Sammy is the founder and CEO of YuLife, the lifestyle insurance company providing life insurance, well-being and rewards in one simple app.
These days, amid the pandemic’s aftertaste, we are facing a pivotal moment in history, where many geopolitical, natural and cultural issues are overlapping, creating a “polycrisis.” Because these issues are so weighty, it is challenging to identify the origins of each one and how they might be solved.
Rather than trying to address the root causes of these individual issues all at once, I think business and cultural leaders can make a difference by addressing the cumulative impact of these circumstances on the public.
Fortunately, we also live in a time where technology has helped provide support for more people and in more unique ways than ever before. Whether it’s mental health care bolstering wellness or medical drones delivering supplies after natural disasters, when innovation is properly applied, the potential to heal grows in impact and promise.
In my industry—insurance—I believe that empathetic, positivity-incentivizing policies are prime examples of how digital innovation and savvy tech integration play a fundamental role in ameliorating the toll of our ongoing polycrisis.
The Promise Of Insurance
Insurance has always had a complicated reputation—it’s understandably hard to market and sell products no one ever wants to need.
However, alongside the financial protection and risk management it affords, the right kind of insurance offering can also play a role in promoting wellness—an overlooked aspect of what insurance does best.
I’ve noticed more life and health insurance policies are offering wellness benefits ranging from access to mental health services to gym memberships to preventative health screenings. By taking advantage of these benefits, the average person can prioritize their unique health needs, with a positive impact on their ability to maintain calm and hope through the frustrations of a polycrisis.
Turning Good Technology Into Better Behaviors
Insurance companies can offer resources and support to individuals and businesses in numerous ways—arranging everything from telehealth services to mental health resources and support groups. By providing a safety net for physical and mental health, insurance can help individuals and businesses build resilience and maintain a positive outlook during challenging times.
But the key to creating change through insurance is not simply what you offer to people—it’s how well you get people to engage with these offerings. It is in this regard that I think technology has most notably revolutionized wellness—leveraging our cultural proclivity for seamless digitization and technological engagement to make self-care a more accessible and accountable act than ever before.
Accordingly, gamification (automatic download) has become an unparalleled way to ensure people are actually engaging with these beneficial services. Gamified apps and platforms, which tap into people’s desire for fun and motivation by imbuing everyday activities with elements of gameplay—i.e., a weekly step count competition or nutrition goal tracker—are uniquely capable of incentivizing people to engage in healthier behavior.
In this sense, digital-forward insurers can offer a multifaceted approach to wellness that we can all benefit from. By providing access to wellness benefits, resources and support for mental health, and by promoting healthy behaviors, insurance can help individuals and businesses prioritize a brighter outlook and healthier lifestyle, especially during uncertain and stressful times.
Getting Started With Gamification
Insurance is one of the biggest industries in the world with $13 trillion in assets—but it is systematically unloved. A study found 68% of those surveyed do not trust their insurer, and there is almost no engagement or value delivered on a day-to-day basis.
The games industry, by contrast, consistently boasts high levels of engagement and consumer demand. Some reports even suggest that gaming will take consumers’ time away from other forms of media and become an ever greater part of our daily lives.
Herein lies an opportunity for insurance companies to use gamification to improve the customer experience. Implementing a gamification strategy can provide insurers with the effective means to transform tasks into interesting and fun experiences that keep users coming back.
There is a real social imperative for insurers to improve everyday engagement with their consumers. In the life insurance space, in particular, insurers only engage with their customers at the point of claim. But because over 70% of deaths today are caused by chronic illness, this means that there is shared value economics in an insurer engaging further upstream and helping improve a person’s lifestyle and everyday well-being.
To that end, healthcare insurers can gamify the use of wearables to ensure healthy behaviors are being prioritized and offer discounts on health brands or products for those meeting their goals.
The important thing to remember is that games should be motivating and fun in order to encourage engagement. But while gamification can be the key to success, it comes with its challenges.
Insurers must carefully select the best path forward in order to truly see positive results. My top tips would be:
• Give more than you take. One of the things video games have gotten right is in how they reward their users virtually every step of the way before they even “take” anything from the user—whether that be asking for their details, putting up a paywall, etc.
• Collaborate. Gamification is a team sport from underwriting to sales to product development. Various teams must be involved for this to work, as each specialized skill is necessary to build an integrated game.
• Test, learn and repeat. The best way to discover the value of gamification is to test it with customers, listen to feedback and go again. This helps produce near-term results and a deeper understanding of customer behaviors.
I think gamification is here to stay in the insurance industry. Those who implement these strategies could find success in connecting with customers and sustaining direct relationships that enhance engagement for companies and benefit bottom lines.
This approach to insurance goes beyond being a safety net tucked away for worst-case scenarios—it is a mutually beneficial proposition. Holistic, gamified insurance provides the tools needed to endure and thrive during the toughest of times, which encourages consumer wellness and fuels insurers’ engagement with their customers long term.
No crisis is too big or too multifaceted for a win-win solution like this one.
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