Case Study

How a new digital engagement model attracts and educates customers

A new end-to-end digital customer engagement model provides insurers with the opportunity to target millions of new customers.

Related topics

Financial services

Insurance transformation

The team

Photographic portrait of Isabelle Santenac

Isabelle Santenac

EY Global Insurance Leader

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The better the question

How do insurers embrace digital transformation for retirement products?

Leveraging technology to digitally engage with customers

A national life insurer and leader in the annuity space sought to explore direct distribution of a simpliﬁed product and wanted to better understand how a digital offering might also beneﬁt its core business. They also wanted to build a retirement-income community and provide a robo-guidance tool to deliver a multi-touch, interactive experience.

The timing was appropriate since industry-wide fee and profit compression was causing insurers and annuity providers to re-evaluate their distribution practices. By leveraging technological changes within the financial services industry and the growing popularity of digital advice and platforms, there was an opportunity to gain better control over corporate messaging and sales practices by going directly to consumers with relevant information and products. Against this backdrop, non-financial services technology companies are putting pressure on brick and mortar delivery of services and increasing customer expectations for digital.

The client was seeking to connect emotionally and engage with prospects through a retirement income community.

Bernhard J. Klein Wassink

EY Global Insurance Customer and Growth Offering Leader

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The better the answer

Creating a new digital customer engagement model

Concepts were designed and tested with consumers.

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Redefining the insurance industry through digital transformation

We help build a digital NewCo based on simplicity, transparency and trust.

EY Global

EY's strategists, digital professionals and actuaries collaborated in analyzing the market and the competition and determining the “sweet spot” for a digital offering. The team then developed the offering and a simpliﬁed product and tested it on consumers.

As part of the customer journey mapping and concept design, the team developed first-generation journey maps for each persona. We provided research and insight to better enable the insurer to identify the addressable market and opportunity for this new initiative by analyzing external market data across target demographics. The team also conducted product and consumer testing of proposed product attributes to inform the initial product build. Design recommendations and critical product specifications were based on direct consumer feedback.

We provided an initial view of the technology and CRM required for the new strategy and formulated a concept for the proposed product and launch plan considerations. The process also included:

Opportunity analysis, partnership and suitability review
Analyzed landscape of competitors and potential partnerships within the InsurTech space and evaluated best practices related to investment suitability
Executive level business concept deck and launch plan
Developed final executive-level deck summarizing findings and recommendations for the new product concept
Provided launch plan considerations across marketing, technology, branding and organizational design

The digital enablers included digital strategy, use of the cloud and advanced analytics.

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The better the world works

Benefiting from a new digital retirement ecosystem

Opportunity emerges to target millions of new retail customers.

The engagement opened an opportunity to target millions of new retail customers.

Bernhard J. Klein Wassink

EY Global Insurance Customer and Growth Offering Leader

Digital transformation in insurance

We collaborate with insurers on technology transformation programs and the deployment of digital tools. From concept to implementation, we work with you to develop strategies that optimize performance, drive efficiency and enhance quality.
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The engagement opened an opportunity to target millions of new retail customers (with close to US$3 trillion in investable assets) by engaging digitally. In addition, the EY teams delivered additional value to the client by:

Testing and validating the concept of a new digital retirement ecosystem (greenfield opportunity) that resulted in a new digital customer engagement model and total re-evaluation of the insurer’s retirement income product segment.
Supporting the development of an opportunity analysis to launch a new digital ecosystem and income tool.
Providing launch plan considerations addressing organizational design, staffing, marketing and technology aspect.
Assembling a multi-disciplinary team to drive exceptional client service.

Related article

EY refers to the global organization, and may refer to one or more, of the member firms of Ernst & Young Global Limited, each of which is a separate legal entity. Ernst & Young Global Limited, a UK company limited by guarantee, does not provide services to clients.