Marketing is a human-oriented activity and process. We know that the nature of human being is dynamic and the environment of marketing is continuously changing. Insurance marketing is a different one from other product marketing because of its intangible nature. People can get the benefit of tangible product like fan, air-conditioner, food items, etc. immediately which is not exactly always possible in case of insurance.
Benefits of insurance can only be seen when claim occurs in case of general insurance and if claim does not occur in case of life Insurance. People try to take it as a non-profitable venture. They do not try to understand that insurance is not an investment product; it's a risk management mechanism. So, the benefit of insurance is only found when accident or risk occurs and when risk occurs, benefit is manifold compared to premium.
As we don't know when accident or risk will occur, we should take insurance earlier because if risk really occurs, then insurer will not provide insurance protection. So there is a nice saying, 'You will have to purchase insurance when you don't need it because you will not get it when you need it.' Insurance is like a parachute; we may keep it and may use it when we need it as if we don't keep umbrella and if rain comes, at that time we cannot immediately buy it and cannot escape from rain. Such is the case with insurance.
Unfortunately, most marketing people don't have sufficient knowledge to enlighten the customers about the need of insurance. They should be very competent to know the mindsets and behaviour pattern of the customers. On the other hand, insurance companies don't provide customers with quality services in case of pre-and post-losses.
There is a huge potential for providing need-based services to the customers of insurance industry. Following are the contemporary/new forms of customer services that can be provided to the customers:
-Online system of submitting proposal form and premium in non-life insurance so that the customers can get quick coverage of their property,
-In case of non-life insurance, counselling can be arranged for the insured to take decision suitable for his/her property/pecuniary interest,
-Online system of depositing premium for life insurance so that the customer can get money receipt at once,
-Online complaint submission, claim settlement and policy issuance system for both life and non-life insurance,
-Information providing system through mobile SMS for depositing premium, claim related information and all notifications, etc. for both life and general insurance,
-In life insurance, different small claims such as survival benefit (SB), loan and maturity can be given without any delay,
-Customer outlet can be established by insurer like mobile companies,
-One-stop customer service/quick claim settlement cell can be established by insurer,
-In life insurance, computer database of customer along with photos of insured and nominees can be prepared so that in case of emergency, claim can be settled quickly by identifying insured/nominees, and
-Insurance companies should put value on quality service which entails reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy, credibility and communication to win the heart of the customer.
We need to pay more focus on customer service. Sometimes we fail to identify our customers whereas identifying the customers is also an art. This is nothing but one kind of innovation to improve the bottom line of a business. We need to constantly track the customer profile and their behaviour and thus i recognise our customers. Here customer innovation means knowing their mindsets and behavioural patterns and accordingly, serve them with their kind of necessities of insurance.
Mahatma Gandhi rightly said, "We depend on the customer, they don't depend on us. They have many other options to go elsewhere." Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay said, "By providing services, we don't honour a client; rather we get honoured ourselves." As a service industry, the existence of insurance industry depends on the quality of service. This means that not only the insurance people will be happy to accept premiums but also guard against looking gloomy when they receive claims or pay genuine claims. Success of the selling forces depends to a great extent on marketing variables such as motivating, convincing, representing, counselling, etc. So, there is no alternative to required training which should continuously be imparted to the employees to serve the customer of insurance industry. Insurance companies should put value on quality service on the basis of which customers will be intertested to take the service of the insurance industry.
The writer, ACII (UK), is the Chief Faculty member of the Bangladesh Insurance Academy. bangladeshinsuranceacademy@gmail.com
Of insurance and customer service
S M Ibrahim Hossain | Published: January 22, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00
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