6th July 2020
Why the digital brand experience is more important than ever for Insurers
Illustration by Pangaea
On 23rd March 2020 industry across the board experienced an instant and unprecedented challenge. Businesses scrambled to adjust to working from home, video calls became a daily occurrence and hectic schedules of meetings, travel and events evaporated.
The City of London and the Insurance sector was no exception and found itself caught on the back foot. Those with cloud infrastructure coped better than most but it is fair to say that an industry powered by relationships faced major problems – how to deliver on personal promises when face to face meetings were no longer possible? How to maintain brand culture – internally and externally – without physical experiences?
Creating a digital brand experience
Back in March no one knew what this ‘new way of working’ meant. Insurers had two options: Sit back and wait, letting the market decide when to ‘go back’; or take a lead, experiment and take informed risks.
Smart Insurers saw opportunity. An opportunity to use new digital experiences to enhance the way we work remotely and enhance brand reputation.
Lloyd’s of London recently announced that it is looking to launch a digital underwriting room to support the reopening of One Lime Street in September. This is a huge individual undertaking but doesn't mean others can’t compete in their own way.
In April we worked with Convex Insurance to launch its Virtual Broker Booths, accessed via the homepage of their website. This isn’t the fully immersive experience that Lloyd’s hopes to launch but gives them a lead position to deliver on one of their key brand values – ‘Inspired by Opportunity’.
Convex has been able to benefit from the early insight of how its brokers want to communicate, whilst demonstrating that working from home can still work for them. The solution might not have been turnkey from day one but by being the first to launch they have benefited from the good will of brokers and cemented themselves at the front of mind.
Learning and improving
As designers we always look at the problem from the user’s perspective, to enable the achievement of business goals and use design to build a strategic advantage. “Have we defined the right problem? What are we trying to accomplish together?”
With any new process or experience measuring success is key. Of course we research and plan but it is important to be open to feedback so that we constantly develop and improve.
The opportunity to do business differently should be embraced. There is huge risk and uncertainty in sitting back and waiting for things going back to normal; they may never return to how they were before.
Being in a position to lead this transformation in the way businesses is done is hugely exciting – to create unparalled digital brand experience within the market.
Make your brand count
We’ve spoken before about relationships being more than just people and how, in fact, its as much about the brand that they represent. A positive digital experience is key to this. Experiences, after all, are what people remember. It’s what makes them stick.
As the market re-opens those who are able to balance their physical and digital brand experiences will excel in a market full of inspired opportunity.
Have any questions? Drop us a line at hello@pangaeacreative.co.uk
Pangaea is an independent design consultancy that grew out of Formula1. We thrived in this cutting edge, fast-moving environment and now bring our experience of designing in F1 to clients and brands seeking to gain an edge over their competitors in any market.
