Building an online, fun self-assessment of consumers’ insurance needs
Situation
A major insurance company wanted to increase the number of insurance products per customer. Additionally, a respected third-party quantitative study showed that customers with multiple insurance products are less likely to shop or switch to a competitor, and were more satisfied overall.
Approach
Turning ambiguity into clarity. Orchid Strategy Group shaped the issue with data analysis and customer insights. Data mining revealed that when comparing our client's products per customer ratio to similar firms, there was indeed room for improvement. To determine why this was the case, we conducted market research focus groups that found a high awareness of the client's core product, but the extremely low familiarity of other products in the company's product set (including higher awareness for the competition’s products). Given this information, Orchid Strategy Group led brainstorm sessions with our client’s cross-functional team to think of approaches to solve the issue of low product awareness. Based on additional consumer research, we narrowed down the ideas to a high-potential concept for build and created a plan for execution.
Solution
Orchid Strategy Group initiated a stage-gated process using the following steps: consumer needs analysis, ideation & research, design & build, launch & learn, and finally, scale & optimize. The first two steps ultimately led us to design an online, fun customer experience that encouraged customers to self-assess how well they are protected from life's risks. We tested iterative prototypes in research and test markets to determine the optimal customer experience. As a result of the online assessment, customers became aware of the full product set offered by our client. Additionally, customers self-reported gaps in coverage and competitive products, creating a wealth of downstream marketing opportunities (that were previously not available through list purchase options).
Results
Customers responded to the gamification approach at an impressive 11%. This online assessment is currently part of an ongoing onboarding contact strategy for new customers, and based on the information the customer provides, our client responds with direct mail, email, and social strategies to grow the relationship. Sales measurements revealed statistically higher retention and cross-sell rates. Products per customer were improved by 15%, far exceeding expectations.