OnePath sets out to grow its competitive edge in the group insurance market by further enhancing its relationships, service, and technology with the help of behavioural science.
The Zurich-owned insurer said that while competitive products and pricing continue to be core to its offering, it is through behavioural science that OnePath can differentiate and co-create better experiences for fund partners and their members.
“Our intention is to drive a lot on relationships, service, and the technology side because this is what funds are looking to us to support them with improving their member’s experience,” said Gerard Kerr, OnePath’s head of propositions and group life, at the recent Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia’s Spotlight on Insurance event.
Last year, a OnePath-commissioned channel-agnostic research revealed that customers felt uncertainty, mistrust, and distance toward their insurer which affected their confidence about the likelihood of their claim being paid. Also adding to the mistrust was low communication by insurers, who typically only communicate around renewal time and with a reactive style of communication.
In response to the findings, OnePath established the website OnePath Clarity, to provide users access to information that haven’t been “traditionally addressed including ‘why we don’t pay claims’ and ‘why do premiums go up’?” said Kerr.
Kerr said the insurer also works to provide consumers greater clarity and certainty by communicating with them more proactively, “so picking times in the year where we can reach out with certain messaging and capturing the data.”
OnePath also customises white label content rather than it being branded by an insurer to help consumers trust the content.
“We are really excited about what we can do to challenge trust using these findings from the behavioural science research,” Kerr said. “We will be sharing these findings and actions in a whitepaper and at industry forums and will be working to embed these in our business to put insurance on a new path.”
