In a recent panel with Insuretech Connect, Chris Bayley, our Chief Innovation Officer & Co-Founder, discusses the new way of protecting customers through embedded insurance and how the pandemic has changed the way we view protection. 

Alex Lazarow opens the panel explaining the most successful technology companies benefit from the 3D’s: distribution advantage, data advantage and the ability to delight customers. Pushing the product of consumption, using data to create new types of products and embedding it into the customer journey will benefit from the 3D’s and this is subsequently highlighted in Chris’ presentation, as well as Chris Pedak’s, CEO of Lamie direct. 

Embedded insurance offers protection at the point of sale or sign up in a customer journey. Cover Genius is able to protect the global customers of the world’s largest digital companies using our award-wining XCover distribution platform. Traditionally, insurance tends to be a singular relationship with the customer and purchasing directly from insurers, it takes a second step, making it inconvenient, and as Chris says, leads to underinsurance. The actual opportunity is under addressed and we need to be looking a new way forward for an industry that may be at a tipping point. 

Cover Genius recently conducted research with momentive.ai and PYMNTS.com, surveying 11,000 respondents worldwide on their interest bank-embedded offers tied to their transactions. Groundbreaking results showed 78% of digital bank customers are highly interested in receiving bank-embedded offers, with 49% of people selecting ‘Convenience’ as their primary motivation. As Chris emphasizes, convenience is critical as it removes the second step in the purchasing journey and aligns with the reason why under-insurance is so rampant in the first place. 

We are stepping into a new era of protection and the pandemic has been a harbinger to something that was already in motion , that is, the digitization of insurance. Since the start of the pandemic, attach rates have increased by 647% in the US within the travel industry. This data is not reflected just within travel, but in the retail, logistics and, property verticals as well. Chris stresses that this trend is not something that is temporary due to the pandemic but that fundamentally , what has changed is the relationship between the company and the customer. Companies feel like they need to step up to offer their customers peace of mind through embedded protection and customers are eager to take advantage of such offers in a seamless one step process from their favorite retailer or digital business.