The website of Royal Sundaram General Insurance Co. Ltd. (formerly known as Royal Sundaram Alliance Insurance Company Limited), a subsidiary of Sundaram Finance Group, was recently revamped in a move primarily to make it more customer centric. Gaurang Thosani, Head of Digital Marketing & e-Sales, Royal Sundaram General Insurance, says, “We wanted to ensure that the customer's entire sales, service, claims or renewal journey is completely streamlined in a way that the customer can start and finish in the least amount of time as possible.”
The content on the website has been simplified so that consumers can understand the complex insurance product easily and simplify the consumers’ journey. The buying process was simplified, by not asking irrelevant questions, so that customers could understand what they are buying. Royal Sundaram General Insurance also had two portals – corporate and sales – which were brought together. He states, “From a claims angle – the reason why a customer is buying the policy - it is a simplified digital process for existing customers to come on the platorm and intimate us for the claim. A backend team can support any clarification or renewals perspective. Everything is being built keeping in mind that the customer is the king and how we are able to support the customer and ensure that they get the service they are supposed to.” Thosani shares that from a motor perspective, Royal Sundaram General Insurance has a claim settlement ratio of 98.22%.
An important point Thosani raises is that many customers do not read the entire policy documents and adds that the onus of reading all the features, what benefits are covered and what’s not covered, is the customers responsibility. If the customer doesn’t understand anything, then questions should be asked for clarity while they are buying a policy. He says, “Yes, it's my responsibility to simplify things such as the T&C or the product details, it's also the customer's responsibility to understand and go through and ask questions and required.”
Royal Sundaram General Insurance currently has over 160 physical stores. Though the company is perceived as South Indian based, it caters over 19,000 pin codes, servicing the entire country. The company has a tie-up with India Post and IRCTC (Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation). Every time a customer buys a train ticket, Royal Sundaram General Insurance’s personal accident cover gets bundled along with it. Thosani says, “From a branch salience perspective, the IRCTC tie-up gives us a larger reach and people get to know about more the brand. It's also from the perspective that we are also trying to innovate. We offer something back. It's not always about being, a profitable, campaign or a business deal, it is also about giving back to the society”.
From a marketing perspective, the insurer is primarily on digital when it comes to acquiring customers. The other crucial part in the marketing and branding are the partner intermediaries such as agents. Thosani says, “Compared to last year, our marketing spends are going up, primarily, looking at more acquisition and engagement led spends, and non-digital as well.”
Looking ahead, Thosani says, “From an organization perspective. we are going to grow at least about 20% - 25%. That's what we expect. From an industry perspective, every insurance company has a focus and want to grow. They want to increase the penetration of insurance products and tech will play a big part in the penetration.”
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