Last month saw the release of the Global Consumer Study, new research carried out on consumers across the world and their attitudes towards insurance. 12,728 people from 22 global markets were asked about a range of topics, including: Buying and claiming insurance, purchase triggers, causes of stress, road and cyber insurance, mental and physical health and the use of wellness apps. As part of the study, researchers surveyed over 1,000 U.S.-based consumers, enabling us to build a picture of the modern American and what they are seeking in their insurance experience.
Americans are happy to share data
U.S. respondents showed a willingness to share data with insurers to enable them to assess risk. Interestingly, 80.5 percent of them felt either comfortable or very comfortable in sharing information about their employment with their insurance provider. This was followed up by openness around sharing previous claims data (79.2 percent) and openness on sharing data from health check-ups (76.7 percent). The possibility of a discount was the main driver for this, with three quarters of U.S. respondents interested in possible reduced insurance premiums in exchange for this data.
U.S. consumers love a health app
Findings from the study show the use of health and fitness apps has remained strong in 2022 and shows no signs of declining, with more than half of global respondents saying they have a general fitness app (51 percent). In the U.S., the popularity of such apps rises nearly another 10 percent. Curiously, U.S. women seem to have a far greater appetite for general fitness apps than their male counterparts, with 68.9 percent of American women owning one, compared to just 45.5 percent of American men. And perhaps surprisingly, the data demonstrate that Boomers and Gen X use general fitness apps more than Millennials and Gen Z in the U.S.
Consumers want multiple claim points
Multiple access points are being used by consumers in the U.S. when making insurance claims. These methods range broadly from online (33.4 percent) and email (16.3 percent), to agents (19.3 percent), apps (14.9 percent), and more. However, despite a growing movement towards digitization, the most common claim method for American consumers remains a phone call (45.1 percent). This bucks the global trend, where online claims are the preferred method. With this in mind, it should also be acknowledged that some U.S. insurers are yet to offer online claims capability.
Download the full research at www.remarkgroup.com. ReMark is a worldwide InsurTech consultancy specializing in consumer insights, marketing campaigns and tech solutions.
Plum Life delivers more fruit for less labor
In today’s life insurance sales environment, advisors are working more than ever remotely and digitally with their clients. This can lead to a lack of personal touch and critical guidance through the sale, not to mention the difficulties of lead generation and client follow-up as expressed by many agents. But it does not have to be that way… Plum Life was designed exclusively for agents and to allow them to sell completely online. As a user, the experience is simple, instinctive, and demonstrates an understanding of how agents sell. Their platform also houses all functions in one location, making it easy for agents to place business. Plum Life automates appointments, submitting and placing applications, tracking commissions and helps agents manage their inforce clients. Because they understand the entire sales process, they have been able to digitize the entire process allowing agents to customize the experience to a specific person or case. Helping agents sell life insurance is at the core of what they do.
Plum Life offers a diverse product suite from A-rated carriers, all designed for a digital agent sale. Their growing list of products and carriers boasts both an instant issue and accelerated term options, whole life, AD&D and two flavors of final expense. Registration is free with Plum Life, which makes it a good option for independent agents. It is intuitive and easy to navigate, with a sleek interface designed specifically for mobile use, allowing agents to start selling quickly. Agents also get access to powerful lead generation and marketing tools, and case management is automated.
Plum Life also keeps agents, and their clients, in the loop as they go through the sales process. With email reminders and text alerts, agents can quickly and easily stay on top of things and clients are reminded to take required actions. When asked, a Plum Life representative stated this functionality is a “big differentiator and helps drive conversion.” While there are a few other digital platforms available for life insurance sales, many of them are focused on direct-to-consumer sales and put the agent experience secondary, sometimes trying to cut them out completely. Others simply do not have the breadth of products or tools available from Plum Life. For today’s agent who is looking to work with clients digitally, Plum Life has a lot to offer. Agents can register at www.HelloPlum.com.
UComplete is seamless in the carrier’s life fulfillment process
A powerful model for straight-through processing for life insurance digital sales is an “Agent to Customer Self-Service Process.” ApplicInt has a product “UComplete” that simplifies the eApp process while engaging the agent with their client. The agent runs a multi-carrier quote and completes a drop ticket (then hands off to the client). This is done by the agent who emails a link to the customer to complete Part A of the life insurance application online. The Part B medical questions part has options where the customer can complete, or can be completed via tele-interview or by an examiner performing a digital Paramed exam. The customer will securely eSign the forms in the same experience. If the customer has any questions, then they can do a real-time chat with a call center for assistance as needed. There is a warm transfer to a call center to schedule an exam if needed. This is a seamless process. The forms and data are automatically sent to the carrier in-good-order. The agent is notified of the status via email. The agent is then freed up to focus on sales.
There is a second model for ApplicInt’s UComplete, which is a carrier direct to consumer process. This makes it easy for consumers to apply for life insurance from a carrier’s website. It would start with a secure login process on the carrier’s website. Getting a login is a quick and painless process, but very secure. Once the consumer logs in, they run a term quote. There is a health analyzer available to use so the client can be placed in the correct underwriting category, which impacts the premium quoted. If the client is approved as applied for, then the placement ratio is increased significantly. Leveraging the same functionality of UComplete above, the consumer completes Part A of the life insurance application online. The Part B medical questions are options which can be completed via tele-interview or by an examiner performing a digital Paramed exam. The customer will securely eSign the forms in the same experience. If the customer has any questions, then they can do a real-time chat with a call center for assistance as needed. There is a warm transfer to a call center to schedule an exam if needed. This is a seamless process. The forms and data are automatically sent to the carrier in-good-order.
The flexibility of U*Complete’s seamless integration is because ApplicInt is the only solution provider that has a call center solution “CallComplete” and a digital Paramed platform “ExamComplete.” Any step of the process can also be integrated using an API into a carrier’s supported system so that their workflow remains the same. Other features where ApplicInt transforms the life insurance process includes integrating with a carrier’s automated underwriting process. The ApplicInt platform can also do scoring of data based on carrier rules. The end-to-end process starts with easy access to an agency or carrier portal supporting single sign-on to delivering the data and forms to the carrier in-good-order. This reduces the overall process by five days. The ApplicInt fulfillment software solutions are used by the industry’s largest Paramedical providers. You can visit www.applicint-usa.com to learn more.
