Bots vs Bodies: Are Singaporeans Ready to Go Fully Digital for Insurance?

In comparison with banking, retail, and even F&B, the insurance coverage business has been quite gradual to embrace digitisation.

That mentioned, COVID-19 was in all probability the kick within the butt insurers wanted to rise up to hurry. Nowadays, shopping for insurance coverage on-line is commonplace — particularly in the case of easy issues like journey and automobile insurance coverage. 

However is it doable for the extra difficult insurance coverage sorts, like crucial sickness and medical health insurance, to go the best way of e-commerce?

MoneySmart surveyed 562 respondents in Singapore about how far they’re prepared to go digital in the case of insurance coverage. Beneath is a quick abstract of our findings.

Obtain Bots vs Our bodies, MoneySmart’s insurance coverage white paper, for the total insights.

How do Singaporeans get data on insurance coverage?

Gone are the times the place your essential supply of details about every thing insurance coverage is out of your friend-of-a-friend monetary advisor.

The web has democratised data, 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 data from the insurer’s web site, 50% of them get it from their advisors, and 27% get their data from social media. 

The insights from the respondents’ feedback make clear digitally savvy clients’ behaviour. Realizing that the web is residence to each reality and fiction, they depend on trusted data sources like MoneySmart, over the less-reliable content material discovered on social media.

Moreover, clients are more likely 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?

Nowadays, clients count on every thing to be completed on-line, and that is no totally 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 means 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 may be a part of each camps. If something, this can be a very robust indication that insurance coverage clients would favor a ‘phygital’ expertise — a hybrid digital and bodily expertise.

The rationale for that is easy — variations when it comes to product complexity. For easy merchandise akin to automobile insurance coverage, we discovered that clients 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 clients really feel comfy and guarantee the next success charge of claims.

What about insurance coverage claims?

Shopping for insurance coverage is one factor, however claiming it’s a complete totally different story. That is the world the place a lot of the shopper 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 are usually not adequate to handle buyer doubts or questions. “A single, wrongly submitted piece of data might value rather a lot, so I’d quite speak to their individuals than submit the shape myself,” famous one respondent.

This ties in with the purpose that self-service claims shouldn’t have a 100% success charge, preferring their private advisor to look over their declare submission to handle any gaps.

After the claims submission, having a private level of contact is extremely useful as effectively. “You may 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 typically extremely glad and warranted when advisors help in doc assembling, claims processing and submissions. This sense that somebody on the “inside” is working onerous in your greatest curiosity is not present in digital insurance coverage experiences.

How do Singaporeans deal with insurance coverage merchandise otherwise?

Anybody can inform you that not all insurance coverage merchandise are the identical — as is their complexity. For this research’s function, we surveyed clients throughout 4 distinct insurance coverage product classes.

So as of least advanced to most advanced, with 1 being the least and 4 being essentially the most:

1. Automotive insurance coverage (least advanced)

When shopping for automobile insurance coverage, 73% of consumers care about which is one of the best 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 clients regularly purchase automobile insurance coverage via digital means. They expertise related ranges of satisfaction when submitting automobile insurance coverage claims digitally as effectively.

2. Important sickness insurance coverage (much less advanced)

Clients don’t thoughts window searching for crucial sickness insurance coverage on-line: 63% of them report being glad with on-line self-serve purchases for this insurance coverage kind. 

Nevertheless, in the case 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. 

Via their advisors, they see extra worth in screening their submissions for max success charges, and likewise their involvement in pushing their claims in the direction of a beneficial payout.

3. House insurance coverage (extra advanced)

Clients felt residence contents insurance coverage to be one of many extra advanced kinds of insurance coverage, maybe as a result of everybody attaches a special perceived worth to their houses and belongings. Clients trying to purchase are extra eager on consulting their advisors.

Claiming residence contents insurance coverage is similar story as effectively — 68% of respondents report making their claims via their advisors, even with digital self-serve choices accessible. 

The complexity of submitting the house contents insurance coverage claims is responsible right here, with numerous necessities for proof, components which might be simply missed when trying to do it themselves. 

4. Hospitalisation insurance coverage (most advanced)

Because of the complexity of Singapore’s healthcare and medical health insurance methods, clients search to purchase and declare medical health insurance via their advisors quite than on-line.

Except you could have skilled a declare personally, it’s obscure your protection wants, dangers, premium quantities and the way reimbursement works. Thus, clients are more likely 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 via their advisors. Advisors play a beneficial function in gathering and compiling the mandatory documentation to submit a profitable declare.

Shifting ahead: what ought to insurers do to satisfy buyer wants?

The individuals have spoken overwhelmingly in favour of trying on-line for data earlier than making their buy, counting on monetary aggregators like MoneySmart to satisfy their informational wants. However it’s hanging 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 data quite than hiding them contained in the coverage paperwork.

Clients just like the comfort of digital providers, however there’s a important wants hole in addressing buyer doubts and questions on-line. Insurers ought to take into account filling this hole through round the clock help from chatbots and/or human advisors.

From this, insurers can count on to personalise and consolidate insurance coverage packages for people or households, in order that clients can save themselves a headache from having to maintain observe of many transferring components — be it the phrases of the plans they’ve, the numerous premiums they should preserve observe of, and submitting their claims individually.

So… bots or our bodies? The reply is each. Whereas “bots” get primary duties like buying and easy claims completed, it’s human “our bodies” who expedite or enhance the success charge of the shopping for and claiming technique of insurance coverage.

Evaluate & store to your insurance coverage wants on MoneySmart

While we work in the direction of the ‘phygital’ future, MoneySmart can handle your insurance coverage wants through our comparability instrument, and our Insurance coverage 101 information. Via these instruments, it is possible for you to to make an knowledgeable choice on what your insurance coverage wants are, and be certain that you get one of the best worth 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 searching for. There’s additionally no stress 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.