Ms Leiper highlighted that the future of the industry rested on technological advancements, innovative campaigns such as Seven Families, and innovative entrants such as Lemonade, a US insurer that promises anything not paid out in claims, customers can choose which charity benefits.
“Simplify the product. Simplify the journey,” Ms Leiper added. “Our experience shows that people quickly fall out of love with protection. How do you ensure that ongoing engagement?”
5. Be more human
Or, put it another way, do not alienate the customer with industry jargon. It is time for the industry to start with the customer experience, not the product, while being a lot less formal and a lot more fun, said Rhys Williams of Quietroom.
Mr Williams said: "Everything these days is instant and it’s about you. Think Amazon Prime, Deliveroo, Netflix even knows what you might like to watch."
He advised that the industry should think more like a start-up and focus on the experience. He said:
“The technology is just the delivery mechanism. Take Noom Coach for example, a weight loss app.
"Around 77 per cent of people who use it find that they lose weight. So why are they now using a real-life human coach as part of the experience?"
According to Mr Williams, people found that the algorithm was all well and good but not a patch on the human element. Once introduced, the results were three times better.
Therefore, he added: “How do start-ups approach the consumer experience? They keep things simple, they make a virtue out of avoiding jargon, they’re honest about how they make money and they talk like real humans.
"There’s no reason why existing companies can’t do all of this, only caution, processes and policies. Courage and conviction is needed.”
6. Robo-advice can help, not hinder, your business
The overriding message from the conference was that far from doing advisers out of jobs, if embraced properly, robo-advice was going to help them enter new markets while still offering the human touch.
Mr Tait of Pacific Re commented: “Underwriters and actuaries are the most likely to be replaced."
7. Don’t just accept the status quo
Challenge and question your current processes and policies and those of the providers you work with.
Do not just accept that things are like this because they’ve always been like this. That simply isn’t good enough.
If people aren’t buying protection due to issues of cost and relevance, as highlighted earlier, perhaps advisers and providers should be looking to do more around product design to offer practical help.
This could include more work around early intervention and rehabilitation benefits. Some providers are now touching on this but, arguably, only tinkering around the edges of the full possibilities.
