Bengaluru: Policybazaar’s continued investment in driving awareness on the need for term insurance and the on-going COVID-19 pandemic has helped narrow the world’s largest protection gap, which is in India. Nearly 44 % of customers pan-India are currently covered by a term life insurance plan, revealed an online survey conducted on Policybazaar’s app visitors. The findings are part of a survey conducted by Policybazaar.com India’s largest online insurance marketplace, to understand consumer perception and gauge their ownership level for the term insurance category. Policybazaar.com surveyed more than 22,726 insurance buyers who used the company’s mobile application between September 10 and 25, 2020.
Unlike in the past, insurance has now become a product that consumers are more likely to buy without the need for a big sales push. The survey findings revealed that 50% of the customers have bought term policies with a cover of 1 crore and above to financially protect their loved ones. This indicates how individuals are aware of their protection needs & are investing in higher cover policies that are available online at affordable prices i.e. at a monthly premium as low as Rs. 1000-1200.
Commenting on the survey, Sarbvir Singh, CEO, Policybazaar.com said, “It is heartening to see consumers’ greater acceptance of Term Life insurance policies. In tough times like these, it is even more important for consumers to compare different brand propositions before buying an insurance product as important as term life insurance. Investing in a term life plan needs significant research as one has to pay for 30-40 years so any price differences can add up to meaningful savings over the policy term. The findings reflect that most customers, while buying term insurance usually compare amongst two or three national brands before making a choice that combines pricing superiority, issuance ease and claims assistance.”
The survey also dives deep into understanding customers’ preferred channel of purchase and brand/website they trust most for information on Term insurance policies. The respondents who owned term insurance, when asked about their choice of channel to buy term plan, revealed that 57% bought their existing term life insurance policy from an online insurance marketplace, 93% of them bought their term plans from Policybazaar. This clearly showed that customers always prefer purchasing from a source that offers best proposition to customers irrespective of insurance company.
In addition, 6 in 10 of all term insurance owners visited PolicyBazar website at least once for information on term plans and comparison of various policy options and 45% of respondents chose Policybazaar as their first preference for relevant information on term insurance.
These findings were also substantiated by a separate Nielsen study commissioned by Policybazaar. This brand track survey covered a sample of 782 owners of term insurance, across metropolitan cities during June-July 2020 to help understand awareness and brand recognition.
The survey conducted amongst both online and offline customers of term insurance, nearly 5 in 10 term plan owners visited aggregator website(s) for comparison of their most recent term policy purchase. The findings are a clear indication that one in every 2nd person who buy term plan prefer visiting online insurance platforms to compare various plans on important aspects like features, prices, claim settlement ratio and extent of coverage.
Interestingly, 67% of these online aggregator website visitors were aware of Policybazaar, with the brand receiving highest awareness among all insurance aggregator websites. Among the online aggregator website visitors, Policybazaar was seen as the most trusted brand with 34% respondent agreeing to it. It is also seen as a brand acting as the most relevant source of information on term insurance with the 37% respondents agreeing on the same, beating the insurance brand with the second highest association by 15 percentage points.
The findings from the above studies clearly point towards Policybazaar being the most sought after name amongst people looking for term plans and other insurance products. Customers surely believe that Policybazaar offers the lowest term insurance prices i.e. up to 10 per cent cheaper than the offline prices. This is the reason why the brand sells one in four of every term policy sold in the country.
