A change in consumer behaviour with respect to ordering of food, personal travel and payments, among others, driven by the rising adoption of technology, has started to disrupt businesses.

Against this backdrop, it has become imperative for organisations to understand how existing customers and prospective ones use digital technologies and transform their functions accordingly, said Mohit Goel, Director – Marketing, Digital and Direct Channel at Exide Life Insurance.

Exide Life conducted a study recently to understand consumer behaviour with respect to technology adoption, Goel said.

The findings revealed how the 4G network helped the common man to understand and use mobile-based Internet for various online activities more easily than through laptops or desktop computers.

Over 7,500 individuals from 25 cities across the country participated in the survey and the users were classified on the basis of their digital behaviour and not demographics, Goel told BusinessLine .

Based on the Internet usage, digital preferences and online transaction behaviours, the respondents were classified as Digital Superheroes, Digital Heroes, Digital Amateurs and Digital Traditionalists.

Frequency of online transactions was the distinguishing factor between Superheroes and Heroes. As many as 99 per cent of digital Superheroes conducted transactions online and preferred to pay by credit card while transacting digitally. The Digital Heroes preferred online transactions up to ₹25,000.

The Digital Amateurs preferred using debit cards or cash-on-delivery options as mode of payment. They used Internet less frequently than the Digital Heroes and were comfortable making transactions online where the value was not more than ₹5,000.

“The banking regulator is expecting a four-fold increase in digital transactions by 2021. We are already witnessing this, with insurance policy holders shifting to the digital payment mode,” said Goel.

Facebook and WhatsApp were found to be the most accessed social media platforms followed by Instagram.

And e-mail was the most preferred mode of communication for receiving updates on products. On product and bill related services, a few respondents showed interest in receiving information via WhatsApp, indicating an upcoming trend in mode of communication.

The survey revealed that a majority of the people who pay premiums online fell in the 25-45 year age group. “Among life insurance buyers, a majority still rely on an advisor for buying a policy and only 15 per cent bought policy online. But in remittance of premiums, 62 per cent paid online and close to 40 per cent of such online payments happened in the last 30 days,” Goel said, adding “technology is indeed making businesses more efficient, improving accessibility and making life easier”.

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