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Claims prevention within home insurance : Insights from insurance customers
Type
presentation
Date Issued
2011-06-06
Author(s)
Abstract
The recent economic crisis has speeded up the concentration process within the European insurance sector. However, nowadays customers are more price sensitive, which increases pressure for the whole industry and in consequence leads to further premium erosions. Thus, some insurers are seeking new ways to differentiate their portfolio by offering innovative insurance products combined with prevention activities to compete with a high value-added service strategy. The objective of this research is to gain knowledge about consumer habits related to prevention articles and the acceptance of prevention solutions to the issue of water claims prevention. We explored this through an online survey (N=197) and Telephone Assisted Web Interviews (N=122) using the same questionnaire to allow a mixed reporting of the data. The respondents are all Swiss individuals which are all responsible for the buying decisions of insurance products within their respective households.
About one fifth of all respondents indicated to have at least one insurance relevant claim within the last five years. The main claims cause results in water related damages followed by fire. But in terms of claims prevention individuals are just almost exclusively aware of fire protection than on water claims protection. More than 40% of the Swiss households are featured with fire extinguishers and fire blankets, however less than three percent use water sensors to detect water leaks or related damages. The main reason is that fire protection helps to prevent injuries and may save lives while water claims prevention can be implemented (from an insurance point of view) to save high claims costs.
Based on our surveys we are able deriving recommended actions for insurance companies in order to reduce claim costs by motivating claims prevention to their customers. Henceforth, this increases their own differentiation capabilities as well as customer loyalty in the above mentioned weak market environment.
About one fifth of all respondents indicated to have at least one insurance relevant claim within the last five years. The main claims cause results in water related damages followed by fire. But in terms of claims prevention individuals are just almost exclusively aware of fire protection than on water claims protection. More than 40% of the Swiss households are featured with fire extinguishers and fire blankets, however less than three percent use water sensors to detect water leaks or related damages. The main reason is that fire protection helps to prevent injuries and may save lives while water claims prevention can be implemented (from an insurance point of view) to save high claims costs.
Based on our surveys we are able deriving recommended actions for insurance companies in order to reduce claim costs by motivating claims prevention to their customers. Henceforth, this increases their own differentiation capabilities as well as customer loyalty in the above mentioned weak market environment.
Language
English
Keywords
Home Insurance
claims
customer survey
prevention
water leackage
HSG Classification
contribution to scientific community
Refereed
No
Event Title
SRA-E Annual Meeting
Event Location
Stuttgart
Subject(s)
Division(s)
Eprints ID
192663