Growth challenges
Underinsurance presents a golden opportunity for insurers to increase their customer base.
But first they must find this cohort of tenants and then engage with them using a personalised customer experience that stands out from the competition.
The latest figures on the size of the insurance sector from Global Data revealed that in 2021 and 2022 the combined value of all household policies shrank with slight growth of just 2.9% in 2023.
Following the advent of new regulations from 1 Jan 2022 that banned the practice of offering discounted premiums to new members incentivising them to switch away from their old insurer – it’s become even tougher for providers to grow their business.
Untapped insurance opportunity
Generation Rent presents the UK’s insurance sector with an opportunity to grow their customer base.
Of the 5 million households who live in the private rented sector in England, Wales and Scotland less than half do not have any insurance, according to analysts Global Data. Of these, the highest number of households falls within the 25 to 34-year old age bracket.
Their lack of insurance could be down to apathy, a lack of education about insurance products or a real or perceived cost barrier since pricing regulations got tighter.
Whatever the reason, the UK’s insurance sector cannot afford to ignore this vast untapped demographic with insurance needs.
Generation Rent, however, presents companies with a challenge.
Insurers must find a way to grab and hold the attention of a largely young audience who expect companies to offer a quick, engaging, personalised and seamless customer experience.
Adopting a property data driven approach
Their best chance of success lies in a property data driven approach.
Property listings that appear on Zoopla contain an extensive set of data.
They can be delivered by Hometrack in a simple data file or via a property API to property professionals or anyone interested in property data and the insights it can offer.
Underpinning each listing is a set of UK property data that includes:
- For sale or rental asking price
- Property sale history i.e. number and size of price reductions
- Rental yield
- Sales agreed
- Stock currently available
- Time on market
- Core property attributes such as detached, apartment, driveway, garden
- Full life cycle of listing e.g. first listed, under offer, sold, let
- Geographically split by region, town or even postcode level.
Engaging with Gen Rent
Insurers can use property data in multiple ways.
Listings aren’t just a snapshot of a moment in time. The full life cycle of a listing is captured allowing users to filter for the point in time most relevant to their business.
For insurers, aiming to target customers in need of contents insurance, this could be when the property listing changes to ‘let’ signifying new tenants are about to move in.
This insight gives companies an opportunity to execute a targeted marketing campaign by mail dropping recently-let properties to connect with tenants at a time when they need insurance support the most.
Create personalised engagement with Hometrack market-leading data
The Hometrack data set can also be used to create a quick and engaging customer experience.
According to a survey by consultancy Gartner on customer service, 71% of consumers expect companies to be well informed about their personal information during their interaction.
Property data can deliver that personalisation.
By using listings data to pre-populate insurance quotes with property attributes, which the renter may not readily know, insurers can deliver a fast, stress-free and seamless customer experience.
Which, for a generation who’ve grown up with the ease and rapidity of Amazon-style online service, is an expectation insurers cannot afford to ignore.
