Human intervention for health, term insurance purchases still relevant: Survey

And that human touch remains important.

The Indian insurance industry has always been led with a physical touch where agents play an essential role in marketing various insurance companies and their plans. According to a latest survey conducted by PolicyX.com, a web insurance aggregator, with widespread digitization in the industry, dealing through an agent at various stages of insurance proceeds is preferred by policyholders. The study found that most of the respondents seek humanitarian assistance at various stages of an insurance transaction, including purchase, claim filing, etc.

Naval Goel, Founder and CEO, PolicyX.com, said, “Insurance… has always been a push product where agents or consultants play a vital role in bridging the gap between insurance companies and customers. Hence, from the point of view of customers. Human touch will be necessary as it is an important thing to them, this human intervention is needed by them to ensure that they are investing in the right product planning and facility in the following process.

The survey respondents included existing health insurance customers and term insurance customers, which received 1,176 responses.

Take a closer look at the survey findings:

buying insurance: Majority of the respondents (65.5%) expressed inconvenience in buying health/term insurance through website or mobile app without speaking to an agent or representative. While 29.1% of the respondents felt absolutely comfortable buying insurance through the website or mobile app.

filing a claimThe largest segment of respondents expressed that they would not be comfortable filing a health or term insurance claim on a website or mobile app without an agent. According to the survey, about 67.3% of participants refused to proceed without a representative, 21.8% of participants agreed to be friendly with full digital transactions and 10.9% deviated from their choice.

While insurance companies are exploring new technologies and techniques to provide a seamless claims experience to customers, policyholders are wary of end-to-end claims review through artificial intelligence (AI). About 72.7% of the respondents said they would not be comfortable if the health/term insurance claim is thoroughly reviewed by an AI instead of an agent, while 23.6% said they would be comfortable if the health/term insurance claim is reviewed without done without any human intervention. ,

Privacy concerns on discountInsurance companies have also explored a trade-off method to induce viewers to become more receptive to the new technologies they incorporate. Insurance companies are asking for personal details or tracking systems in exchange for some discounts or coupons.

Survey participants are willing to consider whether asking an insurance company to share their food habits and healthy practices to track data via a website or mobile application in exchange for a discount in premium . 36.4% of the respondents claimed to be cured, while 49.1% denied any such tracking and 14.5% looked apathetic.

Customer views on health monitoring gadgets like fitness bands, etc. that collect health-related data and help in assessing habits were also sought. About 21.8% of respondents expressed comfort over collecting their personal data when linking their smartwatch with an insurance website or app, if promised lower health insurance premiums for the next year, while 58.2% of respondents said such Expressed his concern over sharing of any data. According to the survey, around 20% said that their choice would depend on the affordability of the premium.