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Insurance considerations around COVID-19: how are you broaching it?

Insurance considerations around COVID-19: how are you broaching it?

by | Mar 17, 2020 | Insurance

In a matter of months, the coronavirus has gone from a small blip on our radar to a growing pandemic that has consumers stockpiling the essentials and stores rationing out supplies on a global scale. 

Now, with travel limited and many affected in their personal as well as their professional lives, it is crucial you’re keeping those lines of communication open with your insurance customers.

With the government clarifying their stance on the COVID-19, declaring it as a ‘notifiable disease’, business owners could find some relief from the potential losses to come.

Of course, there’s still some debate over whether this extended cover works retrospectively, so policyholders and their providers are urged to review the fine print of their policies.

Where are we seeing the greatest disruption so far?

%

Of British retailers seeing an impact from supply chain disruption

%

Of SMEs already experiencing cash flow issues

%

Of consumers will shop online to avoid physical contact with others

As we move forwards, you need to be informing and reassuring your clients. This means continuing to offer your bespoke services, products and expertise for personal and commercial purposes.

Whilst it is expected to have a temporary effect on the economy, experts are already speculating at the full reach the coronavirus will have for the months and years to come.

By talking to your customers now, you can help them to keep their businesses, families and homes insured and protected.

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Travel cancellations

Airlines could lose as much as £92.28 billion this year; with international flight bookings down 79% year-on-year during the final week of February.

As well as affecting overseas travel, this change in consumer behaviour can also be seen more locally, as a third of commuters are planning to stop using public transport.

Whilst 25% of Brits don’t insure their holidays, the 75% majority who do will need your help understanding their rights.

Now that Prime Minister Boris Johnson has declared only ‘essential’ travel be permitted, policyholders will need to check with their providers whether their reason for travelling would qualify them, or they may risk voiding their cover.

For flights, financial compensation should be available to passengers who have had their flights cancelled by the airline.

If their destination has not been ruled out for travel by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), however, it’s unlikely their claim will be accepted if they decide to cancel and seek compensation.

In a statement, ABI representative – Su Crown – commented that “travel insurance is not designed to cover ‘disinclination to travel’ where the FCO advice has not changed to advise against travel”.

As airlines and insurance providers have implemented different processes to handle the coronavirus outbreak and consequent disruption, it’s advisable to handle all customer enquiries on a case-by-case basis.

For instance, whilst airlines like EasyJet and British Airways are giving passengers the option to re-book for free, other travellers might face stricter conditions. With some insurers putting a freeze on new policies or limiting cover relating to the disease altogether.

Business interruption

During its peak, it’s expected that one in five UK workers will be on ‘sick leave’ for the coronavirus.

With 69% of SMEs already feeling the financial strain, insurance providers should expect an increasing number of business interruption claims from their commercial clients.

Conventional cover only protects against quantifiable physical damage sustained to the premises, meaning that – depending on the precise wording within the policy – disruption from COVID-19 would not be included.

For those with business interruption policies that do take ‘notifiable human diseases’ into consideration, there is some relief in that the coronavirus was classified as a ‘notifiable disease’ just this month.

However, it’s worth bearing in mind that this does not have retrospective application.

Here are some other items to consider:

  • Voluntary closure or voluntary self-isolation – as a precautionary step, many businesses and individuals are looking at ways to prevent the spread of COVID-19 by self-isolating. Although a sensible decision in the scope of what’s happening, this may mean that losses incurred are not covered, unless such closure is mandated by a public authority or organisation.
  • Time excess – where a policy is subject to a time excess, you may need to notify policyholders that any losses over that period of excess will not be covered.
  • Recoverable losses – as a matter of course, businesses are required to minimse their own losses. This may include the implementation of new processes to allow for remote working and fulfilling orders or contracts through alternative platforms. Although we’re already seeing stock delays and cancellations, the majority of operators will not receive any compensation for this particular situation.

Support will be available for the UK’s workforce who are on zero-hour contracts and those needing to pay statutory sick pay, with new legislation allowing small businesses to reclaim two weeks’ worth of SSP in relation to absences from the COVID-19.

For more information on this topic, refer to GOV.UK.

Liability insurance

By failing to cancel arrangements or events that may expose customers and employees to the disease, or otherwise not fulfilling their responsibilities to shareholders, businesses could find themselves liable to claims.

Likely to affect the leisure, travel and hospitality sectors the greatest, this could have serious consequences for organisations in every industry.

Here’s what could be triggered in the aftermath of the coronavirus:

 

  • Public Liability Insurance
  • Employers’ Liability Insurance
  • Directors and Officers (D&O) Liability Insurance
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Simple steps to mitigate risk within your own business now

If you’d like more information on any of the guidance provided here, we would recommend referring to the World Health Organisation.

You can also talk to our team of marketing consultants about your communication strategy, email us at info@briefyourmarket.co.uk.

Implement distancing tactics

Give your employees flexibility to work from home.

Reduce meetings and travel.

Establish remote work proccesses for your internal and external business communications.

Be open with your customers

This should also apply to your team members and other shareholders, but keep those communication avenues open with your existing clients and database prospects.

Shift your sales and marketing strategies to online channels and take the weight off your brokers conducting face-to-face consultations.

Savvy business owners across the globe have already switched to different digital platforms to ease the difficulties we may face, with one cosmetic company based in Wuhan seeing 200% growth from engaging with its customers virtually.

Plan for the long term

This pandemic will have an effect on everyone but there will be a period where we see the market stabilise again.

Use this time to think ahead and start strategising for future growth and recovery; for your customers and their businesses.

Your insurance brokerage and its campaign line-up for March

Your insurance brokerage and its campaign line-up for March

by | Feb 18, 2020 | Insurance

Nine out of ten properties in the UK are insured for the wrong amount…

Whilst six million homes in the UK don’t have any form of house insurance at all, equating to one in every four properties.

In light of these figures, our recommended send plan for insurance brokers this March focuses on homeowners and the various forms of insurance they need to keep their financial investments and belongings safe.

From finding the right contents and building cover, to issues around underinsurance and the problem with auto-renewals, these campaigns exhibit just some of the ways that you can demonstrate your full value to your clients.

For more information on how to implement a successful digital marketing strategy, book a consultation with our experts.

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Is your home underinsured?

With over 90% of UK properties insured for the wrong amount, this campaign looks to determine whether a client’s home is adequately covered or not; asking them if they’ve recently made any renovations or improvements that could have affected the price of their property.

Benefits of this campaign:

  • Connect with prospective home insurance clients and encourage them to stop and think before they auto-renew their current policy; drawing attention to the risks of underinsurance.
  • Strengthen your position as the knowledgeable and trustworthy broker within your local area.
  • Drive website traffic and cross-sell more of your policies and services to your customer database.

Your guide to buildings insurance…

Despite building cover costing an average of £258, a vast number of UK homeowners do not see the full value in this form of necessary protection.

This email campaign offers a brief guide to buildings insurance, promoting the importance of having an up-to-date and accurate policy. 

In light of the recent severe weather conditions around the UK, in the form of storms Ciara and Dennis, this campaign could not be more relevant to your clients right now.

Especially considering that storm Ciara is expected to cost up to £200 million in insurance claims – with storm Dennis only adding to this figure.

As these strong weather conditions could lead to the loss or destruction of homes, cars and businesses, this communication and others like it could be used to talk about your personal and commercial lines.

Ready for renewal?

Auto-renewals cost motorists £1.4 billion per year, with many consumers unaware of the costs of staying with the same provider and policy.

With this and the so-called ‘loyalty tax’, it’s easy to see how so many Brits could have lost trust in insurance and energy suppliers in recent years.

When it comes to their properties, homeowners and landlords won’t consider the effect that recent changes could have on their policies; which is where they need your insurance brokerage to guide them.

This campaign provides you with an opportunity to remind clients that having their property valued and ensuring their contents are covered for the correct amount before renewing their insurance policy is highly important – saving them in the case where they have to make a claim.

What is contents insurance?

On average, contents insurance costs £127 per year – which is the lowest average price we’ve seen since 2015.

This campaign example offers a guide to contents insurance that could prove invaluable to your customers.

At least half of consumers are confused or mistaken about what their insurance policies cover exactly.

Using online comparison sites, they’ll make estimations on the value of their belongings and skim over the fine print of what is and isn’t covered.

Although contents insurance in not a legal requirement, sending a message such as this can prompt consumers to realise that they need additional help from an expert to define their policies, positioning yourself as that expert they go to with their questions.

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Renewal letters and print marketing for insurance: what you need to know

Renewal letters and print marketing for insurance: what you need to know

by | Feb 10, 2020 | Insurance

In an industry where brand switching is relatively high, forming lasting and meaningful customer relationships can prove challenging for brokers.

To help you locate the business opportunities within your own database and local area, we take a look at how two insurance businesses are incorporating print marketing to achieve tangible returns.

CIA Insurance and FOCUS Oxford Risk Management have tapped into the full advantage offered by letters and direct mail; increasing revenue from their cross-selling messages, whilst honing their policy renewal and enquiry processes to lead to higher conversion rates.

With nearly nine out of ten (85%) Brits using online comparison sites to research their insurance policies, how is your business applying strategic marketing to reach more clients than your competitors?

It’s our most profitable way to generate new sales

“We’ve estimated that – with BriefYourMarket.com – we are saving the equivalent of two full-time staff.

We’re seeing huge savings from the outsourcing of the printing and posting of our renewal letters; with our database of approximately 140,000 clients receiving up to three letters regarding their insurance renewal, which helps us to enhance our upselling strategy.

The personalised and targeted email campaigns are our most profitable way of generating new sales.”

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The complete marketing proposition for insurance

The customer journey is no longer a linear path to purchase, with as many as 95% of UK consumers now adopting a multi-channel approach to buying.

To optimise the experience that your customers have with your brokerage, you must understand that whilst every policyholder’s journey will be different, technology offers you a way to streamline your communications and provide an enhanced service.

From one platform, BriefYourMarket.com provides you with a web-to-print service whilst automating key messages across email, print marketing and SMS – putting your insurance brand in front of more clients, with more visibility on your Return on Investment.

Book your consultation to find out what we can do for you.

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Direct mail enables us to cost-effectively generate new business in our local area

“We were keen to grow our High Net Worth Home Insurance business and so decided to go with a direct mail campaign using BriefYourMarket.com’s print shop.

We designed the initial cards to go out and these were sent to approximately 350 homeowners – which we then followed up with a letter highlighting another key benefit that makes FOCUS different as an insurance broker.

From our first mail send, we have obtained data that allows us to quote at the next renewal.

We feel that the print shop feature hits the spot that other marketing sometimes misses – and BriefYourMarket.com enables us to do this easily and cost-effectively.

We first saw BriefYourMarket.com at a Bluefin presentation and were very impressed – particularly with the integration with Acturis – and now they’re helping us to upsell and cross-sell more policies.”

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Developing engaging sales marketing for your insurance policies

Developing engaging sales marketing for your insurance policies

by | Jan 30, 2020 | Insurance

As the insurance marketplace becomes increasingly fragmented, how can insurance brokers keep their products and services relevant to all generations?

There is little doubt that insurance is a trust-based industry, but with an ageing population of clients at one end of the spectrum and a millennial generation at the other, brokers need effective ways of engaging with a splintering customer base.

How are you developing relevant and engaging sales marketing to promote your commercial and personal policies?

Insurance brokering is built upon trust and expertise, and customers are now actively searching for companies that can educate them on what they need. After all, if you’re not in insurance, you need a broker with a strong understanding of all the multi-facets of risks involved.

How are you enhancing your customer experience to increase your revenue right now?

The margins between customer retention and loss become finer every year. The challenge for brokers now is to develop a customer-centric culture that keeps pace with exacting customer expectations. 

We’re supporting UK brokers to generate more revenue in 2020, find out more below.

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“BriefYourMarket.com has delivered an effective communication tool for engagement with our existing clients, which has resulted in additional business being generated.”

– FOCUS Oxford Risk Management Ltd

Each month, we prepare a marketing plan just for insurance brokers.

These inspirational campaigns are designed to increase your brand awareness, generate you more business and influence consumer purchasing decisions in 2020.

To help brokers solidify their reputation as trustworthy and reliable this February, we have put together a Valentine’s content marketing strategy, focusing on encouraging clients to protect the things – and people – they love most.

Car Insurance Day
Falling on the 1st of February, Car Insurance Day provides you with a great opportunity to remind your clients about the importance of having adequate and accurate vehicle cover – whether it’s for personal or commercial purposes.

This campaign is a great way to use topical events and calendar dates to promote your services, and highlights the simple mistakes often made by drivers that could ultimately invalidate their car insurance.

   

 

Valentine's Day
In the run up to the day itself, promote a limited or exclusive Valentine’s offer or policy discount. Setting time limits creates a greater sense of urgency, leading to higher “purchase intentions”.

For maximum effect, we would recommend targeting your hottest prospects using your recent open and click-through reports to identify those ready to commit.

With a non-promotional angle, this is a great engagement email to reach out to contacts in your database, targeting past clients or those with policies that are due to lapse with a specific offer to win back their business.

   

 

Avoid heartbreak

 

High-value jewellery is one of the most commonly gifted items over Valentine’s Day, yet one that’s often overlooked when it comes to insurance – with seven in ten partners forgetting to organise engagement ring insurance before popping the question.

With online searches for “how to propose” surging 82% over February, and more than one million people likely to get engaged on the 14th, the chances are that many of those engagement rings will go uninsured until the buzz has settled down.

This campaign reminds your clients to show caution with any high-value jewellery that they may give or receive.

 

Life insurance

 

Now that your customers are back on track after Christmas, many will be planning big changes for 2020. Whether it’s a new job, a new home, or a new addition to the family, make sure they’ve considered what this means for their policies.

In a month all about giving, this campaign is geared around your life insurance policies.

Many UK adults put off obtaining cover, prioritising other purchases that they think are of more immediate importance. This email challenges the excuse of “I can put off life insurance for another year” and considers the benefits of organising it sooner rather than later.

 

Car Insurance Day

Falling on the 1st of February, Car Insurance Day provides you with a great opportunity to remind your clients about the importance of having adequate and accurate vehicle cover – whether it’s for personal or commercial purposes.

This campaign is a great way to use topical events and calendar dates to promote your services, and highlights the simple mistakes often made by drivers that could ultimately invalidate their car insurance.

Valentine's Day

In the run up to the day itself, promote a limited or exclusive Valentine’s offer or policy discount. Setting time limits creates a greater sense of urgency, leading to higher “purchase intentions”.

For maximum effect, we would recommend targeting your hottest prospects using your recent open and click-through reports to identify those ready to commit.

With a non-promotional angle, this is a great engagement email to reach out to contacts in your database, targeting past clients or those with policies that are due to lapse with a specific offer to win back their business.

Avoid heartbreak

High-value jewellery is one of the most commonly gifted items over Valentine’s Day, yet one that’s often overlooked when it comes to insurance – with seven in ten partners forgetting to organise engagement ring insurance before popping the question.

With online searches for “how to propose” surging 82% over February, and more than one million people likely to get engaged on the 14th, the chances are that many of those engagement rings will go uninsured until the buzz has settled down.

This campaign reminds your clients to show caution with any high-value jewellery that they may give or receive.

Protect the people you love

Now that your customers are back on track after Christmas, many will be planning big changes for 2020. Whether it’s a new job, a new home, or a new addition to the family, make sure they’ve considered what this means for their policies.

In a month all about giving, this campaign is geared around your life insurance policies.

Many UK adults put off obtaining cover, prioritising other purchases that they think are of more immediate importance. This email challenges the excuse of “I can put off life insurance for another year” and considers the benefits of organising it sooner rather than later.

Retain and educate your core clients, cross and upsell your policies, and streamline your renewal chasing.

Learn more about the complete multi-channel marketing platform for insurance professionals – download our guide.

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We’re helping The Bateman Group, watch this video to find out how…

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12 claims of Christmas

12 claims of Christmas

by | Dec 12, 2019 | Insurance

While the Christmas holidays should be a time full of joy and quality moments spent with family and friends, many Brits will be faced with the difficulty of needing to make an insurance claim over the festive break.
With Christmas less than a month away, you can expect to start receiving a flurry of enquiries and claims, so it’s important that you are prepared and that your clients know what their policies cover.

%

Have fallen out of the loft while getting decorations down

%

Increase in road traffic accidents over Christmas

%

Will fall on ice as the temperature drops

With all this in mind, what are the most common claims of Christmas?

Home and contents insurance

1. Stormy weather

One of the most common insurance claims made around this time of year is for weather-related issues, such as flooding from heavy rains or damage caused by falling trees and high winds. Consider sending an email to your home insurance clients to confirm what is covered in their policy, helping them to avoid disappointment when they claim for something that they are not insured against.

2. Fire

In 2018, around half a million people had a fire on their property over the festive season, with cooking accidents, scented candles and faulty fairy lights being the main cause. Whilst last year, 49% of those preparing Christmas food suffered an accident in the kitchen.

3. Coming through the ceiling

Every year at Christmas, people venture up into their lofts – perhaps for the first and only time that year – to bring their decorations down. Clumsy feet and arms full of tinsel mean that insurance companies can find themselves dealing with claims where people have accidentally stepped between the joists in their attics and ended up putting a foot through the floor, with figures suggesting that 1 in 50 have fallen out of their loft whilst retrieving tree decorations.

4. Faulty freezers

Just when you need them the most to keep your Christmas food fresh, freezers are known to break down more frequently in December. Because of this, insurance companies deal with several claims where the Christmas shop has been spoiled and had to be thrown out as a result. 

5. Drunken forgetfulness

Last year, 400,000 turkeys were burnt on Christmas day. Although a glass or two of your favourite festive tipple can make cooking the Christmas dinner a little more enjoyable, cooking when drunk is never a good idea. It’s easy to forget about food in the oven when you are distracted by the excitement of Christmas – not only ruining your food, but potentially damaging your cooker. 

6. Don’t cry over spilt wine

Over 600 million units of alcohol are drunk by Brits each December, which leads to one of the most common accidents seen at this time of year, red wine spilled on carpets and furniture. Over the Christmas period, there is likely to be more drinking in the home than usual, so you can expect to receive a handful of home insurance claims from those struggling to remove stains left over.

7. Pipes bursting

Although having a white Christmas is rare in the UK, it doesn’t stop temperatures from dropping significantly. On those freezing winter days, water pipes can burst – causing thousands of pounds worth of damage and even leading to clients needing to leave their home while the issue is resolved.

Life and injury insurance

8. Watch your step

It is estimated that in 2018, over 2.6 million people fell off a stool or ladder while hanging Christmas decorations in the house, causing damage to themselves and whatever decorations or furniture they may have landed on.

9. Falling over gifts

Clumsy parents often make claims after falling over children’s gifts and causing serious damage – either in terms of physical injuries or broken presents and household items. 

Auto and commercial insurance

10. On thin ice

Nearly a third (32%) of people are estimated to fall on ice as the weather drops, often leading to claims being raised against businesses and local councils for not gritting pavements and clearing pathways in snowy or icy conditions. 

11. Put a dent in more than your wallet

Your annual Christmas shopping trip can end up putting a dent in more than just your wallet, as December sees a much higher volume of traffic accidents than any other month of the year – up by around 30% for women and 9% for men – as darker nights and distracted minds affect concentration levels for motorists.

12. Thieves

Unfortunately one of the worst yet most common insurance claims of Christmas – theft. Opportunist criminals know that over winter, business premises are likely to have increased stock levels and higher cash flow, so it’s important that your commercial clients have accurately reflected any business changes in their policy with you. 

As the big day approaches, you’ll see more and more of the 12 claims of Christmas, so take the time to reaffirm your position as the go-to broker across your seasonal marketing.

Place yourself in front of customers with a fully-branded Christmas campaign – which can be found in our drag-and-drop Campaign Library – and reassure clients that you are there when they need you.

Days until Christmas

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The insurance industry and your digital consumers

The insurance industry and your digital consumers

by | Sep 24, 2019 | Insurance

Technology continues to dismantle the established infrastructure of traditional brokering. So, how are you evolving your business to meet your customers’ ever-changing expectations and maintain your competitive relevance in a saturated market?
Brands are becoming increasingly attuned to the wants of the on-demand consumer; those that want their needs met via immediate access to – and convenient provisioning of – goods and services.
Across all industries, there is a growing appreciation of the relationship between meeting these demands and streamlining customer experience.
The need for brokers and their expertise remains strong.
However, within an age of consumer empowerment and disruption, the key to acquiring, converting, engaging, and retaining customers resides in the way that brokers make their prospects and customers aware of their services, and how easily accessible their services are.

%

Start their search for a new product or service online

Hours spent online per month by the average consumer

%

Purchase from brands they follow on social media

Is your brokerage progressive?
The customer journey is no longer a linear path to purchase, with as many as 95% of UK consumers now adopting a multi-channel approach to buying.
Progressive brokers – the early adopters of effective digital strategies and nurture-marketing solutions – have acknowledged that technology offers them a solution to protecting and defending their existing database and core business from disruption.
Contemporary brokers should seriously consider the implications of a failure to implement certain technological essentials that are readily available to them – those that the on-demand consumer naturally now expects of a business – as they could be in serious danger of falling by the wayside in the future.
Multi-channel marketing for brokers
Integrated with the industry’s leading software providers, such as: Acturis, SSP and Open GI, our all-in-one, multi-channel marketing platform provides brokers with everything they need to grow their business, maximise the value from their data and generate exceptional ROI from their marketing budget.

– Target prospects via cost-effective online and offline channels.
– Demonstrate your expertise.
– Influence your consumers’ buying decisions, helping them to find the right cover.
– Boost customer loyalty and brand recall.
– Cross and upsell your policies at exactly the right time.
– Offer ongoing value to your database and core business.
To discuss your digital marketing strategy with a BriefYourMarket.com consultant, call us on 0344 800 84 24 or click on the link below.

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