From an industry perspective, insurance carriers are more interested than ever in digitization. At the same time, they’re in hot pursuit of direct-to-consumer (DTC) solutions to meet the needs of millennials, retirees, and everyone in-between. Not surprisingly, the idea and interest in a DTC model has exploded in the past eight months, accelerated by people panic-buying to make sure their loved ones can cover their mortgage, for instance. More specifically, we’ve seen a lot of desire to bring final expense products to market quickly and put the appropriate technology in place to support a DTC strategy.

As a carrier, when you start your discovery process around DTC, there are numerous factors to consider:

• What types of products are you planning to offer?
  Most consumers are looking for simplicity, great rates, and something they can obtain today.
  
  
• How are you going to retain consumers?
  One of the most expensive parts of the process is getting the consumer in the door- but once you have them, how do you keep them? Exit rates are high- in many instances as high as 80%- depending on the lead source. It’s imperative to arrive at the right mix of information and education and ask the right questions.
  
  
• What’s the best path for the consumer?
  Some don’t want to speak with anyone and want to complete the entire process by themselves. Others need a little handholding with a good, clean, instant handoff to an agent or call center at precisely the right time. This requires careful consideration as to how you should build these workflows. An even better offering is to integrate a great AI solution that learns from the consumers that came before them, creating a truly dynamic workflow and process.
  
  
• What types of solutions are you integrating with?
  How will they show you bottlenecks in your process, where the drop-off rates most commonly occur, and where people tend to spend way too much time in the process? Knowing these will increase your success rate, and at the end of the day deliver more policies for your organization.
  
  
• What about those who don’t meet your instant issue scenarios?
  What path are they heading down and what are the key touchpoints to keep them engaged? How will you keep them informed throughout the underwriting process? Be sure you’re not forgetting those extra underwriting requirements and additional forms that might be needed. Ensure you are offering a great digital process to collect every detail, e-Sign, and bring that data back to your underwriters quickly.
  
  
• What will happen when the policy’s ready?
  Your customer is going to want it delivered electronically. Will you need to collect payment at delivery, allow for beneficiary changes, and/or allow for possible upsells? You’ll want to make sure your entire process is digital for smooth integration and an exceptional experience.
  
  
• After the policy is in-force, how does the customer journey look?
  Keeping the customer engaged for the next 20–30 years should be your goal. What type of metrics are you planning to use? What types of third parties can you tap into that give you up-to-date life event information? The answers to these questions will provide you insight into possible future sales, probability of policy lapses, and more.

For most carriers, dipping their toes into the DTC marketplace can be a scary proposition, since there are a lot of unknowns and making the wrong choices up front can lead to poor results and big missed opportunities. If you’re looking for a good partner, and one that can help consult with you through the entire process–sharing ideas, best practices, and keeping you out of the preverbal minefield–give us a look. We have the tools and the experience that many other insurance carriers just like you count on to bring thousands of insurance products to market.

Is DTC on your mind? I’d like to know what your organization has been planning regarding the launch of its DTC model. Reach out to me with your ideas, comments, and suggestions!