In the insurance industry, "customer value" is often used as a synonym for "customer equity," taken to mean the value a person or group brings to the company. Despite all of the talk about customer centricity, the true sense of customer value – the benefits of a product, service or relationship as perceived by the customer – and its importance to the industry are seldom realized. In the study "Insurance 2020: Innovating beyond old models," we described the customer of the future as active, well-informed and willing to reward insurance market players that develop new product designs and models of operation. But how do we know? Where are the indicators that point in this direction? We asked the customers themselves, surveying a broad international sample of insurance customers on their attitudes, experiences, values and resulting actions toward and with insurance. The results point to three success factors that are crucial for the relationship between customer and insurance company: trust, transparency and technology. Our data clearly shows: "the" customer does not exist. Customer segmentation based on socio-economic criteria is only part of the picture, and a single international marketing strategy is likely to fail. To be successful in the long term, insurers will have to really listen to their markets and take a good look at customers' attitudes and values. How customers differ
Customers "think" insurance differently and want to be treated in different ways. Insurers have been trying to cope with this diversity by using specific marketing campaigns to target select customer segments, based mainly on socio-economic parameters like age or income. Our analysis of customer attitudes and values shows: whether someone hunts for the cheapest offer, or looks for convenience and service, or is open to usage-based insurance offerings does not depend on demographics, but on his or her specific patterns of attitudes and value perceptions. The overall spread of these patterns is determined by cultural and national differences. Customers can be grouped into five different segments or types, depending on their general attitudes and value drivers: support-seeking individualists, product optimizers, uninterested minimalists, price-sensitive analyzers or relationship-oriented traditionalists (see Figure 1). Some need an advisor whom they can trust, like the individualists and traditionalists; others primarily look for excellent products (optimizers) or hunt for good prices (analyzers). 
These customer types do not just represent the wide range of different value perceptions in the market, they also give a clear indication of the required corresponding success factors for the value propositions insurers should supply. The meaning and use of each single success factor – trust, transparency and technology – differ by customer type. Looking forward: The next steps
Despite globalization, the customers of the future remain nationally diverse and multidimensional. To succeed in tomorrow's customer-centric environment, firms will need: - Flexibility: The ability to tailor products, processes and organization to clientele's specific needs is essential.
- Personalization: Customers need to feel that they matter, so insurers should create meaningful touchpoints to generate positive experiences.
- Experimentation: Successful companies are those that are willing and able to think "out of the box."
- Community: To reduce the general animosity toward the insurance industry, firms should explore and leverage communities of people with common attitudes.
- Speed of action: Increased regulation will begin forcing more transparency soon, and customers are now demanding it.
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