Claims prevention within home insurance: Insights from insurance customers Alexander C.H. Skorna I-Lab University of St.Gallen 06.06.2011,, Stuttgart, Germany
Agenda Introduction to prevention Sample background Empirical analysis of customers intentions Practical recommendations Seite 2
Drivers to foster market extension through claims prevention within the home insurance sector Market Deregulation fierce competition Challenge: differentiation Home Insurance experience with claims focus on claims management risk management limited to financials Customers Limited knowledge High demand of prevention support Technology Various suppliers Technology cost decrease collaborative services Seite 3
One opportunity for insurers is to faciliate the implementation of prevention articles in households Fire extinguishers all-purpose market price CHF 80 to 100 Fire blankets relevant in case of fat fire market price CHF 30 to 80 Smoke detectors aucustic signal in case of fire market price CHF 30 to 60 Protective attachment plug protects against overvoltage through flashing market price CHF 40 to 60 Water leackage sensor aucustic signal in case of leacking water market price CHF 60 to 80 Seite 4
Design: combined approach of online survey and TAWI to archieve more valuable insights Research Goal Method Target Group Sample To gain in-depth insights about custom usage of prevention articles and user acceptance of innovative prevention solutions in the field of water claims mitigation among private individuals Hybrid survey as combination of Telephone Assisted Web Interviews (TAWI)* and online to explore ever complex questions Swiss individuals which are are all responsible for the buying decisions of insurance products within their respective households. (D-CH und W-CH) N=122 Telephone Assisted Web Interviews N=197 online survey Survey Period May, 10th to May, 28th, 2010 Client Swiss Mobiliar Insurance Implementation management tools ag (Evaluation/ interpretation I-Lab/ETHZ/HSG) Seite 5
Structure of the underlying sample allows reporting by various parameters Total N = 319 100.0% Region Sex Age Responsible for insurance buying decision D-CH 251 78.7% W-CH 68 21.3% male 137 42.9% female 182 57.1% 18 to 26 years 119 37.3% 27 to 55 years 200 62.7% Me, alone 133 41.7% Me, together with one or more persons 186 58.3% I am not responsible 0 0.0% Housing flat/ apartment 201 63.0% house 118 37.0% Housing situation tenancy 181 56.7% ownership 138 43.3% city 92 28.8% Housing area agglomeration 86 27.0% rural 141 44.2% Seite 6
Problem relevance: Every fith household has been hit by substantial damage Have you been affected by an insurance relevant claim within your home or apartment in the last five years? What is the damage in question? - multiple answers possible - water damage 36.5% no 80.3% 19.7% yes fire damage 7.9% other damage 58.7% N = 319 N = 63 Seite 7
Prevention articles are already common among (home) owners and focused on fire protection Which of the following prevention articles do you have already in place? Fire Blanket 40.1% 24.9% 60.1% Fire Extinguisher 37.9% 20.4% 60.9% Protective Attachment Pplug 23.8% 17.1% 32.6% Smoke Detectors 13.2% 9.4% 18.1% Water Leakage Detecor 2.8% 0.0% 6.5% I have none of above articles in place 35.1% 51.9% 13.0% all respondents tenants owners N = 319 N = 181 N = 138 Seite 8
Expectations towards the insurance companies Would you expect special offers concerning prevention articles from your insurance company? Where else would you buy such prevention articles? strong expectation = 1 31.0% Local specialized store 54.9% 2 46.7% Do-it-yourself/ electronic store 33.8% 3 15.0% Grocery store (e.g. Migros/Coop) 33.8% absolutely no expectation = 4 7.2% Mail Order Business (Online- Shop) 8.5% Average = 2.0 Other 5.6% N = 319 N = 71 Seite 9
Implementation of an intelligent water leakage prevention system We used the TAWI approach to discuss the potential opportunities of an intelligent water leakage prevention system in detail with the relevant target group (owners only). The installation requires substantial plumbing and electrician tasks to be completed by skilled workers. Central alerting unit Alarm message through SMS Automatic valve closing water pipe Water sensor Floor Seite 10
Current provision against water leakage hazards is not sufficient Do you have made provisions against water leakage hazards and an intelligent water leakage prevention system yet in place? Are you in general willing to implement such an intelligent water leakage prevention system? yes, I am very sure 3.4% yes 4.3% 95.7% no yes, probably 28.4% no, probably not 51.1% no, sure not 17.0% N = 92 N = 88 Seite 11
Willingness to pay reveals interesting business perspectives for insurance companies How much would you pay at maximum for such an intelligent water leakage prevention system? - The figure below shows accumulated amounts of agreeing - up to 100 CHF 100.0% Median 500 CHF 101 to 300 CHF 76.1% Average 792 CHF 301 to 500 CHF 54.3% Maximum 5000 CHF 501 to 700 CHF 701 to 900 CHF 30.4% 30.4% Result: 50% of the respondents would pay 500 CHF maximally; but 50% would pay more 901 to 2000 CHF 28.3% 2001 to 3000 CHF 8.7% 3001 to 5000 CHF 4.3% N = 92 Seite 12
Practical recommendations for insurance companies Prevention articles are common among home owners which leaves potential for easy-to-use / 'retro-fit' solutions The focus of prevention is currently on potentially life-saving articles e.g. extinguishers, smoke detectors, but not on preventing the frequently mentioned water claims Almost 80% of the respondents expect prevention services (offering of articles) from their insurance company, the remain implies not enough expertise for a competent consulting at the insurer Intelligent prevention systems might extend the potential prevention approach; high willingness to pay existing (in the Swiss market) Differentiation through preventions might act as one suitable approach for further market extension, but needs still to be proven Seite 13
Contact Thank you for your attention! Alexander C.H. Skorna Institute of Technology Management University of St. Gallen Switzerland alexander.skorna@unisg.ch Seite 14