Kamlesh Rao, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Aditya Birla Sun Life Insurance, emphasizes the importance of simplifying life insurance products to address common consumer misconceptions. The company has launched the Super Term Plan, which incorporates an integrated health management service and offers options for policyholders to receive all their premiums back or an early exit option. This aims to combat the fear of losing money if the policyholder lives.
Rao highlights that life insurance is one of the toughest products to sell, with high consideration required before purchase and low involvement in a customer’s day-to-day life. To address this, Aditya Birla Sun Life Insurance has implemented a digital-focused approach, reducing traditional application processes and providing a faster and more efficient customer experience.
The company has also developed a Pre-Approved Sum Assure model in collaboration with HDFC Bank, allowing customers to see tailored insurance product offers directly within their online banking. This has significantly increased sales conversions, with 40% of the business done with HDFC Bank coming from this model.
To enhance customer engagement and understanding of policy details, the company has introduced innovative features such as video confirmations for policy understanding and a chatbot named ZARA to improve premium collection and customer service. Rao emphasizes the importance of making the insurance buying process simpler and faster, with a focus on digitization and data analytics.
The company is also working on emerging distribution channels, including bundling life insurance products with other products/services and partnering with telecom customers or e-commerce marketplaces. However, Rao notes that the challenge is that no customer wants to buy insurance for a short-term basis, and the industry has not been able to do a great job with sachet-type products.
To drive retention and premium renewal, the company is focusing on making the customer journey frictionless, using data analytics to understand customer needs and preferences. The company has created a bot called ZARA to serve customers who prefer not to interact with human agents, and has also partnered with HDFC Bank to extend the free look period for one year.
Rao highlights the importance of data analytics in enabling the company to sell better via channel partners, including the use of Pre-Approved Sum Assure and AI-powered bots to train sales agents. The company is also working on developing alternate models to determine the best-suited insurance category for customers based on secondary parameters such as the car they own.
Overall, Aditya Birla Sun Life Insurance is focused on simplifying life insurance products, enhancing customer engagement and understanding, and leveraging data analytics and digital technologies to drive business growth and customer retention. With the launch of the Super Term Plan and other innovative initiatives, the company aims to address common consumer misconceptions and make life insurance more accessible and appealing to a wider range of customers.