General insurance (GI) provider Paymentshield has launched a digital journey that enables advisers to refer their clients to self-serve purchase a home insurance policy directly.
This was launched as part of Paymentshield’s commitment to ease conversations around GI.
The journey allows advisers to opt clients in to entering their own details online to receive a home insurance quote, which they can then click through to purchase in their own time.
This is the first time in Paymentshield’s 30-plus year history that it has offered a DIY policy purchase option.
The process uses Paymentshield’s quote technology and its partnership with third-party data provider Lexis Nexis, which enables property data to be pulled in from external sources.
Following referral via Paymentshield’s unique Adviser Hub platform, the client will be sent a link via email or text to access the platform.
Louise Pengelly, proposition director at Paymentshield, said: “We’ve always been clear that we believe advised GI is best, but we recognise that an online journey might be the preferred approach for some customers, especially those with more experience buying insurance, or those who might experience less interaction with their adviser, such as remortgage and product transfer clients.
“This is about making sure our advisers are in a position to help every one of their customers with GI.
“With our new digital journey, advisers can be reassured that at the end of it, their customer is still getting a quality insurance product.
“The alternative is often to leave the client to navigate comparison websites alone which, because the quality of products on these sites varies so much, could leave them without the cover they need.”
The digital self-serve option will sit alongside Paymentshield’s advised telephony referral service, which launched earlier this year and has already seen average quote to sale conversion rates hit 65%.
Along with telephony referrals, all GI sales made via the new online journey will be integrated into the Adviser Hub dashboard, giving advisers full oversight of every lead.
Louise Pengelly added: “Together, our telephony referral and our digital customer platform create a really compelling proposition for those adviser businesses who may be new to offering GI, or who simply don’t have the time to offer it themselves.”
Read more on how Paymentshield supports advisers in the next issue of The Intermediary – digital issues available here.
