Expert insight, analysis and commentary across the entire protection industry.
by ProtectionReview 11/04/12
This article is based on two questions about customers – responses welcome. 1. To what extent are your non-customers and customers similar? 2. Are women a coherent segment to whom we can tailor marketing messages? It may be hard to believe now but in the 1980s there was a big debate about whether or not ‘the personal computer’ was a big deal or a flash in the pan. IBM was slow to get in to the PC market because when it asked its customers if the PC was or would be an important part of their IT infrastructure,…
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by ProtectionReview 27/03/12
Extending the Claims Ecosystem A typical claim has many people and parties in its lifecycle. There will be the claimant and the insurer, perhaps the broker. Where health or bodily injury claims are concerned there may well be doctors, nurses, caregivers, vocational rehabilitation experts. There may be any number of service providers for replacement goods and services. The whole claims process will operate most efficiently when all these participants can assist to the best of their ability in its successful resolution. With most claims operations though, the claims handler sits at the centre of a complex web of interactions…
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by ProtectionReview 23/03/12
The insurance industry portrays many of its protection products as enhancing State benefit provision. This should indeed be the case for all but the lowest paid as the State system increasingly struggles to afford more than a basic level of support for everyone. Yet the truth is that the number of people turning to the industry to protect them from the impact of sickness and unemployment remains disappointingly low and whilst the numbers covered by group schemes bring the totals to more respectable levels, they remain far below market potential. The last few years have offered insurers numerous opportunities…
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by ProtectionReview 13/03/12
At a recent conference a guy from the FSA was advocating commitment to Simplified Products. Also recently, we’ve seen Skandia announce they are looking at alternative distribution options (having been an IFA-only distribution office). As a reminder, “The Government believes that simple products should be developed so that they deliver against three clear objectives. • To ensure that people understand the products they need; • To help people make better choices; and • To encourage competition in the market.” So, at least two things are going on: · The idea of Simplified Products is that consumers can…
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by ProtectionReview 06/03/12
GET THE STORY RIGHT – THE CUSTOMER ISN’T STUPID When we put too many electronic barriers between the organisation and the customer, and the financial services sector is among the best at that, we need to be sure that those barriers are staffed by those who care, that they are empowered and are able to talk to people in the other barriers: sorry, my language is wrong, I should have said ‘points of contact’ or ‘stations of involvement’, it’s just that everyone I talk to feels that they are barriers. I write about this now because it is fresh in…
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