Planning for an uncertain tomorrow is never easy. Securing the future with life insurance calls for a series of steps—from product research and inquiries right up to policy comparisons, product selection, and the final transaction. The to-do list can be quite daunting. Fortunately, it does not have to be that way for long. The insurance landscape is changing fast, and so is how individuals buy insurance.
As the interest in embedded life insurance gains momentum, customers will soon be buying policies bundled with complementary products. Imagine if you could buy an affordable term plan while applying for a home loan or investing in equity mutual funds. One transaction, two jobs done. Welcome to the world of convenience that is embedded in life insurance!
Why is Life Insurance vital?
Life insurance is essential for anyone who has a family to support. If you have kids to put through school or ageing parents with medical issues, the costs can be enormous. A life insurance policy ensures that your loved ones are secured financially even when you are no more.
The simplest form of life insurance pays a lump sum to the beneficiaries in the unfortunate event of the policyholder’s death. The pay-out ensures a financial cushion for dependents of the insured, helping them tide over the crisis and plan for the future. However, this is far from the only kind of life insurance plan available today. Some common types of life insurance products are listed below.:
Term life insurance policy: A death benefit is paid if the insured expires within the policy term.
Whole life insurance policy: Life cover is provided throughout the lifespan of the insured.
Endowment life insurance policy: Endowment plans combine life cover with a savings component.
Money-back insurance policy: These plans provide life insurance cover and periodic returns.
Retirement insurance plan: Once the policy matures, the policyholder gets regular pension payments.
Unit-linked insurance plan (ULIP): ULIPs combine life cover with investment opportunities.
Child insurance plan: Child plans enable parents to save for their child’s future.
Understanding Embedded Life Insurance
The traditional approach to life insurance purchase takes time and effort. Customers have to study multiple policy brochures, read up on different insurers and assess the ideal coverage amount before finalizing a policy. Once they make a choice, there is paperwork to be done. It goes on and on, sometimes deterring potential insurance buyers from taking the first step.
On the other hand, the buying process becomes simpler and quicker when life insurance is embedded with other financial products. Customers can purchase insurance like an add-on.
Consider a first-time home buyer who is applying for a home loan. A home loan is a massive undertaking, with each EMI taking up a large chunk of the borrower’s salary. The financial pressure is manageable as long as the borrower is working. But his untimely death could saddle his family with the home loan debt—a substantial burden on a household that has just lost an earning member.
The borrower could hedge his risks with an embedded term plan while applying for the home loan. In the event of his death, the policy would pay out a death benefit, enabling the borrower’s family to cover their living costs and repay the loan EMIs.
Alternatively, suppose an online mutual fund distributor has a customer who is buying units in a Systematic Investment Plan (SIP). Before checkout, the distributor could add in an offer for a term plan. This customer is already thinking about his finances, which puts him in the right mental space to consider life insurance as well.
Keep in mind that there is nothing new about embedded insurance. Travel e-commerce sites have long offered a travel insurance checkbox each time you book a flight. If you have ever bought a car, you know that car dealerships often bundle motor insurance with the sale. So why not embed life insurance into your existing fintech app?
Importance of Embedded Life Insurance
The market for embedded products is expected to see massive growth. One estimate pegs the global market opportunity for embedded finance at USD 7 trillion by 2030 (Source: Forbes). Embedded insurance alone is expected to create a market value of over USD 3 trillion (Source: Simon Torrance). And why not? The future of insurance is all about customer convenience. Embedded insurance could be instrumental in simplifying the insurance-buying process.
People often put off their insurance planning because it feels difficult. Bundled insurance makes insurance buying easy—as easy as adding an extra side dish to your order on a food delivery app. But there is more to it than that. Typically, embedded insurance is offered by businesses to existing customers. Since the business has the customers’ data, artificial intelligence and machine learning can be deployed to underwrite the policy. This results in a life insurance quote tailored to each customer’s needs.
Say, a user trades stocks or invests in mutual funds through an online broker. The broker has detailed information about her portfolio and other aspects. While offering her embedded life insurance, the broker’s back-end technology will factor in all the data. The result is a customized quote that the user is free to accept or reject.
Of course, the big advantage of embedded products is that customers can complete a transaction in just a few clicks. Instead of the customer approaching the insurer, as earlier, InsurTech brings the insurer to the customer. The icing on the cake? There is no need for any additional paperwork. All user details are collected automatically.
These aspects could be harnessed to a good advantage in India, where insurance penetration is low. In FY21, life insurance penetration stood at just 3.2% <Insurance premium to GDP> (Source: IRDAI Annual Report FY2020-21). That means a huge population can be brought under the insurance umbrella with the help of InsurTech and other innovations.
How does Embedded Life Insurance benefit you?
Businesses in the financial sector stand to gain with embedded life insurance. If you offer loans, credit cards, investment services, or run a financial brokerage, bundled insurance could expand your portfolio without diverting attention and resources from your core business.
For starters, introducing bundled insurance in the checkout process helps to extend customer interactions. When the customer is checking out and you offer a life insurance quote, they simply have to make a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ decision. Should they tick the box and buy the insurance? Or should they not? The effort required from the customer is minimal, and any resulting sales bring easy revenue for your business.
Although many online-savvy individuals would be interested in embedded insurance, Millennial and Gen Z customers could be a key target. These age groups are already comfortable making purchases online. Bundled insurance deals could nudge them to amp up their insurance portfolio even as they pick up complementary products.
Furthermore, embedded insurance does not require big investments of time or resources. There is no need to connect with multiple insurers in order to build partnerships. All you need is a plug-and-play API that brings your customers instant access to insurers and life insurance options.
Get the TurtleFin Advantage
Ready to cash in on the changing insurance landscape? TurtleFin can help. Our insurance API (which has been digital-ready for some time now) is the biggest InsurTech model to pioneer the online-to-offline concept across India.
We quickly and seamlessly integrate the API to different business models, powering businesses with the right digital tools to bring maximum benefits. By choosing our plug-and-play API, you gain instant access to 45+ insurers and 600+ insurance products. Our team handholds you through the integration process and provides continuous tech support.
TurtleFin helps you provide add-on insurance to existing customers at the point of sale. Our back-end technology enhances the overall customer experience. This can boost revenue and support customers to get affordable and adequate life cover with zero hassle.