China Taiping Insurance – Wechat Road Side Assistance

As China’s auto insurance premiums begin to be liberalised, insurers are beginning to experiment with new policy features, services and pricing that can differentiate them in a crowded field. One notable example is China Taiping’s new auto insurance initiative that is based on Wechat and its real time location features.

The root of this initiative lies in the fact that China Taiping has been given authorization to offer flexible car insurance premiums to Chinese consumers based on its satisfaction of various regulatory conditions and reserve levels. Seizing upon this opportunity, Taiping has turned to Wechat to offer 24/7 free road side assistance to auto insurance policyholders that takes advantage of the location based services within Wechat in addition to connecting to Taipings customer service Wechat account.

The goal of this Wechat Road Side Assistance is to increase the engagement rate of policyholders with China Taiping, thus maximising customer retention and customer satisfaction amid intense competition. Furthermore, China Taiping will soon add a claims function to its Wechat account which will solidify the position of Wechat as a core element of China Taipings digital strategy.

The goal of China Taiping’s Wechat Road Side Assistance is to increase the engagement rate of policyholders, thus maximising customer retention and customer satisfaction.

The above images demonstrate the interactive nature of China Taiping’s marketing efforts in this instance; encouraging policy holders to take advantage of the location based services offered whilst also use the core chat feature of Wechat to communicate with China Taiping in the case of breakdown or emergency.

Benefit to Customers

• Ability to engage Taiping’s road side assistance directly from Wechat.
• Policyholders can access China Taiping Assistance without calling or downloading a dedicated App
• Use of location sensors in smartphone expedites assistance

Benefit to the Insurer

• Differentiate Taiping’s auto insurance offering among commodity offerings
• Provide Taiping with a head start in using Wechat as its primary customer engagement channel

Ultimately, capitalising on the Chinese insurance opportunity will require a strong foothold within Wechat, not only in terms of distribution but, more importantly, creating engagement and ultimately making things easier for the consumer. This facet of Taiping’s Wechat effort is not to be overlooked as it costs insurers 3 times more to acquire a new customer than to retain an exiting customer, the importance of Wechat as an engagement tool will only increase over time.