Trust is still an issue in insurance

According to speakers and panellists at the Protection Review 2021 Conference at the Landmark Hotel in London yesterday (December 8), there is a huge gap between the reality and the perception of insurance, and providers and advisers alike need to address this.

Sue Helmont, marketing director for AIG Life, told attendees: "There is plenty of consumer trust out there but the way it is happening is changing. 

"Consumers no longer look for top-down, hierarchical trust in a corporate entity; they are trusting in one another."

She highlighted online sites such as TrustRabbit, Uber and AirBnB, where people are putting their trust in strangers, using virtual platforms. 

"Will virtual trust change the way we trust each other face to face, and bring both challenge and opportunity to the industry?" she asked. 

But, Helmont added, the fact trust is so "subjective and personal", and is a process between the known and the unknown, it is not easy to translate this into the insurance space, and this is why insurers need to work harder.

We need to identify what matters to consumers.Peter Hamilton

She made the point that because trust is about the 'unknown', all the narrative of the past 25 years about communicating better and being more transparent about pricing or underwriting has missed the point. 

"It is a good thing", she explained, "but transparency is not a magical pill to build trust. If trust is about having a confident relationship with the unknown, then increasing transparency really shows you have lost trust in the relationship."

Instead, companies should focus on improving competence, reliability, empathy and integrity. "When you inject this kind of humanness into insurance, it impacts positively on behaviour" she added. 

The point on empathy was highlighted in a panel debate, when Dan Pender, founder of Insurian, said: "We need authenticity, empathy and rigour. When you put these three things together you build trust. And where the industry gets it wrong mostly is empathy. It is really important a philosophy to connect that with consumers."

Authenticity was also a point highlighted by Abbie Knight, founder of marketing specialist Abbie Knight International. She explored what it is like to be a consumer, what their perceptions are of insurance and what sort of barriers to trust are in place. 

She said too often insurers seem to ask for information when consumers start their journey into researching insurance, but there is "no value exchange, so this is frustrating for a client."

This does not engender trust and does not present an authentic engagement experience for consumers, who are often overwhelmed by the information, concerned about data security and want access to expert information.

Knight said: "Authenticity is important. People do not engage with cheese. We do not want pictures of people hugging each other. That's not how we are as human beings. We want authenticity."

Climate concerns

Another issue to bring into the trust mix was the importance of addressing climate change and the use of consumers' data, which Peter Hamilton, head of market engagement in the UK for Zurich, said would become even more important in building trust among tomorrow's consumers. 

He said it was "crucial that we need to identify what matters to consumers", and one of these things is sustainability and how the insurance industry responds to the challenge of climate change. 

Hamilton said: "We know climate change impacts human health, so we [as insurers] need to transition away from the way we work with the polluters in the industry, and the consumers will not let us forget that.

"We have a huge opportunity from a consumer perspective to change the narrative", he added, pointing to figures from a recent Hymans Robertson survey on consumer views that suggested if insurers made certain climate pledges, this would alter a consumer's choice of insurer. 

For example, 50 per cent of consumers would feel favourable to an insurer that invested in projects to reduce plastic waste, and 47 per cent would support companies that plant a tree for every policy sold. 

"So far this year, Zurich has planted 75,565 trees", he added. 

simoney.kyriakou@ft.com