Over half of people in the U.S. are opposed to the use of big data in insurance but many would accept its use if the data made their premiums cheaper,
The survey results suggest that consumers still trust established traditional insurance companies over newer insurtech startups. Eighty-five percent of all respondents said they would prefer to buy a policy from companies like AIG over startups like Lemonade.
Only 20% of respondents would trust insurtechs to give accurate pricing on insurance policies. However, 53% said they would rather buy potentially more expensive insurance if the purchase process was online-only and didn’t include an in-person medical exam. The survey of 1,000 adult Americans commissioned by Breeze was conducted online in August, using Pollfish.
“Ease of use is the value proposition for insurtechs,” according to a blog post from Breeze on the survey results. “They need to keep marketing this: skip the medical exams (if you’re eligible) and face-to-face meetings by buying your insurance policy completely online.”
Additionally, survey questions included how consumers feel about the use of big data.
Nearly half, 49%, of respondents between the ages of 18 to 24, said insurance companies should be allowed to use personal health data, consumer purchases, internet browsing history, and social media usage, amongst other things to determine policy price. However, 83% of respondents over the age of 55 said companies shouldn’t.
“Younger consumers have grown up in the age of the internet, cookies, data harvesting and the interconnectivity of it all. These things are more normal to them than they are to previous generations, hence the results by age,” according to the blog post from Breeze.
Despite the majority of respondents suggesting that they don’t want their data used to determine their rates. Some people responded that they would be okay with several scenarios where insurers would use that data, if it qualified them for a cheaper insurance policy.
For example, 53% would be okay with a pet insurance company tracking their pet’s activity and eating habits; 52% said they would be okay with an insurance company having them install a tracking device to their car to monitor driving activity and safety; 34% said they would be okay with an insurance company monitoring their internet and social media activity.
According to the survey results, older respondents were the least receptive to any data-gathering, except for installing a tracking device in a car.
