RenewBuy ups marketing spends by 20%; aims to strengthen its reach across tier 2 and 3 markets

2020 saw many businesses not only pivoting online, but also thriving and insurance is one such sector. To be sure, online claim processing or assessment, customer acquisition, instant policy as well as immediate renewals — are part of how the insurance sector functions. “There was almost a 50-60% increase in health and life insurance queries. As customers were looking for contactless experience, our digital model was in the best position to handle customer queries, address them and get business done,” Devesh Joshi, chief marketing officer, RenewBuy, said. The digital insurance platform claims to have increased its marketing spends by 20% in FY21.

The company reveals that digital accounted for 60% of the spends while the remaining 40% was allocated into partner (insurance advisor) communications, that reached out to 40,000 partners across 600 plus cities. “What digital has given us is a level playing field. Digital helps us create efficiencies in our spending. With limited budgets, we are able to compete with larger players,” Joshi added. RenewBuy recently launched its first digital-centric consumer campaign. As part of the campaign, it had launched two short films with a geo-targeting strategy. While one film is aimed at connecting with the urban millennials, the other aims to connect with consumers in tier 2 and 3 cities.

As per the company, tier 2 and 3 markets generate more than 50% of its business. “70 crore Indians do not have insurance and that’s where they live. Therefore, 75% of our distribution network is in tier 2 and 3 cities,” Joshi stated. Industry estimates suggest that insurance penetration in India continues to be as low as 3% including standardised and mandatory categories such as motor insurance. As per Joshi, the need for insurance has come out in a big way during the pandemic, particularly health and life insurance. Therefore, the company expects 30% of its business to come from the health and life insurance category in the next six months– a category that contributed to around 10% of its business pre-Covid.

As part of its expansion drive, the company will continue to focus on digital. “Going ahead, we plan to use the face of our individual advisors, customise our digital films in eight regional languages, and recreate them further for use within the local communities across social media platforms,” Joshi said, adding that the medium provides extensive outreach not just in urban areas but across the country amidst an increased digital adoption in the country.

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