walk the buying cycle the way they would: •  What ques3ons would they have at this stage? •  What informa3on would they need to move forward? •  What uncertainty and doubt must be overcome?

More and more insurance will be ‘bought’ by customers as opposed to being ‘sold’ by agents destroying the age old wisdom of ‘Insurance is sold and not bought’.

More and more insurance will be ‘bought’…but how?

Understand how, when and with what to engage prospects at each step of buying process •  Understand your customer’s mindset through the buying cycle journey •  Determine the target groups within your audience •  Understand and align the messages with the segment and their objec3ons •  Implement the mul3-‐channel plaWorms



Irrespective of the tool, what really matters is to provide a high level of trust during all steps, enabling the dialogue, creating a relationship with the prospect and existing customer.

The online insurance doesn’t differentiate itself from the eCommerce fundamentals: the moment of truth lies on the payment stage.

Trust factor is greatly influenced by design-layout, permanent offer for assistance during quote-binding process, power of customer review and social recommendation.

The online insurance fundamentals are no different than the eCommerce ones

The validation of submitted documents, electronic signature are sensitive aspects that have to be thoroughly integrated into the end-to-end processes in a seamless way.



6 key aspects affecting customer management within today’s omnichannel centers

Strategy • Contact channels • Centre maturity • Market trends • Financial posi3oning • Strategic performance •  Innova3on

Self-‐service • self-‐service capability • self-‐service priori3es • customer behaviors • contact sta3s3cs • process reviews • channel development

Workforce op3miza3on • staffing models •  training • competency management • employee management • human resources • workforce management

Opera3ons • customer sa3sfac3on • contact quality • management informa3on • contact sta3s3cs • contact resolu3on • performance management

CRM • customer segmenta3on • single view of customer • customer intelligence • service determinants • process re-‐ engineering •  internal SLAs

Technology •  technology trends and readiness • SaaS, open source, hosted solu3ons • Full integra3on of web and telephony • Cloud infrastructure and convergence • Security and fraud • Managed services



Irrespective of who implements the software and operating model….either…

Built in with internal resources

In-‐house Working with him for the provision of technology solu3ons

Partner Complete outsourcing of the opera3ons, through on-‐shoring, off-‐shoring or near-‐shoring

Outsource

Which tool and model would work best for your business ?

… the following most frequent dissatisfactions have to be perceived by the prospect and the customer ….

… thanks to some enablers of a seamless customer experience….

•  a simple application, quick implementation, easy to use and cheap with adds-on modules to add users and features as the needs evolve.

•  Less reliance on adherence to a rigid process, this takes a degree of trust and maturity, the results well worth the effort.

•  First Contact Resolution remaining a major cost and customer satisfaction driver, either clear parameters or systems guidance should positively impact the Agent knowledge, E2E process, and Empowerment of agents.

•  Change Management to ensure devices are part of the company culture: Academy and Training; internal communication about strategy; interactive tools and content sharing between employees.

… and measured. •  NPS is proven to drive loyalty and profits through customer & employee engagement.

Take away

Market reality •  Getting customers to self select to serve themselves became the #1 issue. •  Customers cares about experience sharing. •  Online insurance is now a hybrid model with similar patterns than the eCommerce industry •  Even in a negative economy, customer experience is a high priority for Insurance consumers •  Given the steady evolution recorded in more mature markets like Europe, late digital adopters in both price comparison websites and traditional

insurance companies in the Middle East equally have exciting opportunities ahead of them. Digital transformation •  Social is the new sales channel, therefore engage with your audience where they spend their time, where they get their information. •  And this include in particular to think your website as mobile site •  Invest in the six funnel strategies: Discovery, Awareness, Consideration, Dialogue, Purchase, Advocacy. •  Build a new ecosystem that covers the entire funnel with digital activities.

Business transformation

•  More and more insurance will be ‘bought’ by customers as opposed to being ‘sold’ by agents. •  Understand how, when and with what to engage prospects at each step of buying process •  Thoroughly cover the 6 dimensions affecting customer management within today’s omnichannel centers. •  The online insurance respects the eCommerce fundamentals: a high level of trust is decisive; the moment of truth lies on the payment stage. •  The choice of whoever would devise and implement the strategy and operating model is wide open: in-house, partner or outsourcer.

“The best 3me to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best 3me is now” Chinese proverb

Conclusion