Jennifer Fitzgerald is the CEO of Policygenius. On this podcast, episode, she explains why the corporate began in life and incapacity, why proudly owning the client expertise has been central to their success—and why telling prospects concerning the insurance coverage they don’t want has been a differentiator.
Highlights
Jennifer Fitzgerald and Francois de Lame based Policygenius to handle the truth that insurance coverage product distribution wasn’t maintaining with altering buyer preferences and know-how.
Policygenius began in life and incapacity insurance coverage, and has not too long ago expanded into property and casualty traces.
The corporate constructed its proprietary CRM that gives a 360-degree view of the client—which permits it to seize all buyer touchpoints and ship an omnichannel expertise.
Behind the scenes in insurtech
Season two of the podcast has targeted on insurtech—how start-ups are attaining scale, what the trade must do to evolve and importantly, how insurtechs and incumbents can be taught from one another.
Tips on how to construct an insurtech, with Jennifer Fitzgerald
On this episode, we’ll peek behind the scenes at Policygenius. CEO Jennifer Fitzgerald explains how she and co-founder Francois de Lame constructed the product that's Policygenius.
Welcome again to the podcast. I’m Eagranie Yuh and my visitor at the moment is Jennifer Fitzgerald.
Jennifer is the CEO and co-founder of Policygenius, the nation’s main on-line insurance coverage market. She was additionally chosen Ernst and Younger Entrepreneur of the Yr New York for 2019; one in all Quick Firm’s 100 most inventive individuals in enterprise for 2018; and is one in all solely 4 ladies founders in Fintech to lift over $50 million in funding.
Thanks for making the time to talk with me, Jennifer.
Thanks for having me.
Inform me a bit about Policygenius.
Policygenius is an internet client insurance coverage market. We provide every little thing from life insurance coverage to householders insurance coverage to renters insurance coverage and every little thing in between. You'll be able to come to Policygenius.com, get educated, learn content material, seek for insurance coverage, store, get real-time quotes after which bind protection multi functional spot.
And what was the issue that lead you to create Policygenius?
The issue that led me and my co-founder to create Policygenius dates again a number of years once we have been consultants at McKinsey. We have been serving to insurance coverage firms strive to determine the place to go for client development. One of many huge lightbulb moments was a research that discovered that the common age of an insurance coverage agent is 59 years outdated.
Insurance coverage brokers are nonetheless the first distribution channel for insurance coverage within the US. If you happen to couple that with the truth that more and more, most households don’t have an insurance coverage agent relationship, that offered an enormous drawback for insurance coverage firms. Which means, how can we get our merchandise into the arms of customers who nonetheless very a lot want them? The approach we’ve historically distributed these merchandise simply isn’t holding up with altering client preferences and altering know-how.
Proper. The pure reply was a digital product. Are you able to discuss how the present incarnation of Policygenius happened to serve that want?
Positive. I imply, first, we began with speaking to precise customers. We did a number of analysis focusing on customers, asking them about their most up-to-date insurance coverage buying expertise, the place they went to, what occurred, what they wished would’ve occurred.
In order that was one piece of it.
The opposite piece of it was simply taking a step again and how customers transact throughout verticals at the moment. There’s Amazon. There’s Expedia. I imply, you identify it, there’s a digital self-service market, and there actually wasn’t one for insurance coverage.
I not too long ago bought insurance coverage by a dealer, and it was not as straightforward as shopping for one thing on-line. However one factor that I observed was this component of recommendation. I’m not an insurance coverage professional to the diploma that a dealer is, and so I actually valued that relationship. How is Policygenius addressing that a part of the piece? It’s a spot to purchase; what about the recommendation?
Nice query, and that’s been central to our mannequin for the reason that very starting. Insurance coverage remains to be very a lot an suggested product. No one’s an insurance coverage professional. No one needs to be an insurance coverage professional who’s really not within the trade.
We now have recommendation a number of other ways in our firm. One is all of the content material that we create and that we publish to our website and distribute by syndication companions.
The second piece, which could be very a lot a part of our enterprise mannequin and makes us distinctive, is the human facet. We now have a full, licensed and professional operations crew behind the scenes that helps our clients. We absolutely consider within the hybrid digital-human mannequin, and that’s been borne out in how we have a look at the client journeys.
Most individuals need a digital journey. They need to have the ability to analysis and get sensible and see costs and evaluate quotes on their very own, and from the consolation of their residence and on their iPad. But in terms of the second of reality—meaning that you just’re going to really pull the set off and purchase a life insurance coverage coverage or a householders insurance coverage coverage—that’s an essential choice. You’re both shopping for a 20-, 30-year contract within the case of life insurance coverage, otherwise you’re shopping for a contract to guard what’s in all probability your most useful monetary asset.
Most individuals really need validation from an professional advisor earlier than they proceed, and that's how we’ve designed our course of. So we’re not lead-gen. We don’t acquire your data and promote you to insurance coverage firms. We personal that buyer relationship end-to-end.
I discover it fascinating that it’s validation that any individual is in search of in that relationship and possibly not training. Am I understanding accurately?
I imply, there’s every type. There are some customers who need to be absolutely educated in a one-on-one human interplay.
What we discover, notably with youthful customers, is that they need to get sensible and remove a few of that data asymmetry on their very own, proper? They need to know the terminology, they need to know the product set, they need a tough sense of what pricing appears like earlier than they discuss to a human.
At that time, they’ve kind of bought themselves and made the choice that, “Sure, I want householders insurance coverage,” or, “Sure, I want a long-term incapacity insurance coverage coverage however I’d like a fast 10-, 15-minute dialog with an professional to validate that to make it possible for I’m excited about it the suitable approach, and that I’m not making any obvious errors in terms of one thing that’s a reasonably essential monetary choice.”
I wished to make clear that you're a dealer, so when somebody’s contacted by an individual, that’s on behalf of Policygenius, and never on behalf of the provider themselves, is that proper?
Right. That may be a Policygenius worker that you just’re chatting with.
Okay, so that you not solely needed to construct this on-line market, however you additionally needed to practice this military of insurance coverage specialists?
Completely. We’ve achieved all of that. Constructed all of the software program to permit us to create a digital expertise for our core merchandise. After which, we've got constructed and skilled the operations crew that handles the client inquiries and may present that actually good high-touch service when the client needs it.
Insurance coverage will get this popularity for being pretty opaque about enterprise processes. The insurance coverage worth chain is notoriously difficult. There are compliance points. What has been the simplest in getting your operations crew up and working?
Actually simply being very targeted across the playbook for every step of the method. The crew who’s talking immediately with clients round pricing, ranking, product options—they must be licensed brokers. We now have a really particular playbook about how we get these individuals as much as the bar and able to go.
There's a completely different crew that handles ultimate mile and post-purchase service points. That’s a unique playbook. We’ve targeted very particularly on: what are the elements of the client journey which might be going to require some buyer help, and let’s be very targeted about what that playbook appears prefer to make it possible for that a part of the journey lives as much as the high-bar expertise that we intend to set.
One of many criticisms of how some incumbents have gone to market is that whereas they current a digital product, there’s friction within the handover to the individual. So as an example, if I enter my data, after which I'm going communicate to the dealer or the agent, they aren't in a position to get entry to that. And I've to re-explain myself over again, which clearly isn't optimum. How is Policygenius addressing that problem and the omni-channel relationship?
We are one firm so all of that buyer data is with us. The opposite factor that we’ve achieved, that’s required a number of years price of labor, is we’ve constructed our personal software program that powers every little thing that we do with the client. It’s all one system. So from the time that you just enter our website, and you might be in, let’s say, quoting expertise and searching on the completely different quotes, when you submit your data on-line, that goes into our proprietary CRM system that we use to have a 360-degree view of the client.
And once more, that's accessed solely by Policygenius workers. So different brick and mortar brokers and even different tech firms will in all probability use Salesforce or Zendesk or one other off-the-shelf CRM software program system. We don’t. We now have constructed our personal, in order that that buyer expertise is seamless, and so that each buyer touchpoint and each individual that they discuss to is ready to see who that buyer is and what they’ve achieved with us.
Attention-grabbing. I observed you posted to Medium and also you described your typical client as a mass prosperous. Was that intentional or was that by advantage of the best way that you've designed the product?
Each. By main with life insurance coverage and having a self-service digital expertise, that’s a kind of individual and client that you just’ll appeal to. Conventional monetary advisers will usually lead with life insurance coverage as nicely, as a result of any individual who’s out there for all times insurance coverage usually is experiencing a life occasion that’s pushing them into market comparable to shopping for a house, having a toddler, getting married. And with that, there’s usually a broader set of monetary wants behind it. By main with life insurance coverage and main with how we went to market, the 2 of these actually produced a option to purchase mass prosperous customers.
One other factor that I observed about Policygenius is that the entire website is in plain language. There’s pretty detailed monetary training there, however it’s all written in very plain language. And notably, after I took the Policygenius Insurance Checkup, it informed me what insurance coverage I don’t want. I used to be questioning when you might discuss a little bit bit about that.
Positive. One of many alternatives that we discovered once we began the corporate was the chance to be actual. It was a territory that no one had staked out but in insurance coverage, and even in monetary companies extra broadly. So meaning writing in plain English; being very genuine by way of who you might be to the client; being clear about merchandise, pricing, merchandise that you just don’t want. In order that was very central to how we set about designing the service, designing the product. And once we examined it early on, it actually resonated with customers.
I keep in mind testing the primary model of the insurance coverage checkup, and customers saying, “Wow. No one has ever informed me what I don’t want earlier than. All I hold getting informed is I want this, I want that, and do I want this product, and the way about this new bank card provide and this new insurance coverage product, or this new checking account?” We now have all the time regarded for the best way to be genuine and real and construct belief with our customers. And that tone and being clear was simply a part of the best way that we did that.
I wished to return to one thing you mentioned earlier, the place you went to market primarily based on life, and I perceive, incapacity as nicely. I’m curious why you began in these traces of enterprise.
For a number of causes. One is we noticed an enormous alternative there for these verticals. There wasn’t a number of competitors once we began the corporate in these two verticals, particularly within the digital spheres. In order that was one piece of it.
Two, when you have a look at essentially the most generally cited verticals to go after, auto insurance coverage being in all probability the primary, then householders insurance coverage. They’re very, very crowded verticals. They’re powerful to construct a two-sided market, which is what we've got constructed.
Had we began with auto insurance coverage, for instance, once we have been a small five-person firm with lower than 1,000,000 dollars of funding, we'd have died on that hill. It’s very crowded with lead mills. A number of individuals are going after the auto insurance coverage market so strategically, simply didn't make sense for us to enter that market.
In order that’s why life and DI, after which pet insurance coverage, have been our merchandise once we began. Life insurance coverage actually took off, and that’s the place we’ve largely been targeted over the previous few years—however have gotten that enterprise to a reasonably good level the place, now, we really feel comfy increasing horizontally.
I need to come again to that. However earlier than we do, I used to be questioning concerning the concern of belief, notably within the space of life and incapacity, the place you need to hand over some pretty private data. And at the very least within the early days whenever you have been simply getting began, how did you tackle that concern of belief and get individuals to say, “Okay, I’m going to offer you this pretty delicate data”?
Yeah. It’s a number of small issues and massive issues, proper? It's a must to attempt to construct the signalers of a model that customers belief. For instance, getting a number of on-line critiques. Getting endorsed by personalities, authorities, publications that customers belief is one thing that you just do within the early days. Being considerate about the way you ask about these questions and being upfront about your privateness and safety coverage. There’s no shortcut option to construct belief. It’s only a entire lot of little issues that you need to get proper and be persistent about when asking that data of customers.
Now, you’ve talked about your enlargement horizontally, and I observed that Policygenius now presents residence and auto merchandise. So are you able to discuss a little bit bit about that? And is it completely different, or are you making use of your playbooks from earlier than and adapting it for brand spanking new traces of enterprise?
Somewhat little bit of each. We’re largely making use of the playbook that we’ve developed and battle-tested for all times insurance coverage to residence and auto insurance coverage. They’re largely the identical customers. For instance, the teachings that we’ve realized by way of acquisition, operation, buyer expertise—all of that's getting utilized over to residence and auto. Plus, all the software program infrastructure that we constructed, the tech infrastructure that we’ve constructed, we’re leveraging for residence and auto.
However a part of it's new, proper? It’s a very completely different buyer journey. There are completely different ache factors. The provider facet of is basically completely different. There are a number of carriers that play in each P&C and life, accident and well being, however not many. So there are some new issues that we’ve needed to construct and develop as nicely to broaden horizontally.
Policygenius relies in New York, the place you might be, and is presently an American enterprise. Any plans on shifting exterior borders?
Not within the rapid time period. The US market is so huge that we’ve simply nonetheless acquired a number of wooden to cut right here.
I've plenty of questions for our subsequent episode, round tradition and expertise and scaling at Policygenius. For now, only one extra query: what does the insurance coverage trade have to do to thrive?
I feel a few issues. One is, it’s nonetheless early days for insurance coverage tech. So I feel you’re going to see a number of extra new firms shifting into the sector. I feel finally, what you’re going to see over the subsequent few years is a little bit of a shake-out in consolidation. The profitable fashions, the merchandise and the companies that discover traction are going to have the ability to scale fairly shortly.
I nonetheless assume there's a huge disconnect out there between customers and carriers. We’re one of many firms targeted on that disconnect. However on the finish of the day, insurance coverage carriers manufacture merchandise that must get within the arms of potential clients, be that companies or customers. Fixing for that disconnect goes to be key for the long-term survival of the insurance coverage trade and for all of the gamers in it.
Thanks a lot, Jennifer. I’m wanting ahead to persevering with our dialog subsequent time.
Thanks for having me on.
Abstract
Recommendation is vital to Policygenius, which makes use of a hybrid digital-human mannequin. Recommendation is obtainable by on-line content material and a full, licensed operations crew.
Policygenius has navigated the advanced insurance coverage worth chain by having particular playbooks round every step of the method—for instance, one for its gross sales brokers and one other for post-purchase service.
The corporate has gone to market by “being actual.” Which means writing in plain English, being clear about merchandise and pricing—and noting which merchandise clients don’t want as a part of its Insurance coverage Checkup.
For extra steerage on constructing customer-centric digital merchandise:
Dig into our analysis on why insurance coverage clients worth built-in, omnichannel and tailor-made choices designed to fulfill their core wants.
Learn this weblog put up on why service, not innovation, impresses insurance coverage clients.
Find out about the web alternative to focus on small industrial insurance coverage.
In our subsequent episode, Jennifer will share how she and co-founder Francois de Lame scaled Policygenius from a start-up of 5 individuals, to greater than 200 individuals. We’ll dig into questions like: How has Policygenius operationalized tradition and values? How does it rent the suitable individuals? And what selections have been turning factors for the corporate?
Be part of us in two weeks for that episode. Within the meantime, you possibly can meet up with earlier podcast episodes right here.
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