SBI General Insurance launches facility to buy insurance through WhatsApp

Customers across the country can buy insurance by sending ‘Hi’ to SBI General and Gupchup’s chat bot will guide users through a simple and secure buying process, and help them complete the purchase within a WhatsApp chat thread. The hassle-free shopping experience ensures that end-to-end policy buying takes place on the platform itself, from discovering product features to accessing their policy documents.

“Customers are increasingly looking for ease and convenience in their policy buying experience. With consumer propensity towards interactivity and personalization, messaging is at the forefront of every brand’s user engagement. We are confident that our WhatsApp solution will further enhance the reach and user-friendliness of SBI General’s products,” said Ravi Sundararajan, COO, Gupshup.

In addition to facilitating purchases, the WhatsApp chatbot allows deeper insight into the customer journey and enhanced personalization possibilities at critical customer touchpoints. Gupshup plays a vital role as a conversational engagement platform, helping brands build engagement through seamless search and buying experiences.

“With the increasing penetration of the Internet among the demographics, customers are keen to explore simpler and more convenient alternatives to financial solutions. The current generation is looking for a simplified shopping experience for complex financial products. We aim to take this journey further and in the near future provide a wider range of simple products. This will enable much needed deep insurance penetration and financial inclusion in the country, said Anand Pejawar, Deputy Managing Director, SBI General Insurance.

For the increasingly digital insurance sector, chatbots can be a catalyst for insurers to usher in a new era of growth. “The banking and insurance industry has been at the forefront of building innovative customer engagement journeys on the WhatsApp Business platform. These solutions are making financial products and services more accessible to people across the country and thus contributing to the overall financial inclusion vision. Abhijit Bose, Head, WhatsApp India, said, “We are delighted to further strengthen our association with SBI General Insurance to make insurance products more easily available to our new and existing customers.”