What motivated Virgin Money to re-enter the home insurance market, and how does this align with your broader strategy?
Virgin Money has been in the home insurance market for approximately 20 years. We temporarily paused sales in February due to our partner at the time, RSA, exiting the market and decommissioning their sales platform.
Our broader strategy focuses on transforming our services by digitising our propositions and customer journeys. Partnering with leading insurtech provider Uinsure aligns perfectly with this modernisation effort.
Uinsure’s innovative technology enables customers to receive a five-star Defaqto rated insurance quote in just 60 seconds by answering a few simple questions, such as their name, date of birth, and postcode. This is a significant improvement from the previous process, which required over 50 questions and took significantly longer with a traditional insurer.
The new cover will be tailored to meet the unique needs of both homeowners and landlords. Additionally, Uinsure’s high-quality customer service, reflected in their ‘Excellent’ Trustpilot rating, is crucial to Virgin Money’s commitment to customer satisfaction.
How does this new offering differentiate Virgin Money from other home insurance providers in terms of customer experience and technology?
Our new offering features a streamlined, short question journey that reduces friction and saves time, resonating with customers who prioritise convenient, high-quality insurance cover. We balance a digital-first approach with the support of expert advice when needed, allowing customers to seamlessly switch between online and offline interactions.
Customers don’t have to compare against other products, keeping the process simple. Yet, they benefit from multiple insurers competing to deliver the best price on the same policy features and benefits.
What role does automatic re-broking at renewal play in ensuring long-term value for customers, and how will you maintain competitive pricing?
At every renewal, the technology will ensure our customers are offered the most competitive premium across multiple insurers for the same cover.
If another insurer is cheaper than the existing insurer’s renewal premium, even by a penny, we’ll offer to switch that customer to the alternative insurer at renewal.
This experience is refreshing for customers as the service goes beyond what is required by the current pricing regulations (where insurers must offer the equivalent new business price at renewal), comparing across a range of insurer new business prices at renewal and always offering the cheapest.
How do you plan to market this product to your existing customer base, and what channels will you use to attract new customers?
We will market this product to existing Virgin Money customers through digital channels such as emails, in-app messaging via our banking apps, and in-store promotions.
Additionally, we will leverage our cashback program for current account and credit card customers, offering cashback incentives for those who take out a Virgin Money home insurance policy. We will also explore opportunities within the wider Virgin Group. The mortgage channel is particularly important, as it allows us to ensure customers can both buy and protect their homes.
Uinsure’s technology is sophisticated enough to absorb event-based triggers to deliver timely communications when needed. For example, we hope to offer our direct Virgin Money mortgage customers a digital-first home insurance quote at key moments in their mortgage journeys, such as application, offer, and exchange.
We’re exploring wider uses for this technology but are very focused on anticipating customer needs and serving them when they need it most.
What are your goals for customer acquisition and growth in the first 12 months after the launch?
Given our speed to market launching our new home propositions with Uinsure in little over 4 months, our primary focus in the first 12 months is to roll out the new proposition across all our distribution channels. Starting at the end of November, we will begin migrating our existing customers to the new proposition, with the transition taking place over a 12-month period based on each customer’s renewal date. We are very excited about our long-term growth plans with Uinsure, looking ahead to significant expansion in the coming years.
