Global: Insurance has moved online – but how many still want an IRL interaction?
While the insurance business has made life easier for those consumers who prefer to transact online, some remain wary of parting with their cash in this way.
To understand consumers’ preferences, in a new YouGov poll we found out what proportion of consumers prefer buying insurance from a physical store as opposed to online across 18 international markets.
With nearly one in five globally saying they prefer buying insurance from an office or shop (18%), it is one of the least preferred services to buy from a physical location. This number puts it just ahead of only travel services (14% globally) and video games (10% globally).
Drilling into the data by market, the highest proportion of consumers who want to buy insurance from a brick-and-mortar shop can be found in France (28%). In Europe nearly a fifth of German (23%), Italian (23%), Polish and (21%), and Spanish (20%) consumers prefer buying insurance services from a physical establishment. In comparison, the numbers were significantly less in Denmark (12%) and Sweden (11%). Britons (7%) are least likely to buy insurance from physical shops among the markets surveyed.
In Asia, more than a quarter of Indians prefer purchasing insurance from physical establishments (27%). For the rest of the Asian countries around a fifth of consumers have similar preferences (23-19%). Similar trends can be seen in Canada (21%) and the US market (19%) but when it comes to Mexico the number fall to 15%.
Breaking down the data by age and region, a third of 55+ consumers in the North American region prefer buying insurance from a physical establishment – the joint largest proportion in our analysis. As for Europe, more than a quarter of the same age group have the same preference (26%). But in the UAE the number falls to 15%. The APAC market’s sentiments are almost equally divided with nearly a fifth between all age groups saying they prefer buying insurance from a physical establishment.
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Methodology
YouGov RealTime Omnibus provides quick survey results from nationally representative or targeted audiences in multiple markets. The data is based on surveys of adults aged 18 and over in 18 markets with sample sizes varying between 514 and 2004 for each market. All surveys were conducted online in July 2022. Data from each market uses a nationally representative sample apart from Mexico and India, which use urban representative samples, and Indonesia and Hong Kong, which use online representative samples. Learn more about YouGov RealTime Omnibus.