The company making insurance intuitively simple and transparent

In this Interview, the CEO of Getsafe, Christian Wiens, shares his thoughts on implementing Fair by Design, a new approach to insurance that focuses on creating transparent and intuitive insurance products that anyone — in particular the newer generation — can quickly understand. Fair by Design focuses on making data accessible, design simple, memberships flexible and paperwork reduced to the minimum. 

Keep reading to learn more about GetSafe, a mobile app designed to eliminate the friction that separates users from the insurance they need, whether they’re first-time buyers and experienced customers.

What problem did you set out to solve when founding Getsafe?

It's impossible to deny that as we move forward in time, our world becomes more and more technology-driven. Unfortunately, the insurance industry has failed to adapt to this new reality and, as a result, an entire new generation of customers is slipping through the cracks.

Insurance is long overdue for modernization. But that’s a lot to ask of such an old, entrenched field, where data is buried in decades of technological strata, stretching back to the early days of computing and networking. It’s not easy to build a lightweight API around mainframes and tape drives. This reality puts some staggering obstacles on the road towards modernization: billions of dollars in expenses, years spent rebuilding infrastructure—if not decades—and, perhaps most importantly, the challenge of adapting to an entirely new approach that upends some of the industry’s longest-held assumptions.

Where do you see the primary pains and wishes from insurance customers?

Everyone needs insurance, but few of us want to think about it. This is especially true among younger customers, raised on the effortless, instantaneous, and personalized experiences of services like Amazon and Netflix. By taking a mobile, technological approach to insurance, we’ve created an entirely new experience.

At the heart of the Getsafe strategy is a mobile app designed to eliminate the friction that separates users from the insurance they need, whether they’re first-time buyers and experienced customers. Where traditional insurance relies on an antiquated network of brokers and phone calls, Getsafe connects its users to everything they need through a familiar, app-based experience. Where traditional insurance expects paperwork, Getsafe expects a few taps on a screen. Where traditional insurance makes the changes of life a hassle, Getsafe makes policy updates effortless.

What is CARLA and how it is affecting the user experience of claims?

Carla is our friendly AI. She is available 24/7 in the Getsafe app. She guides our customers through the claims process and helps them get their money back orders of magnitude faster. From weeks to hours. Currently, in many cases Carla is still being supported by her human counterparts resulting in a seamless, empathetic experience for our users. 

How is Getsafe affecting the insurance customer life-cycle?

With Getsafe, a first-time insurance buyer can be covered in as little as five minutes, using nothing more than the phone in your hand. Liability, drone, dental and renters insurance are all available through a single interface. 

Life is punctuated by events known for their complexity like moving, getting married (or divorced), changing banks or credit cards and so on. Getsafe means one less thing to worry about, as a policy can be updated with the same speed and ease that created it in the first place. Getsafe means insurance isn’t just easy to get—it’s easy to have. Of course, most of us need more than one kind of insurance and it’s our goal to deliver everything our customers need. With a single tap, a Getsafe users can add new coverage, building a personalized plan to cover everything that matters to them in a single place.

And lastly, like most youth-oriented services, we leverage the huge growth potential of millennial word-of-mouth and help making insurance social again. Over 1/5 of Getsafe’s growth is driven by a community of digital ambassadors leveraging our easy-to-use referral program.

What is your take on Fair by Design and how are you are implementing it at Getsafe

Fair by Design is part of our mission. Our goal is to make insurance intuitively simple and genuinely transparent. This is one of the key factors for our strong organic growth and 60.000+ members being very satisfied. The Fair by Design approach currently includes four components.

1. We guarantee that all data about your insurance are always available and accessible through our app, updated in real-time and easy to find. 

2. We offer a flexible membership rather than long-term contracts. You can change, upgrade or cancel your insurance anytime. 

3. We build insurance products that are transparent and easy to understand. Therefore we split them in components that can be bundled or added anytime, based on personal needs. 

4. We cut the value chain, eliminating brokers, offices and paperwork. This is why we can offer incomparable value for money. Plus, we pay claims quickly having no incentive to pocket unclaimed money.

Congratulations on your recent fundraising. What is the number one tip that you would give to aspiring insurtech entrepreneurs looking to pursue fundraising?

Insurance is a long-term play with a stable, proven business model that materializes over time. Look for investors that deeply understand this.

Hear more from GetSafe

Christian will be sharing his insights at the Global Insurtech Leaders' Summit on the 18-19th June, where he will be joined by more than 800 insurance entrepreneurs, executives, and investors. He will be sharing his insights on how to rethink insurance by using behavioural economics.