PNB MetLife looks to expand its digital channel presence

Private sector life insurer PNB MetLife Insurance is looking at expanding its product and brand reach through the digital channel by launching new products online, as well as through the electronic branches model. It also plans to engage customers through games and storage services.

The insurer had launched MetLife Mera Term Plan last year. Tarun Chugh, managing director and chief executive officer, PNB MetLife Insurance, said they have reached an assured sum of around Rs 10,000 crore ( from July 15, 2015 to September 13, 2016) and the average sum assured is around Rs 1 crore per case.

Chugh said of the total cases under this plan (10,500), about 15 per cent have taken joint life and 16 per cent income option as part of the online term product.

At present, he said, 11 per cent of their total business comes from the digital channel. "We are looking to increase this to 20 per cent. This would mean more products for the online channel. However, the focus will still be on making the product simple to understand."

Chugh said the online channel remains the costliest. "The industry is yet to get the returns from this channel. We are making a loss here, but this is investment for the future," he said.

The firm is also making inroads into digital branches. Chugh said they saw that most companies had a hybrid model, with the application being offline and the benefit illustration being online. "This presented a challenge for sales personnel as they could access the module from their physical branch or needed data connectivity for tablet. Our model is completely offline," he explained.

"We see every tablet becoming a branch. This will complement our current 128 company and around 7,000 partner branches," he said. The module has a detailed financial needs analysis tool. "Keeping in mind customer preference, we have options ranging from four-minute, 14-minute and 40-minute sales pitch. What we see is that in a bank, customers do not give you more than four minutes. Hence, we did not want to make it too long and customers can choose, based on their needs," Chugh said.

The company has also introduced MetLife Infinity, a digital service that captures history, policies, personal and critical documents in an e-format that is accessible on an application (app), which will initially be open only to its customers.

Chugh said users are allowed to store any information on the app and schedule a release to their loved ones at any time in the future - even after death.

"All information is password-protected and permanently backed up with five GB of data space," he added.

Chugh said users are allowed to store any information on the app and schedule a release to their loved ones at any time in the future - even after death.

Chugh said users are allowed to store any information on the app and schedule a release to their loved ones at any time in the future - even after death.

"All information is password-protected and permanently backed up with five GB of data space," he added.

There have been several cases, where at the time of death of a loved-one, family members are either not aware of policy details or do not know where it is stored. Chugh said this service ensures that after a period of inactivity/death, all the content stored gets released to the chosen loved one.

Similarly, it is also attempting to gain more customer attention through gamification. Chugh said that in line with their strategy to promote badminton across India, they have now launched a badminton coaching game for mobiles. This also teaches the basics of financial planning, looking at the importance of protection, health and savings.

"How people attract someone to their website is through content. You may not remember PNB MetLife. Your interest is what you remember. Hence, we are customising it from a customer interest perspective based on what they would search on a website and how we can get them to our website," Chugh said.