Co-op Insurance is a UK-based general insurer operating within the motor and home segments. Recently, it launched the UK’s first ever car insurance chatbot that allows users to secure a car insurance estimate via Facebook Messenger in under 30 seconds. It’s hassle- free and open for business 24 hours of the day.
The chatbot’s intuitive features include:
- Accessed through Insurer’s Facebook page.
- Ask four simple questions – Age, Location, Driver information, Car value to be insured.
- Policy estimate in 30 seconds.
- Available 24/7.
How it works:
The bot compares the prospective policyholder’s information with a customer database from the previous year. The information is then used to calculate an average of people who fall within the same category for their car insurance.
The interface looks something like below:
For customers, the chatbot delivers a ‘no obligation’ policy quote which he/she can choose to opt in/opt out for. And for the insurer, the chatbot helps in freeing up more time for the insurer’s contact centres to speak to the clients who prefer a more traditional means of communication.
“We’re thrilled to be trialling the Co-op Insurance Chatbot, a first for the motor insurance industry and will continue to look at new ways in which we can innovate within the sector,” said Charles Offord, Director of Distribution and Marketing for Co-op Insurance.
The service is expected to compete with traditional brokers as it provides consumer with a quote estimate via the hassle-free chatbot mechanism. However, it’s worth noting that chatbots and speech recognition services are still in their infancy. Whether they can achieve consistency in terms of communication accuracy will determine their use cases within insurance.
