General insurers are failing to capitalise on customers’ massive appetite to use smartphone apps to buy car and household policies because the process is cumbersome and time-consuming, according to research.
Consumers are desperate to go digital when it comes to paying for their basic day-to-day cover, with 62 per cent of people polled in a YouGov survey carried out for Deloitte saying that they wanted to buy via smartphone apps.
Yet the “tedious” process of having to fill out forms on their gadgets meant that only 9 per cent of respondents said they were using them for insurance purposes.
Unsurprisingly, demand for digital insurance technology was strongest among the young, with 77 per cent of 25 to 34-year-olds expressing an appetite for related apps, the survey found.
Interest was also strong among older consumers, though, with 57 per cent of those polled saying that they would want to use an app to buy household cover.
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However, despite their desire for the products, the average take-up of the available apps and digital products was only 9 per cent, according to the survey, with only 11 per cent of younger people and 8 per cent of the older market making digital transactions at present.
Richard Hurley, the financial services digital leader at Deloitte, said: “General insurance applications or claim forms often require a lot of detail. Having to type everything out on a smartphone can be quite tedious.
“It’s not surprising so few people use their phone to do so, nor is our finding that 74 per cent of UK consumers are happy to use their computer for general insurance transactions. This is a missed opportunity for general insurers.”
Smartphones represent an opportunity for insurers to improve their customers’ experience by speeding up the claims submission process and making it much more convenient.
He cited the example of a driver who has been involved in a minor road accident taking pictures of the damage on his or her mobile phone and sending them to their provider immediately.
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New players in the market that are not held back by the legacy IT systems with which many established insurers struggle could have an advantage here and win customers as a result, he said.
For the survey, YouGov polled 2,955 people in April, 1,424 of whom bought motor policies, 654 household cover and 877 health insurance.
One insurance boss, however, denied that general insurers were failing to get to grips with digital technology. Gary Hoffman, the chief executive of Hastings, a motor and household insurer, said: “Digital is a fact of life for insurers. It’s just like it is with the supermarkets: if you don’t have an online offering, you’re not in the game.”