Pet Insurance 101: What You Need to Know [2023]
February 4, 2022
With companion pets living in 70% of U.S. households, pet insurance is a huge revenue growth opportunity for consumer-focused insurtechs - or anyone who sells pet-related products or services. But if you’re not a financial services business, how do you get started? Let’s start with the basics. Pet insurance, sometimes called pet health insurance, is an insurance policy to cover medical or other expenses related to a pet. Like human health insurance, pet insurance usually includes a deductible, and not every treatment is covered by every policy. Signing up for pet health insurance is similar to other forms of insurance. The process includes the steps below: In reality, the process is even simpler than this. Modern insurance offerings tend to use algorithmic underwriting to make underwriting decisions in real-time. With the right insurer, a pet owner might complete the first three steps in minutes and then rest easy knowing that their pet is protected. Pet health insurance can be used in many different cases. Below are the most common uses from emergencies to unexpected events. So what does that look like in real life? Here’s an example scenario of how pet health insurance helps consumers protect their furry family members (and their wallets). Katie adopted a rescue dog named Roscoe, and she immediately bought an accident & illness policy to cover any unexpected costs of care. That turned out to be a wise decision because Roscoe is an escape artist, and after getting out of the yard one day, he ran into the street and was struck by a car. Katie rushed him to the animal hospital, where they ran his blood work and took X-rays of both his spine and his obviously broken front leg. Luckily, his spine was clear, but Roscoe needed surgery to ensure his leg would heal soundly. Roscoe spent the night at the animal hospital, and he ended up needing a follow-up surgery. The vet also prescribed some anti-inflammatory medicine to help with pain and swelling from the accident and the subsequent surgery as well as an anti-anxiety medication to keep Roscoe calm during his recovery. With multiple surgeries, a hospital stay, and lots of tests, caring for Roscoe after the accident quickly becomes very expensive. Fortunately, since Katie had the foresight to buy pet health insurance, the majority of the costs will be covered: Only 39% of Americans have enough savings to pay for a $1,000 emergency expense. The bills for Roscoe’s accident were 3.5 times that amount – a sum that would have been difficult for Katie to absorb. But thanks to her advance planning, Katie only has to pay for 2% of the total bill out of pocket. Everything else is covered by her pet insurance accident & illness policy. With vet bills doubling over the last ten years, it’s not surprising that more and more Americans are considering pet health insurance to ensure they can afford care for their pets. This makes offering embedded pet insurance a great opportunity for pet-related brands to create new recurring revenue streams and deepen the relationships they have with their customers. American households contain more pets than ever, so the time is right to add pet insurance to your product portfolio. What’s the easiest way to get started? Find an expert embedded insurance partner like Boost that can help you navigate the complexities of the insurance part of the equation, while you manage your business and your customer relationships. Download The 2022 Guide to Growing Your Revenue with Embedded Pet Insurance, and learn everything you need to know to get started selling pet health insurance. Or, if you have questions and would like to speak to one of our pet insurance experts, you can contact us to learn more.
Continue Reading6 Tips for Successful Pet Insurance Marketing
March 11, 2022
Offering embedded pet insurance is a great way for companies that already serve pet owners to bring in an ongoing source of revenue. But just like every other product out there, marketing and advertising are key contributors to your overall sales. If you’re new to the industry, here are six insurance marketing tips to keep in mind when selling pet insurance. Because pet insurance is still relatively new in the US, some of your customers may not even be aware that it’s an option. So how do you convert them? From industry experience, we know that customers are most likely to sign up for insurance when it’s offered as a complement to their existing pet purchase. If you can make them this offer at the point of sale as an add-on to what they’re already buying, you are much more likely to win that additional revenue (and turn a one-time customer into an ongoing one). Your existing relationship with your customers can help you make the right insurance offer at the right time. From their purchase records, you probably already know what kind of pet(s) your customer has, and how much they tend to spend on pet expenses. Leverage that data in your pet insurance marketing strategy. A customer who regularly buys vitamins and specialty food for their pet might be interested in a wellness package. A customer with several pets might be interested in a multi-pet discount offer. Additionally, you likely have a database of prospects that you’ve identified as your target audience, but who haven’t purchased with you yet. Since you’re already actively marketing to this group, you can add your pet insurance offer into the mix and the additional value may help nudge them over the conversion line. Insurance is complicated, and sometimes consumers miss out on coverages they need because the details are confusing or buried in legalese. As a trusted source for information about their pet, your brand is in a great position to break it down for them. In your marketing, offer detailed explanations of how your pet insurance works, and what is or isn’t included, in clear, natural language that your customers can easily understand. Avoid confusing your customers with jargon or complicated legal statements, and don’t try to hide details in small print. Everything in your insurance advertising should be understandable by the average consumer, and any information about what is or is not included needs to be easily visible. One of the most powerful sales tools you can get is a real-life story about how your customer’s pet insurance made a difference for them. Consider reaching out to insurance customers who save on big bills, and see if they’d be willing to share their stories so you can leverage these in your pet insurance marketing. When sharing testimonials for insurance, there are a few things to keep in mind: This sounds like a marketing no-brainer, but this is particularly important for insurance advertising. If a state insurance commissioner finds your ads to be misleading or deceptive, you could be hit with fines and other enforcement actions, so it is always advised to be transparent when selling white-label pet insurance. If you use any statistics in your insurance ads, you’ll need to clearly cite where that information came from. It pays to go the extra mile for good, credible sources - a great statistic isn’t so great if you have to attribute it to “koolstats4u.biz” in your ad. It’s a good idea to make sure that nothing related to insurance goes live without first passing a compliance review. If you use external marketing agencies for things like paid search ads, set up a review process to ensure that all insurance-related copy is vetted by your team before going live, including for A/B tests and similar experiments. If your company offers pet-related products or services, selling pet insurance is a great option and it is so easy to do with Boost. If you’re just getting started with pet health insurance, our team is here to help. Get in touch with us today.
Continue ReadingGet the Guide: How to Grow Your Revenue with Embedded Insurance
March 17, 2022
With over $700B in gross written premium in 2021, the insurance market is huge - and growing. And with 60% of consumers looking to buy insurance from new entrants, there’s never been a better time for companies outside the traditional insurance industry to enter the market. Embedded insurance can be a big opportunity for businesses to build new streams of recurring revenue, and deepen relationships with their customers at the same time. Get our free ebook The 2022 Guide to Growing Your Revenue with Embedded Insurance, and learn what you need to know to get your business started with insurance: If your business doesn’t offer insurance, you might be wondering what all this has to do with you. We explain the opportunity for companies outside of traditional insurance, and why the insurance market is especially favorable to new entrants right now. Not quite sure what this whole embedded insurance thing is about? Learn everything you need to know about what embedded insurance actually means, how it works, why customers love it, and the benefits of adding it to your offerings. It’s one thing to decide you want to get started with embedded insurance, and another thing to actually do it. This chapter explains how to know if your business is a good fit for insurance, your options for getting to market, and what to look for in a potential partner. Just like any product, embedded insurance needs marketing and other GTM support if it’s going to succeed. We explain how to reach customers with the knowledge you already have about their preferences - as well as some tips for making sure your insurance marketing follows the rules of the road. Get the Guide
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