Q&A: Vincent Belloc, PayPal UK

What does PayPal offer the insurance market?

PayPal has been at the forefront of digital transformation and online payments for over 20 years. Our insights, products, services, and innovations have helped drive growth for our customers with convenience, choice, and trust being the centre of PayPal’s core offerings.

PayPal has partnered with insurance providers to accelerate their digital journeys through improving their customer experiences and orchestrating payment ecosystems – from pay-ins and pay-outs to services and support.

Our end-to-end payment solutions have helped insurers capture more opportunities, drive customer loyalty, and streamline claims pay-outs.

What does a technology-driven omnichannel experience look like for insurers and consumers?

The insurance industry has been slow to embrace digital transformation. Insurance products and carriers need to evolve their digital capabilities and online user experiences to remain relevant and competitive. Buying home, motor or other types of insurance needs to be a seamless, secure and a pleasant experience where the customer can easily access the comprehensive and educational information needed to make that decision.

An omnichannel marketing and sales approach provides customers with multiple channels from which they can purchase their insurance, whether that’s via insurer websites, by phone, in store or other online, mobile and social applications.

From an insurer’s perspective, an omnichannel experience presents an increased opportunity to attract and convert new customers. By giving people more channels to access offers, insurers can better entice customers ‘in the moment’ when they are actively looking, and maximise their chances of being selected.

Insurers have everything to gain by enabling customers to switch seamlessly from one channel to another as, according to PayPal’s internal data, consumers use an average of 2.4 devices when choosing their provider.

Insurers need to integrate back-office systems – which have often been built in organisational silos over time – for this seamless experience to be guaranteed and should look for commerce partners that can help them create a single platform.

This is most convenient for the consumer as they can access information when they need it, and are recognised by the insurer whenever they return to the conversation. As a result, the customer feels more valued, understood, and respected.

It means the process of getting a quote, paying, dealing with, and potentially claiming from an insurer is intuitive and smooth – leaving a positive impression that the firm is genuinely on their side by giving them simple and effective solutions.

Providing such consistency of experience for the consumer will translate into greater brand loyalty and customer satisfaction.

In what ways could payments streamline the customer experience?

The primary aim for insurers should be to reduce friction at all points of the relationship. Today’s consumers are used to smooth, personalised experiences in their dealings with brands – regardless of device, channel, or type of interaction.

Rather than see payment as the traditional end-point of a customer journey, it can become a key differentiator between brands. A clear payment strategy will deliver a superior customer experience, and, therefore, customer preference.

The more options a consumer has for payments, the smoother and more intuitive their experience will be. Insurers should offer a choice of credit and debit cards, and digital wallets, as well as ‘buy now, pay later’ options.

That should carry through to the checkout process: give the consumer every confidence that their information will be secure, and apply superior authorisation rates, so that all legitimate transactions are approved.

Payment systems should incorporate subscriptions and recurring payments, linked to multiple accounts and cards, to further reduce the friction and delays to the process.

For payments out, speed and choice are critical to a better consumer experience: instant payments, through whichever channel or method the consumer prefers, will build satisfaction and loyalty.

Insurers are increasingly looking to enhance the digital journey. Which aspects should they prioritise?

We are in a ‘new normal’ where the key to driving revenue and building personal relationships now lies in a companies’ digital capabilities. Digital transformation needs to be at the top of every insurance executive’s to-do list. Unfortunately, many insurance companies still lack a comprehensive digital strategy. In today’s digital-first world, this model is not sustainable.

There is an enormous opportunity for insurers to better apply data and analytics all along the insurance value chain: more immediate customer recognition, more flexible product and service personalisation, and greater leverage across the brand partner ecosystem to create a true customer-centric experience.

Insurance will become more dynamic, rather than the traditional annual renewals – and consumers will happily share their personal information to make their own experience better – so, embedding good use of data into all aspects from underwriting and pricing, to claims, should be a priority.

As the holders of one of the world’s largest datasets, PayPal can help insurers understand more about consumer behaviours, and to focus on the points of greatest value delivery.

What are PayPal’s ambitions for 2022? What direction do you see insurers taking with their digital transformation journey?

With more than 32 million active registered accounts in the UK, PayPal is one of the nation’s most-used online payment providers. With our double-sided network that covers consumers and businesses, PayPal has an ambition to be a part of consumers’ everyday lives, and to be a trusted commerce partner and catalyst for growth for our business clients.

We are investing to create one of the best and most expansive digital wallets in the world. We want to be the trusted, reliable expert on hand for whenever consumers need to deal with an insurance company. We know that can be stressful for people, and we want to make it as seamless as possible.

There is increased momentum towards the digitization of money, and we are uniquely positioned to become one of the leaders in the space. The insurance sector has just begun its digital transformation journey, and we believe that will accelerate, as more benefits are recognised.

The most critical step is for insurers to put the consumer at the centre of their proposition, and to design the processes around them. PayPal is here to help insurance organisations achieve this goal.

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