Omise threw its second open house here in Thailand under the theme “InsureTech Connected” bringing together professionals from the insurance, compliance and financial technology industry.

It was an intimate gathering where everyone had a chance to catch up and mingle, and we loved it!

As more and more consumers move to online, insurance companies are now shifting beyond the traditional policy provider; recognizing the need to find new avenues to reach out and provide value-added services to consumers of today’s “want-it-now” world. Competition among insurers are accelerating, concerns over data security are growing, and policyholders are also expecting more and more from their digital experiences.

Besides being a payments service provider, at Omise we also want to support businesses in growing their sales and generating more revenue, and pushing through some of their challenges with the help of the technology that we have to offer. InsureTech Connected was hosted to create a forum where both senior and young professionals could come gather and hear from the industry’s experts, network, and share experiences with peers and colleagues.

We’ve returned from the event and now open our notebooks for you to see! Check out these key takeaways from the best sessions and speakers.

Tips on customers

• People don’t usually make a purchase the first time they browse through insurance plans on the website. With an abundance of choices at their finder tips, consumers now make more informed decisions. They have the freedom of comparing between different products, plans and pricing, and depending on the type of insurance they are looking to purchase, they can sometimes make customizations to the plan. For online insurance sales, it takes on average 4 visits before a customer makes a purchase.

• Want great customer experience? It all starts with simple product design. In life and health insurance, it’s common that by the time the customer reaches the third page of the policy they don’t know what they’re buying anymore. Startup companies have been great at cracking the issue around customer experience. They sell online using chatbots, ask very little questions and have a very simple concept, however they’re also taking the hit on the claims issue.

• Blend online and offline. Both should work to complement each other. O2O has proven to be quite successful. Simplify product presentation on the website so that customers can self cater. When ready to make a purchase, they can call up and speak to an agent. Instead of forcing customers through the journey, this way they have the space to surf around and reach out to agents when ready.

• Don’t under estimate the baby boomers (age 50+). They’re huge spenders — findings say that 10% of their disposable income goes to insurance.

Tips on sealing the deal

• The success of serving policyholders in this digital age depends largely on the presence of a reliable, efficient, and safe payment system. Make it simple and convenient for customers to pay. The fewer clicks and steps they have got to go through leaves less time for hesitation, meaning greater chance to close sales.

• Convenience is now a basic minimum. Electronic payments are here to help all stakeholders in this ecosystem from agents to policyholders. Agents no longer have to go knocking on doors to collect payments. There is also the options of recurring payments which eases the payment collection process. Yearly or monthly plans can be paid for automatically; helping reduce operational time and costs.

• Know your customer. Nowadays it’s not just about selling. Work closely with card networks, issuers and payment service providers to obtain data about clients. Understanding their behavior and being able to analyze their spending habits is key, take for example the hospitals they choose or the types of things that they spend on.

Tips on shifting from paper-based to digital

• As much as insurance companies want to go fully digital, there are regulations to follow. Policy documents and contracts are required to be sent out in hardcopy and e-signatures still cannot be accepted.

• Agencies, the most document heavy of all, are now adopting the use of e-forms. Instead of having to fill out pages of information by hand, forms can now be filled out and submitted electronically.

• One aspect of the purchase journey which could be taken online is the billing process. Insurers are able to send out a payment reminder to policyholders in the form of a link; allowing customers to click and pay by card. In doing so, quite a large percentage of customers are seen to be making payments on the same day. An extra benefit to customers here is the 55 days grace period.

A shoutout to The Great Room!

We wanted to give a big shoutout to The Great Room, Gaysorn Tower who sponsored our event space. They were a huge help in making the event possible and we would like to give them the credit they deserve!

When the Omise team started searching for places to host InsureTech Connected we wanted something that was sophisticated; blending the feel of a luxury hotel and a business club. And of course it had to be easily accessible. The Great Room occupies 30,000 square feet at the newly built Gaysorn Tower in the heart of downtown Bangkok. Parking is available, and our guests could also easily commute from the BTS skytrain.

InsureTech Connected was hosted at The Drawing Room. We knew this was the perfect venue for us the minute we stepped inside! The room is capable of holding around 150 guests, and is flexible enough to cater to the setup style we had in mind. There were smaller breakout rooms within vicinity which work great for our demo stations. The entire space exudes an overall ambiance that is equal parts warm and inviting. What caught our eye the most was the spectacular views of Bangkok's vibrant cityscape. If you're looking to host an event, you can reach out to the team at gaysorn@thegreatroom.co or call +662 073 0222

For more information or if you have questions about Omise, feel free to reach out to our team!