Insurance Outlook: Volume 1

With great barriers come great opportunities. Insurers today require clear communication to highlight the importance of Health Insurance for those who don’t want it because they already have Life Insurance. Busting such myths and informing people about smooth claims processes is key to gaining new customers. The first volume of Insurance Outlook answers the following 3 questions:

• Why are people averse to buying health insurance?
• What triggers them to become intenders?
• What can be done to make initial interactions delightful for intenders?

How can insurers plan relevant interventions to tackle the aversions

People have various beliefs and apprehensions about buying health insurance. This is largely based on 2 aspects:

1. Lack of correct information and its source
2. Their own observations in their surroundings

People came up with various reasons of their own to not opt for Health Insurance. Approx. 2/3rd believe they’re reasonably fit while other major chunk thinks Life Insurance is enough. People also don’t consider Health Insurance as an investment but a financial burden; this is not just an opportunity to make a convincing argument but also the responsibility of insurers to give right advice. Corporate employees who are covered by employers also don’t see a value in having a personal Health Insurance. A handful of them buy Health Insurance only to save tax under 80D.

Hence, there are a lot of opportunities in the macro insurance space to educate people about the importance of Health Insurance and busting various myths.

Elements to be considered while planning the interventions based on the triggers

The major trigger is realization of the importance of Health Insurance due to direct or indirect exposure to the exorbitant medical expenses. Apart from this, more susceptibility to lifestyle related illnesses/conditions due to sedentary life and aging are a few other trigger points. Covid-19 triggered in pushing the consideration periphery for Health Insurance in a big way. It also erased boundaries with respect to buying digitally, independently and with a lot focus on self-help applications. This is visible amongst 11% and 9% people who showed their positive preference towards mobile application and website respectively while buying Health Insurance.

Helping prospective customers to fulfil their initial expectations which result in final purchase

Larger delight factor for fresh intenders is commitment to the TATs. Customers observe timelines on various follow-ups, proactiveness, updates and other communications very sharply. Intenders, especially residing in Tier 1 cities, have keen focus on TAT commitments (47%). Another very important factor is building the trust and personalized hand-holding in the form of face to face meeting at intender’s home for showcasing the plans, comparisons, answering queries and apprehensions. While home visit is considered extremely important, intenders also expect on-call assistance for any other conversation which wasn’t discussed during home visit. Intenders in Tier 1 (43%) and especially youngsters (45%) expect call assistance during initial interactions.