InsurTech Ohio Spotlight with Clay Coomer

Clay Coomer is the Head of Global Marketing at battleface, a full-stack global company enabling customers and partners alike to easily select travel insurance products and services that perfectly fit their needs. Clay was interviewed by Andrew Daniels, Co-Founder and President at CrashBay and Founder and Managing Director at InsurTech Ohio.

There has been a lot of conversation around embedded insurance over the history of insurtech. Where are there still opportunities throughout the embedded process?

“When it comes to embedded insurance (travel insurance specifically for context purposes), there has been a longstanding history of similar products offered that don't have much in terms of benefit differentiation. When travel companies embed a travel insurance plan in the purchase path, a lot of times what consumers are offered is a bundled plan light in benefits but generally the same policy offered regardless of trip type, traveler demographics, and destination(s). I’ve made several observations through both independent UX research and my personal experience booking travel, but one thing stood out the most …

The biggest opportunity for embedding [travel insurance], especially for insurtechs, is to provide more specific benefits to the types of trips that people are taking. One obvious example is, a solo traveler going to Thailand should not be offered the same plan as a family of four taking a Spring Break trip to Florida. To me, that type of embedded experience doesn't make sense. The reason this is timely (for us at battleface) is because partners and prospective partners have come to us with conversations about declining attachment rates, and our theory is that it has to do with product relevancy.

Having more personalization with embedded insurance offers, backed by real-time data and flexible technology, will create a more relevant experience for the traveler buying and also increase the likelihood of attachment, which benefits both the insurtech and company embedding the offer.”

With a very short term product for travel, how do you ensure someone buys again?

“Travel insurance in the U.S. market has become more commoditized because every comprehensive travel protection plan has to go through the same regulatory process via each state’s Department of Insurance for filing consideration. There are not a lot of [benefit] differences, and they are short term plans. Single trip plans usually have an average trip length between seven and 14 days, and I’ve seen repeat buyer ratios that range from 10 to 40%. The best way you can ensure someone buys from you again, at the product level, is starting with relevancy and offering a plan that makes sense for all the reasons people travel. One-size-fits-all travel insurance plans, while ubiquitous in the U.S. market, should not be the same because all travelers are different and no two trips are the same.

The other critical point to mention is servicing customers after the purchase has been made. When you think about ways brands can differentiate, it's the holistic customer experience, not just providing that insured a fulfillment email with their policy ID card and never getting back on their radar again. It’s important to have a customer journey strategy with periodic communication touchpoints, staying on their radar before, during, and after their trip while having a seamless claims experience in the event that they need to file a claim. Product relevance aside, the post-purchase experience is where brands can differentiate to ensure travelers buy again.”

Insurers are typically optimizing for purchase. What are they still missing?

“At battleface, we’ve pioneered an unbundled philosophy for offering travel insurance made available to partners and customers. Our mission and values align to what we believe is missing and it starts by optimizing the purchase for conversion with product relevance, customization, and hyper-personalization.

In general, though, there are several e-commerce conversion-rate optimization tactics that insurers are using that do an effective job. For instance, companies test and experiment with different ways to initiate a quote. It’s a critical process to make it simple, quick, and efficient to get somebody to see that price. The highest abandonment rate that I've seen comes from that quote-results step because people will shop around to see if they can get a better rate or a different plan that fits their needs.

When you think about a bundled, prepackaged plan, there are limitations in terms of granular-level customization. I’ve seen really strong conversion rates out of unbundling those benefits. It allows for freedom of choice to select the exact benefits that travelers need for a trip and is very potent in optimizing for the purchase”

Why are traditional travel insurance products not seeing as much traction in today's world?

“It comes down to one-size-fits-all plan types, and that’s not a shot towards travel insurance providers but merely a general observation from my nearly 10-years in this industry selling a broad range of products. There’s a desire for consumers to be able to pick and choose exactly what they want in their policy. Think about the last time you had to buy home, auto, or even life insurance and all the different customization options you were afforded during the buying process. Personally, when I was getting homeowners insurance over a year ago, I went with AllState because I had already been using them for auto. I was able to “bundle and save” as they say but also able to customize my coverage to a price point I was comfortable with.

With travel insurance, it's not the same because in the U.S., we can’t discount benefits, etc. It's actually the opposite compared to my AllState reference above … it’s unbundle and save. The traditional product model is in need of innovation, and battleface is certainly leading the way in that regard. We want to give customers the freedom of choice to buy what they want specific to their trip.”

What problems still need attention in the travel insurance industry?

“In the U.S., there seems to be a perceived paradoxical nature to insurance in general with relatively low consumer sentiment. With travel insurance, there are a lot of us working hard everyday to shift that mindset to provide great service and an overall pleasant customer experience.

Travel is such an important economic driver for countries across the world, but also can be super complex when factoring in all the different steps required by consumers. One thing is for certain, though: consumers who opted in for travel insurance should never be left in the middle with confusion about what to do when something goes wrong during their trip.

At battleface, we’ve invested heavily into building a robust network of customer service support staff, assistance coordinators, and medical teams that is unified by technology, all in the name of customer centricity. Customer service is such a vital component to the holistic travel insurance experience. We cannot afford to ignore customers’ needs, especially during sensitive portions of their trip. It’s truly an everyday aspect of travel insurance that will continue to need attention so the sentiment of travel insurance can continue to become more favorable.”