Watching claims stories

Finally had the chance to delve through Allianz's microinsurance claims story videos, interviews with nine of Allianz's microinsurance clients who have made claims, selected at random.

The results were varied and interesting. This is something microfinance does far to little of: showing the results of our efforts as nuanced, worthwhile, but not miraculous.

I particularly enjoyed one woman's insistence that her family would of course have managed without the insurance - a good reminder that surviving disaster is something the poor must achieve regularly without insurance!

Three thoughts:

1) The claimants spoke again and again of insurance protection in the context of family and community. This is their primary support network and the starting point of their understanding: good microinsurance experiences were compared to the treatment you would expect from your family; the main alternative to insurance was support from friends and family; and relief was shown at not having to depend on them. This has implications for the way the poor use microinsurance and the way we should sell and explain it.

2) Even among those who had experienced the benefits of insurance, understanding was often remarkably low. One man who was obviously very grateful for his payment had only actually been reminded of it by accident a considerable time after the death of his wife! As Martin Hintz at Allianz said, "What strikes me in these videos is that insurance awareness is still low. People may already have a policy. And still they often don’t fully understand how insurance works and who their insurer is. They don’t feel confident enough to rely on insurance... So customer education is definitely is something we need to work on.”

3) Finally, I was reminded of the importance of keeping promises; especially when it comes to the amount of time it takes to pay a claim. One claimant was very pleased that her claim was paid within three months. That didn't seem all that quick to me, but what stood out was her satisfaction that the person from the insurance company had told her that everything would be sorted in three months and that was exactly what happened. Perhaps the insurers who will win the trust of their clients in the end won't be those who pay most quickly, but those who pay most consistently within a fairly quick time frame.

P.S. Great article today on why mobile money needs to be persuading customers to put money in, not just out from Ignacio Mas at CGAP. Also finished reading Poor Economics and still think you should read it!