Some of the most forward-thinking insurers in the industry are looking to ways they can provide value-adding services to their customers, rather than just their standard insurance products. Think healthy living advice and rewards, healthcare services, financial planning, and support services for senior citizens. Insurance companies that are looking to offer complementary, interconnected services beyond a policy, can help their customers lead healthier, safer, more productive lives.
By taking advantage of tech solutions to optimize pricing, and allowing more time for product development and strategy, insurers can take massive strides to revolutionize their approach. Making the customer the focus of product development, and engaging a larger pool of consumers with more valued and relevant services. In this article we’re taking a look at a few examples of companies that are redefining what it means to be an insurer.
Services beyond life insurance
Haven Life Plus
Our friends at Haven Life have recently launched Haven Life Plus, a rider which offers far more than a death benefit for its policyholders in selected states. Haven Life Plus offers complementing services such as legal will writing and online safe deposit boxes, as well as significant discounts on at-home DNA health tests and family healthcare services from MinuteClinic.
By positioning themselves as a company which not only offers protection of but also improvement to a customer’s quality of life, Haven Life is cemented in these engaged customers’ budgets as a valued and worthwhile expense.
Ethos
Life insurance company called Ethos hit the headlines in June this year when they announced investment from celebrity funds including Jay Z and Robert Downey Jr. Ethos proclaim to offer ongoing services “that enhance your life”, and promise to be around to celebrate your life milestones and events with you with an “unparalleled customer experience”.
Episodic insurance
Verifly
Taking a step outside of life insurance, Verifly has been offering its on-demand liability insurance for the commercial drone pilot market since 2016, selling over 35,000 policies within two years. Verifly has now branched out to include coverage for a range of industries, with flexible business liability insurance for as short a term as one day, which provides policyholders a certificate of liability insurance for that time period that they can share with their clients.
Buddy
Buddy accident insurance is another example of episodic insurance, built specifically for active outdoor enthusiasts - excluding if participating in a list of especially risky activities. Buddy do also offer life insurance, however at this stage it is for more traditional term lengths of 10-30 years.
But while one might not initially think life insurance would be a product that could be offered as episodic insurance - at least two companies are thinking about it in a different way and are offering short term life insurance coverage for specific scenarios.
Life by Spot
Currently inviting registrations for their beta release, Spot looks to enable consumers to purchase ultra-short-term life insurance via a mobile app, to cover the policyholder when they are participating in riskier adventurous recreational activities - such as scuba diving, skydiving, and surfing - on the Spot.
RideSafe by Sure
Sure has recently added RideSafe to their range of products, which covers customers for 24 hours at a time for accidents that occur why they are using ride-sharing app services such as Uber and Lyft. Not only does the coverage include medical costs and severe injury compensation, but also a payout of up to $100,000 in the event of the customer’s death in a fatal accident during the ride-share.
Service enhancements with open API
AXA Singapore
A different approach to broadening insurance company offerings is on the technical side, where there are companies such as AXA opening up their application programming interface or API. Launched in 2017, this is helping AXA utilize an Insurance-as-a-Service strategy, initially in Asia. The AXA API integrates with online retailers and applications, providing real-time access insurance quotes and policy management for home, travel, and car insurance, with health and life insurance coming soon.
Lemonade
Renters and home insurance company Lemonade released The Lemonade Public API, similarly allowing for integration with websites and iOS or Android apps so more companies can offer their customers relevant insurance products ‘powered by Lemonade’. The API offers developers quotation, policy creation, and payment functions, and also a customizable chatbot interface.
Bestow
Finally, Texas based Bestow invites companies working in health and wellness, lifestyle, personal finance and mortgages to request access to their API, in order to offer life insurance alongside their products.
