Personalized Interactive Video Improves Customer Experience for Security First Insurance

In a marketplace crowded with regional home insurers offering low-cost policies, Security First Insurance wanted to distinguish itself via the customer experience it provides. In the simplest terms, Security First Insurance wanted to make and keep its customers happy. “And customers get unhappy when their homes are damaged, they need to file a claim, and they don’t have the coverage they thought they had,” said Ben Bomhoff, Security First Insurance vice president of enterprise systems.

Densely worded and packed with legal terms and industry jargon, homeowners’ policies are difficult for consumers to understand. “The average policy package can run 80 pages long,” Bomhoff said. “No one wants to read it.” Security First Insurance’s marketing vice president Marissa Buckley concurred, adding, “We’ve conducted focus groups over the last four years and consumers have told us, ‘I’d rather stick a needle in my eye than think about homeowners insurance.”It’s no wonder that consumers sometimes face unpleasant surprises after filing their claims.

Bomhoff said that many consumers didn’t understand that coverage for “water damage,” such as damage caused by a burst pipe, does not include coverage for destruction wrought by flood waters — an important distinction in a hurricane-prone state. Others didn’t know about the importance of replacement cost coverage and the difference between actual cash value and replacement value: the cost, for example, to buy a new television after an existing set was stolen. Without replacement cost coverage, items are valued at their depreciated value, or the amount you might expect to earn selling a used TV at a yard sale. As a customer-focused company, Security First Insurance recognized the need to create a customer experience that was so unique and entertaining that customers would want to take the time to learn about the coverage in their policies.

It started with having a corporate culture that allows for creative thinking and investment in innovation and technology. Security First Insurance has developed a reputation for creating several industry-first systems and services, and the company’s chief operating officer, Werner Kruck, has led each major initiative. Kruck received an email linking him to a personalized video that described his bundled home telecommunications services and billing. He thought these types of videos could effectively augment insurance policies, explaining each policy’s coverage and limitations in consumer-friendly language. He met with key members of the company’s executive management team, including Bomhoff and Buckley, to start the discovery process. Bomhoff researched technology companies offering personalized videos, but had difficulty finding one willing to begin with discovery sessions or to start with a single video rather than a series.

Read this case study and learn more about how Security First Insurance improved their customer experience.