As the son of a tradie, Nicholas Rolfe has intimate knowledge of what the daily grind is like for tradesmen, and, not wanting to add complexity to the insurance process, he launched Cactus Insurance to create an ecosystem that better supports them.
After months of market research and planning, Cactus launched this month.
Rolfe conducted 50 face-to-face interviews, 20 phone interviews and surveyed 78 tradies (via a Facebook sponsored post) on their insurance habits prior to launching, to prove his hunch that there was a gap in the market he could fill.
The Facebook survey results revealed that 58% of respondents didn’t have, or had never held, commercial trades insurance. The most underinsured group were tradies aged 25-34, of which only 27% of respondents had insurance, Rolfe said.
The main reasons given as to why tradies didn’t take out insurance included the belief they didn’t need it, the application process being too difficult or too cumbersome, they felt there was a lack of transparency around what they were covered for, and complexity around the policy wording, he noted.
Based on this research, Cactus has created three product segments to better represent insurance to tradies: apprentices, ‘one man in a van’, and business owners.
Rolfe said Cactus is a “completely digital solution” that allows instant quotes and online payments with automated backend services which means clients receive copies of their policy wording, certificates and schedules moments after paying for their policy.
“Dad’s a builder, he started as a chippe when he was 16,” he explained. “He understands this industry, and I’m passionate about this industry too. I want to make the (insurance) process easier.
“This is a niche market that is massively underinsured and under supported. One reason is because the margins on this type of insurance are low.
“We want to create a digital customer experience that’s automated and seamless for people who work hard, and don’t need archaic insurance practices, or need to succumb to workflow practices that don’t work for them.
“Cactus is all about a stunning customer experience backed by strong strategic partnerships that add value.”
Rolfe said the signup process is easy: they ask a few questions which are pre-populated into an intuitive quote system that serves up a price, if the client likes the price, they buy the policy then and there.
“We want to create an ecosystem for tradies,” he explained. “Through Cactus they’ll have a membership (no membership fees are charged) not just a policy. Through a membership they’ll benefit from strategic partnerships we have fostered.
“Through partnerships with companies such as HazardCo, we can layer our data over theirs, track liabilities over claims and start to see and predict trends that will affect our clients. Eventually, we’ll have a level of analytics that will allow us to make data-driven decisions for the benefit of our clients.”
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