It is one of the key drivers behind Chinese insurer ZhongAn’s success: thinking new business models. The vision behind the first ever insurtech unicorn worldwide is an example for many. Deep customer insights, thinking ecosystems, smart use of data and delivery at an exceptional level are at the basis of ZhongAn’s success across Asia. Understanding the vision is one thing, but what is the secret behind making it work in practice? Adrien Lebegue, Head of Strategy at ZhongAn Tech, reveals some insights.

Eight to nine years ago, technology started allowing ZhongAn to do what traditional insurance companies were not able to consider before. They brought new types of insurance propositions, products and services, all delivered in a non-traditional way. The non-traditional way means delivering insurances to users, not through agents and brokers, but in a very timely and relevant manner in their respective ecosystems (because that’s where users are actually spending their time).

By using technology to redesign to the market, ZhongAn has been able to grow a significant amount of customers and propositions – all in a contextual manner. This does not only lead to more loyalty and sales, but also to extremely rich profiles of users. To give an idea: ZhongAn can have up to 2000 datapoints per single user or single customer, all of them acquired primarily through selling insurance policies and obtaining data insights about the customers across ecosystems.

Adrien Lebegue demonstrates: “If you work with travel, motor, health, e-commerce and payment and bundle the insights you have been able to get from a particular user, you can imagine how complete and comprehensive that data profile can be. And if you reach that stage of that rich data profile, after very frequent interaction, then you can go to the next stage. That next stage is personalized user experiences: if you have a clear idea about what one’s needs are in terms of protection, you can start to innovate into different types of propositions. It is something we at ZhongAn have been doing around motor and health in particular over the last 3-4 years.”

As Adrien explains, it’s the frequent interactions that help you to become much more relevant to your users. ZhongAn has seen a growth from 5 to almost 16 insurance products per customer over the last four years. So, for every single user, there is roughly one purchase being done every single month.

In having frequent interaction with customers, it’s key that the engagement companies are able to deliver is positive. Delighting users with every single transaction and interaction is what Adrien describes as ‘the ultimate goal’. Companies can achieve this by differentiating the way of how people connect with them. Not the traditional way of getting a ticket and waiting to get a service, but more interactive and amusing ways. And this is where you can get creative. An example that ZhongAn uses to make insurance and financial services fun, is by creating rewarding experiences through gamification. It does not only improve the customer experience, but it also generates conversation amongst customers, creating a positive experience loop.  

In the Executive Education Course ‘Next Level Insurance Innovation in the Age of Data’, Adrien will elaborate on how ZhongAn has been able to achieve this ‘ultimate goal’, sharing insights from his experience in new business model development, the latest inspirational cases in Asia, and how to create successful ecosystems to drive growth.

If you’re interested to find out the success factors, wonder how you can apply these to your own organization and directly discuss these with Adrien, make sure to apply as a participant. The course kicks off on April 26, 2022. Classes are online, 3 hours per week, conveniently scheduled at the end of the workday; 2 hours on Tuesdays and 1 hour on Thursdays.