The direct-to-consumer sales trend certainly isn’t new, even for P&C insurers. More and more tech-savvy consumers are shopping online, and these consumers expect to be able to buy everything online, directly from the source, including insurance.
This trend preceded the recent COVID-19 pandemic; however, the current situation has undoubtably increased the importance of a direct-to-consumer strategy. This is especially true for personal lines insurers offering personal auto, with more and more consumers being confined to their homes and choosing to bypass visits to their local agent’s office when shopping for insurance. According to the J.D. Power 2020 U.S. Auto Insurance Study, for the first time in its 21 year history, company websites ranked higher than agents in terms of importance to client interaction and service by providing higher customer satisfaction.
If you are a small to mid-size insurer offering personal auto, it is imperative that you have a digital strategy, with the right digital tools in place, to capitalize on this trend. The J.D. Power 2020 U.S. Insurance Shopping Study found that two of the largest insurers who have already embraced a direct-to-consumer sales model, had captured roughly 92% of all premium growth in the past year. Without the right tools and a sound strategy, you risk losing business to these larger direct insurers who continue to gain market share.
Having an online storefront is a critical component of your digital strategy and enables you to go direct and earn these tech-savvy consumers’ business. With the Banff release of Guidewire InsuranceNow, announced last month at Guidewire’s Connections Reimagined 2020 event, P&C insurers can setup their storefront and begin going direct to the consumer.
The Banff release of InsuranceNow includes the new InsuranceNow Consumer Sales Portal. This is an out-of-the-box, configurable sales portal for the consumer persona that supports the quote and issuance of personal auto and homeowners products. This new portal is an extension of the InsuranceNow core and provides the ability to quickly deploy a consumer-facing digital sales portal to drive your business forward. This new sales portal is also integrated with the InsuranceNow Service Portal, enabling you to take better advantage of cross-sell opportunities with your customers, by providing the ability for a policyholder to request and complete a new quote directly from within the Service Portal.
For information about the InsuranceNow Consumer Sales Portal, or to learn about all the new capabilities available in the Banff release of InsuranceNow, click here, and read the Banff blog post and press release. Also, please check out the InsuranceNow sessions from our recent virtual user conference, Connections Reimagined: