Customer Segmentation in UK Insurance: Individualism

by Sameer Joshi or 24-Jun-2016

Publisher's “Customer Segmentation in UK Insurance: Individualism” focuses on one of eight attitudinally based consumer segments in our proprietary model - individualism - and explores this trait in relation to the market for key financial products. There are two ways in which individualism can be viewed in consumers' approach to their services: wanting the freedom to make their own decisions, and looking for products that are personalized. These desires have an impact on all aspects of the insurance purchasing journey.

 

Consumer expectations for their interactions with financial services are not built from experience with insurers or banks, but are benchmarked against contact with other retailers and services, such as Amazon, Netflix, and Uber. The advance of smart technology, the era of the “always on” generation, our willingness to share personal information in return for a convenient and personal experience, and the Big Data opportunities these create mean the bar is (and should be) high to create delight for the 39% of consumers with a strong sense of individualism.

 

- No individual can simply be pigeonholed by a given characteristic: human behavior is too complex. Decisions are made based on a blend of different considerations. By extension, there will always be levels of overlap within our segmentation framework that should be understood and considered.

- Products or services that cater to a trend crossover offer consumers multiple benefits and will be attractive to a wider range of consumers. Even for sub-trends that do not cross over with another trend, it is important to remember that trends do not exist in isolation.

 

Key Findings:

 

- A little under half of all customers wish to be empowered to make their own decisions around insurance purchasing.

- Tailoring and bespoke products are only in high demand from a small proportion of customers, but we expect this will be one of the traits that experiences the most rapid shift towards prominence over time.

- Customers who may be defined as belonging within the individualism type are most likely to be older, and are less likely to use bank or comparison site channels for insurance or be led by considerations of convenience.