12 1. Enhancing interactions and building trusted relationships This theme represented 35% of applications to Startupboot- Engine, the service design consultancy, ranked insurance as the camp, more than any other theme. Around 45% of corporates worst of all industries for customer experience. considered this theme impactful, ranking it as the 4th most im- Start-ups recognise this issue and are well-placed to exploit pactful of our six themes. it – customer service represents an obvious starting place for The largest volume of applications to Startupbootcamp founders in the sector. Unburdened by complicated legacy pro- came from start-ups aiming to enhance the quality and fre- cesses and technologies, they find it easier to offer seamless quency of insurers’ interactions with customers and, as a result, customer experiences and to bypass the traditionally negative to build more trusted relationships with them. connotations of insurance purchases, which are often one-off That reflects the evolution of the broader digital economy, and resented by customers. Using a variety of approaches – on- where customer expectations are constantly increasing. Having line aggregation and comparison, self-service, new distribution dealt with customer-centric organisations in industries such as channels, education and engagement of customers and om- retail and leisure - consider Google, Amazon, Uber, John Lewis ni-channel offers – these start-ups can enable ongoing engage- and so on - customers want the same levels of service and en- ment that leads to trusted relationships. gagement from other businesses, including insurers. “Traditionally, the insurance industry has been overwhelm- This is tough for the insurance industry, which has tradition- ingly frustrating for the average individual consumer and ranks ally focused on distribution through brokers, financial advisors among the lowest of overall customer satisfaction across in- (and more recently comparison sites) and typically lags behind dustries,” says Ben Britt of Route 66. “By focusing on relieving other industries in its ability to provide seamless, multi-channel major customer pain-points, savvy InsurTech start-ups can fill customer experiences. The latest annual survey conducted by a gap.”