Even as insurance companies are betting big on digital channels of distribution, a new survey has revealed that the majority of customers still prefer brokers and agents even though some may choose to research online.

PwC India’s Insurance Technology Adoption Survey 2019 found that 55 per cent of the respondents mentioned that they continue to prefer buying insurance from agents and brokers. In fact, the conversion rate from online modes stands at a mere four per cent.

“Insurance in India continues to be largely a push product and is considered as a complex product for which customers still rely on face-to-face interactions for better understanding of the product’s features and pricing,” said the PwC-CII report ‘Competing in a new age of insurance: How India is adopting emerging technologies’. The survey is a part of the report.

For info, it is digital

Despite the continued preference for agents and brokers, the findings revealed that 47 per cent of the respondents found digital modes as the most preferred and reliable channels for information. “Also, online aggregators (20 per cent) are becoming an integral part of the value chain and their preference score is almost on par with that of company websites as a valuable source of information,” said the survey.

In fact, the survey said that emerging technologies (such as chatbots) have already started picking up as the customer’s first point of contact.

The main challenges

The survey also found that customers face several challenges at various stages of the policy.

At the purchase stage, 57 per cent of the respondents said there was a lack of understanding about the features of the policy, while at the servicing and claims stage, 47 per cent of the challenges related to relationship-related issues such as interactions and processes.

At the closure stage, customers have to deal with multiple representatives and have to explain the reasons for their action each time.

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