One in three policyholders would consider giving information on usage or lifestyle: survey

More than one-third of insurance customers surveyed are willing to give carriers access to information on their “usage or behavior” if they can get lower rates, about one in eight would consider buying from car dealers and nearly half “would consider comments on social media” when deciding where they would buy insurance, suggests a recent report from Accenture.

New York City-based Accenture recently published the results of a survey of 6,135 customers in 11 countries.

“More than one-third (35%) of insurance customers are open to provide access to their usage or behavior information — such as car-usage or lifestyle information — if this can give them better value for their insurance coverage,” Accenture stated in a press release Feb. 6. “Almost half (47%) of the respondents said it would depend on the information requested and only 18% were not comfortable doing so.”

The survey was conducted by Lightspeed Research last July. Respondents were owners of life and/or auto and home insurance policies. There were 511 respondents each in Canada, Britain, France, Spain and South Africa, while 1,012 were from the United States, 520 were from Italy, 516 were from Brazil, 512 were from Japan and 510 each were from Germany and China.

Worldwide, 48% of respondents “said they would consider comments on social media in making their insurance-buying decisions.”

Two-thirds (67%) of respondents said they were “interested in mobile insurance services,” such as sending photos of their vehicle when reporting an auto claim, or displaying proof of insurance on their mobile devices.

“The mobile channel offers insurers the opportunity to take customer experience to the next level, enabling them to become partners of their customers’ everyday life by tailoring offers and interactions to the physical context, as location-based services can be highly relevant in insurance,” stated Michael Lyman, global managing director for management consulting within Accenture’s insurance industry practice, in a press release.

“For example, travel insurance-suggested offers can be sent to customers’ mobile phones when landing in an airport abroad, or a claim can be submitted from an accident scene with supporting photos. Also, as consumers become more open to providing access to their personal data, adoption of usage-based insurance enabled by telematics technology will accelerate.”

Meanwhile, 43% of respondents said they would “consider” buying insurance from banks, 23% from online service providers and 20% would consider buying from “home service providers,” such as home security or telecommunications providers. Fourteen per cent would consider buying from retailers and 12% from car dealers. Multiple responses were allowed.

“Overall, there is a significant switching risk and we estimate that up to $400 billion in insurance premiums could change hands within the insurance industry over the next 12 months,” stated Lyman.