How to take out insurance: the advisor remains key in the digital age

Going in person to the office of an insurance company, a trusted brokerage firm or any financial institution authorized to sell insurance was the usual procedure for taking out an insurance policy until a few years ago. Today it is possible to take out an insurance policy without leaving home, either by telephone or over the Internet, and it will undoubtedly be an increasingly common procedure as the new generations, digital natives, are the ones who make the decisions on the purchase of all types of insurance.

In the digital era, however, the role of the advisor, for example a brokerage that explains the details of the product to the client, will continue to be key, regardless of the channel the client chooses to use for insurance. In an environment of economic stagnation and high inflation, such as the one we are living in, the price of the policy and the actual coverage it offers, and above all its fit with the real needs of each client, become even more important.

In the new technological era, strengthening customer service will be paramount for the entire insurance sector, according to many specialists, because greater agility in contracting and the greater availability of data on user behavior should also lead to a hyper-personalization of insurance, tailor-made suits, to put it colloquially, where each customer will also need personalized attention. There are risks that a customer may want to cover that are not included in a standard product, and where the entry into play of a professional advisor can completely change the quality of the product contracted by a customer based on his real needs.

The spread of technology will not, of course, avoid the need, for example, to accurately calculate the insured capital or the real value of a house, in the case of home insurance, in order to avoid situations of underinsurance or overinsurance, the two major threats to the policyholder who takes out a policy.

According to industry data, in 2021 (the last year for which complete data is available) advertising campaigns in the insurance sector grew by 6%, and the message focused mainly on price, indicating that according to specialists price is the determining factor in moving a client at this time. But the final price of a policy, based on the actual coverage it offers and the actual needs of a user, is not always easy to calculate. For this reason, even in the age of the Internet, personalized attention and the role of intermediaries such as brokerages are called upon to play a decisive role.

(*) The final price is important in the decision to formalize the contract, but only if we have first checked that the guarantees, deductibles, capital and insurance conditions are adapted to the client’s needs.

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