Marketing activities undertaken in insurance companies should include analysis the environment of the insurance company and internal factors resulting from the nature of the business and external factors for which the company does not has no effect, market analysis of potential buyers. There are many nuts and bolts when it comes to the German insurance market, but today, we’ll show you how brands tackle it, who’s the bigger German insurer and what the trends in insurance marketing are (and will be).
German insurance market overview
The German insurance market is really huge: it is shown both by the numbers related to the employment of people in the insurance sector and by statistics showing the number of policies of various types. We believe statistics are more than a thousand words, so … just look at these numbers.
Marketing strategy of insurance companies in Germany
Marketing communication of each company should be adapted to the specificity of the business (offered products and services) and the nature of the target group. It should also take into account the legal conditions in a given field (e.g. prohibition of advertising law firms). In the case of the insurance industry, the company’s marketing activities should not only be focused on acquiring new customers or making the existing ones aware of the possibility of purchasing additional insurance products (even commercial truck insurance nj), but also on building a positive image of the insurance company and reinforcing customer opinions that they have chosen the best protection option.
Currently, these goals can be most easily and effectively achieved on the Internet. It is there that customers look for information on insurance conditions, the quality of services provided by individual companies, as well as specific offers. This is not only due to the convenience, but also the popular opinion that you can get much more favorable conditions online. The Internet is also an excellent channel of communication between companies and customers. The quality and speed of responses to customer inquiries is one of the key factors determining the sales volume. In this respect, social media plays an irreplaceable role. The condition for the effectiveness of an online marketing strategy is, of course, the right choice of promotion methods and the selection of appropriate communication channels, i.e. places where you can meet potential customers.
Insurance marketing challenges
Insurance is a help. Support, solution to a crisis situation, IT specialists would probably say – “mental back-up”. Shaping the image of an insurance company as helpful and providing advice 24/7 opens the door to trust.
Once this level is achieved, it’s time to move on to the next stage: focusing on customer needs. Not general, but specific. Not a hypothetical situation, but real events. It is the stories that the members of the target group grapple with on a daily basis that must be the most important. In this way, one of the American corporations, which built a community online around the phrase “Who I live for”, has recently renewed its brand on the life insurance market. The sight of laughing children, who lack nothing, turned out to be a great driving force to insure themselves in an extremely wide range.
Top insurance companies in Germany
Top insurers in Germany? Allianz Group is a definite winner, delivering 142 369 million euros revenue in gross written premiums. This turnover is nothing but impressive. MRG is second with “only” more than 51K million euros, and then Talanx.
Statista research is confirmed by… another Statista research (https://www.statista.com/statistics/764227/leading-insurance-companies-in-germany-by-share-of-respondents/). More than 23% respondents answered with Allianz to a question “At which insurance company does your household have one or more insurance?”
Allianz keeps engaging and educating their fans on social media:
German insurance companies vs technology
The survey of the insurance sector made it possible to observe the path towards digitization that insurance companies are following and distinguishing three types among insurers:
- Pragmatic Traditionalists – focus on traditional channels and solutions, while staying up to date with new trends.
- Digital Followers – they constantly analyze the changing needs of customers and new technologies, and often set trends themselves, implementing innovative solutions in all areas.
- Diversified Partners – build some digital initiatives on a smaller scale, sometimes in addition to their core business, to gain knowledge and experience, and to prepare to build or participate in ecosystems with other digital players.
Insurance marketing in Germany: the future
Digitization in cooperation with an agent-insurer
The position of agents is not only unthreatened, but many insurers focus their investments in digitization on this channel, creating digital tools supporting the work of agents with clients.
Omnichannel
Insurance companies strive to omnichannel by making their processes independent of paper documentation, even when customer service is carried out in a traditional way.
Increasing the scale of self-service
Insurance companies invest in digital solutions that will allow customers to independently report a claim, handle renewal or manage the policy.
Process automation
The implementation of robotization and automation of internal processes is widely used by insurers as a way to improve cost efficiency.
The continuous growth of the role of artificial intelligence
Insurers are carefully testing solutions using artificial intelligence, e.g. introducing a virtual assistant in customer service.
Use of external data sources
The use of external data sources allows for the simplification of many processes, and potentially it will also influence the change of business models for many types of insurance – e.g. motor, health and life insurance.
Building ecosystems
Insurers will sell their products not only as part of bancassurance partnerships, but also in fully digital ecosystems built by other industries.
Over to you
You have to remember that marketing for insurers is both an opportunity and a challenge. A chance because you can quickly reach a selected group of potential customers. It is also a great tool for interactive communication with clients. A challenge as companies face criticism. It is worth responding to all critical remarks and responding promptly to questions posed in a public forum. You should try to solve customer problems, if they concern personal matters, it is worth moving the discussion to another channel (telephone, e-mail), and then informing on the public forum about the settlement of the matter beneficial for the customer.
