STRATEGIC PARTNERS
In his latest column from Germany, Eckhard Reimann explains how insurance companies are using kiosks to answer customer questions and provide policies
March 18, 2002 by Eckhard Reimann — Owner, ERCM
Computer Aided Selling (CAS) solutions are used by about 60 percent of all insurance companies in Germany in order to assist its sales people. Multimedia presentations on a laptop in the direct sales environment are especially helpful in the insurance industry, having helped increase sales about 40 percent.
In addition to using laptops to display multimedia presentations, kiosk systems have become successful. For example, independent insurance consultant Mesterheide has installed kiosk terminals in entry halls and meeting rooms in order to reduce the waiting time of customers and present product offerings.
Besides standard applications such as PowerPoint and Excel, customers of the kiosks will also find programs designed to calculate a customer's needs. The main advantage of that kiosk application is that insurance consultants can use the positive optical effects of the kiosk to explain difficult calculation problems without pulling the customer behind their desks.
In contrast to most market segments, where the use of kiosks is becoming more and more popular, the use of kiosks in the insurance market is still rare despite the advantages of the kiosk systems being promoted in insurance magazines and conferences since 1996.
Kiosks make it possible to make insurance product offerings more customer-oriented, less risky, and even cheaper. Doing so requires a kiosk application that is easy, standardized, and suitable for each channel.
NatWest Life Assurance began offering its services via the Internet and banking kiosks of the Nat West Group in 1999. The UK retailer Tesco offers insurance products in the shelves of their supermarkets - eg. customers can buy health insurance for animals right by cat food or dog biscuits, travel insurance by the suntan lotion.
At present, the Internet can reach only about 30 percent of the populace; public self-service terminals can address them, as well as the other 70 percent who don't have Internet access.
In October, 2000, following a successful test, the Deutsche Bank's affiliated company, Bonn-based Deutscher Herold insurance company, implemented its insurance services at 2,000 customer terminals in all branches of the Deutsche Bank 24. Customers of the Deutsche Bank are now able to sign insurance polices with their ec-card or customer card instead of their signature.
To start these services Deutscher Herold evaluated the interests of its customers via 16 detailed market research studies. Participants of SMARTKIOSK 2001 in Berlin received detailed information about the results of these studies. About 61 percent of Deutscher Herold's customers desired kiosks to make available automotive, household, and travel insurance, according to the studies. Other services customers desired were health and life insurance. The ability to sign insurance policies at a kiosk terminal is an absolute novelty in the world.
Since the beginning of 2001 the EUROPÄISCHE Reiseversicherung (European Travel Insurance Company) has also offered insurance services at kiosks. Tourists and business managers can sign up for the FlySafe Package insurance policies they need. This service includes traveller's health insurance and luggage insurance for individuals or whole families. Sign up can be done virtually at the last-minute before a flight.
Signing the policy is easy. After entering the target destination and number of persons, the individual offering is presented on the kiosk screen. In order to print the policy the customer only needs to enter his or her address and the duration of the journey. The insurance policy will be paid directly at the kiosk via ec-card.
EUROPÄISCHE has installed eight kiosks at Munich Airport.It plans to offer its services at other German airports, and other locations such as railway stations and autobahn motels.
Eckhard Reimann is ownerof the Strategy Consulting Bureau for Interactive & Database Marketing "E.REIMANN:CUSTOMERIZED M@RKETING (ERCM)" in Oberursel (Ts) near Frankfurt/Main in Germany (http://www.ERCM.de, author of a lot of articles about multimedia, Internet, eCommerce, Database Marketing and Customer Relationship Management, editor of the kiosk specific microsite at http://www.iBusiness.de/ekiosk, Board of the only German kiosk conference and exhibition SMARTKIOSK (http://www.smartkiosk.de) and organizer of the above mentioned "eKiosk" working group of the German Multimedia Association (http://dmmv.de).
