Catch us if you can

“Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery”

When we launched Bought By Many’s pet insurance two years ago we counted 24 points of distinctiveness, from a zero excess option to sending customers a condolence card when their pet dies.

Each of those points was designed to meet our goal of creating better insurance, whether through customer experience, price or the quality of our cover. Insurance policies and customer service have not changed in decades and at Bought By Many we’ve set out to make the changes consumers are crying out for.

People regularly ask whether we’re worried about an incumbent or start-up copying what makes Bought By Many different. They’re often surprised when I tell them we want the industry to duplicate what we’re doing because it will improve the insurance experience for more consumers. As a company innovating in a stagnant sector our aim for better insurance extends beyond our own products; we want to be a guiding light for others to follow.

We’ve been surprised it’s taken so long but a few companies have started to cotton on.

Follow the leader

Recent examples show how our work is having an impact - although not everyone has grasped the fundamental problems we’re addressing.

Bought By Many has had a simple solution to tackle dual pricing (the issue under which existing customers pay more than a new customer for same product) from day one: we never charge an existing customer more than a new customer. End of.

However, RSA, which underwrites policies for brands such as More Than and Tesco, last week unveiled a plan to deal with dual pricing through a convoluted cashback scheme: customers have to download an app or connect their card to the service so they can collect cashback from select retailers, which they can then claim if they renew a policy (or claim it minus a ￡35 fee if they decide not to renew). While I welcome RSA taking action on dual pricing, I can’t help feeling that their solution is a bit convoluted.

A company that should be applauded for following our approach to dual pricing is Aviva. Last month it rebadged its home and car policies as AvivaPlus and included a guarantee it would not take part in dual pricing, along with offering zero interest on monthly payments again - another feature Bought By Many has had since day 1.

RSA also recently rolled out online pet insurance claims for repeat prescriptions. Again, this is a step in the right direction but in 2017 we announced online claims with no forms - for all claims.

When we launched our pet insurance we included a zero excess option to meet consumer demand. Seven months later, Lemonade, which has rightly been lauded for improving home insurance for renters in the US, added a zero excess feature.

At Bought By Many we know that people like insurance that has a human element. So, when one of our insured pets dies we send the owner a hand-written condolence card, a practice Animal Friends seems to have adopted.

Better insurance across the industry

The point is not to criticise insurers for imitating Bought By Many. We want them to, so that all customers have a better experience. In fact, we want them to go further, if they can.

Many of the features mentioned above aren’t even our headline offerings. We’re much more likely to shout about our policies that look like nothing else on the market, for example, pet insurance that pays money back if you don’t claim or provides cover for pets with a pre-existing condition. And we know that our customers like what we do - our Net Promoter Score is over 70 (compared with the industry average of 16) – so we’ll keep doing it.

Bought By Many is leading the pack with cover we launched more than two years ago. But other insurers struggle to completely replicate us because of legacy systems or company values that don’t genuinely put customers first. Our next steps include finding new ways to engage with our customers, new products and an even better customer journey – rest assured, we’re not comfortable sitting back, there’s more leading the way to be done.