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A recent study titled ‘How India Buys Insurance’ from PolicyBazaar.com reveals that around 80% of individuals (across health and life insurance) read online before purchasing an insurance policy. But interestingly, more than 85% people buy insurance through an agent known to them or recommended by friends and family.
The report says, “While the comfort with the online platform has increased when it comes to online insurance, the majority ends up buying offline.”
A few key reasons for buying policies through agents are lower premium, claim settlement support, simplification of documentation process and convenience of form filling.
“What is noteworthy here is that while respondents believed that the agent offered lower premiums, not many cross-checked the premium of the selected plan elsewhere. Our research indicated that this was largely due to trust. As the agent was typically recommended by family/friend or some other trusted source, respondents took the agent’s word on lowest premium. Similarly, the expectation of better claim support offline was rarely based on actual claim experience (of self or someone known).”
The report also shows that personal recommendations from friends, families or a known agent are the major reason why almost 80% of people consider buying insurance.
Further, 58% of people who bought health insurance and 64% of people who bought life insurance look at brands. They trust the brands they are familiar with or those that have been around for a long time.
‘How India Buys Insurance’ examines the buying behaviour of over 3,300 individuals across 27 cities, including metros, tier II and tier III cities.
