The elements of customer acquisition and customer retention matrices are different in life insurance business, as customer retention for a long period of 7 to 10 years is critical for earning a profit from customer life-time value. Customer retention in life insurance is measured in terms of persistency rate, or the percentage of policies renewed every year over the policy period. In 2015-16, the average persistency rate for life insurance policies in the 13th month was just 61%, according to the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India’s (Irdai) handbook on India’s insurance statistics. More than two-thirds of life insurance policies in the 61st month had lapsed during the year as policyholders did not pay renewal premium.
