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AmMetLife
A New Era of Digitalizing the Marketing Space
WaiBee Lian is a seasoned professional with extensive experience in the marketing sector spanning two decades. Her expertise in the sector includes omnichannel marketing, customer relationship management, segment marketing and consumer behaviour. In an exclusive interview with MarTech Outlook APAC, Lian shared her invaluable insights concerning the transformations within the sector, the ensuing challenges, and the possible solutions.
Please provide your opinion on Digitalization in the insurance sector.
In my opinion, Digitalization, first and foremost, is an ongoing and ever-evolving process. We must constantly learn new skills and espouse the latest developments like AI and machine learning to stay relevant in the market.
"Digitalization, first and foremost, is an ongoing and ever-evolving process. We must constantly learn new skills and espouse the latest developments"
A significant transformation in the way people consume content can also be observed. For instance, shopping was primarily a face-to-face affair, but it has shifted to online platforms ever since the pandemic. In light of the technological advancements and the changes in consumer behavior, we at AmMetLife are formulating the means of personalizing interaction with customers. This means providing content that is more relevant to their interests.
How has your marketing experience helped you augment your role as head of marketing at AmMetLife?
As an insurance company, we follow a slightly different B2B2C business model. The marketing job, which our distribution and agency channel handles, is largely about branding. The aim is to educate customers regarding the importance of insurance through constant engagement and communication. This is accompanied by offering solutions which target their different needs, which vary according to the stage of life or the situation they find themselves in. The needs of young parents, for example, are different since they are concerned with the well-being of their children. Our function, as a result, is to help them leverage insurance so that they can save money for their children’s education. Similarly, we are helping people on the verge of retirement to use their insurance as a retirement fund.
Spreading awareness about the value of insurance is crucial because it is not a mere transactional product. People purchase insurance policies with a definite long-term goal - securing their family's future. Additionally, we would like to educate customers on the importance of caring for their health, given the increased health awareness among people in the post-pandemic period.
Could you elaborate upon the prevailing challenges in the insurance space?
People tend not to understand the value of purchasing an insurance policy, and the realization dawns upon them only after their family members or friends meet with some accident. Accordingly, our greatest challenge is identifying how we can leverage different marketing tools to create awareness.
A suitable example would be the case with young adults, fresh university graduates or working individuals who lack interest in purchasing insurance policies. This is because they are under the impression that being young and healthy essentially rules out the need for medical insurance. However, accidents or illness can occur at any stage in life is undeniable, and recent data about people passing away at a relatively young age supports this argument.
The idea here is to use the digital platform to engage with and educate them. The process involves incorporating a certain fear factor to strengthen the need for insurance in light of rising medical inflation.
What are the tools that you leverage to help young individuals and policyholders?
Organizing events like webinars and targeted advertisements are effective ways of reaching out to non-customers, those who have not purchased insurance policies. This requires us to provide all the relevant material to the agents who reach out to the customers, besides making it easily available online. We also have the provision for making the marketing information pack available in the agency library. Apart from this, we also engage in programmatic advertising, where we consider the customers' behaviour or persona and deliver personalized content to them.
What are some of the emerging trends and technologies that you are looking forward to? In other words, how do you envision the future of the industry?
A considerable number of insurance agencies are currently moving into the health space. One instance of this is through fitness apps, which enable you to track your physical activities, and you are also rewarded a fixed number of points based on some milestones achieved, like walking 10,000 steps. These points can, in turn, be used to reduce your insurance premium.
There is also the prospect of using apps and digital tools to give clients information about the different health spaces, enabling them to care for their health. This includes the diet one must follow in case of a family history of heart attack or cancer and quite naturally necessitates collaboration with health providers, nutritionists, fitness centres etc.
What would you advise other senior leaders and CXOs in the marketing space?
The entire insurance industry, not just the marketing space, is evolving at an exemplary speed. Our foremost priority should be keeping ourselves updated about the latest technological developments. This can be achieved through continuous learning, innovation and being open to the latest trends, like AI and machine learning. We must integrate these into the marketing space, leveraging them to our advantage and dispel the fear of technology. At the same time, however, the crucial need remains to strike the perfect balance between Digitalization and the human element of engaging with our customers.
