FinChatBot (FCB.ai)

Once considered a sunk acquisition cost for the insurer, FCB.ai has created a solution to turn unreachable prospects into customers. This article aims to explain how our solution can help the insurer reintroduce these prospects into their existing business model, reduce acquisition costs, thereby increasing profitability and taking the user through a pre-qualification journey, an estimate or a complete end-to-end sale.

AI in the insurance sector – FCB.ai

The solutions we have created at FCB.ai will help our insurers in the following ways:

• Revenue-driven initiatives to increase the number of new insurance policies written.
• Cost reduction by lowering the acquisition cost per insured.
• Operational efficiency through early, mid and late life cycle solutions.

Who are the unreachable prospects in the insurance industry?

To better understand this concept, it is necessary to know who the unreachable are, what is their place in the economic model of an insurer and how to transform them into customers.

One of the most important functions for any insurer is the underwriting of new business. This is due to the attrition or lapse rate which averages 5-10% meaning existing policies in their portfolio will expire, due to a variety of factors, resulting in lost revenue. Insurers strive for a growing portfolio, which means they write new business at a higher rate than their existing attrition rate. Without new business, the insurer's business model is unsustainable and this is the main reason why new business development is vital.

Insurance companies have a very specific marketing strategy, targeting a specific market, the profile of their customers and their ability to provide the services necessary to retain policyholders. Their marketing strategies can include both upstream advertising, i.e. traditional media, television and radio, and downstream advertising, i.e. digital media, email, SMS and social media. Anyone who is interested is considered a prospect. In other words, a prospect is someone who has opted in to receive further communications from the insurer.

The lead will then be routed to a call center, which is the primary lead conversion mechanism. Agents should establish contact with the prospect and then begin the prequalification process. To do this, they must ask them a series of specific and predetermined questions to ensure that they are suitable for the products offered. If the prospect answers NO to any of the questions, they do not meet the insurer's criteria for new business and the call is politely terminated and the prospect is not pursued. If the interlocutor answers YES to all the questions, the agent goes to the offer stage and if the interlocutor accepts, he becomes a customer.

Each company determines the number of times a prospect must be contacted before being considered unreachable. This rate is estimated at around 50%, and these leads are then considered lost, which greatly impacts the cost of acquisition.

Other factors that contribute to the increase in acquisition cost are:

• Only 70-80% of leads are routed to the outbound call center.
• 40% of leads do not meet the determining criteria for prequalification, so no quote is offered
• 20% refuse the quote because of the price or unsuitable conditions.

The big question for the insurance company is therefore what it is willing to spend to acquire an insured (target acquisition cost), which forms the basis of performance models. It will also take into account the average length of time an insured will remain a customer. The cost of acquisition per insured is usually measured by the premium to be paid multiplied by a specified number of months, before the insurer begins to collect a profit from the insured. In other words, the cost of acquiring a company should improve profitability and performance.

How can FCB.ai help turn unreachable prospects into insured?

FCB.ai offers to contact prospects to turn them into customers. If only 10% of those prospects subscribe, the cost of acquisition is greatly reduced.

Conclusion

We are very proud to partner with leading insurers in the European and African market, including SPB, Santander, Seguro Directo, Santam, Sanlam, Hollard, Momentum and MiWay, and the results achieved are a true testament to the value, efficiency and profitability that our solutions can offer.

If you have any questions about our solutions, or conversational AI in general, hit the chat button  – we'll be happy to help you turn your unreachable into customers.