Jingme.in – Who, What and Why?
Ok! How many of you have come across ads on TV of a website that rhymes with bazaar or policy or cover or even fox (bizarre names right!)? I’m sure most of you would have ignored them after experiencing them or finding no need to go online for your insurance needs! These so called ‘pioneers’ of the online insurance market in India have focused primarily on how much you could save by comparing or probably how easy it is to buy online these days. At the outset, I’d like to congratulate them for leading the online space for so long besides the fact that they are trying something new in a market that seriously needs disruption, a positive one, to ensure the reach or penetration as they call it in the industry is increased. And this is where most of them have failed so far!
Buying online is a convenience, however, for a customer to complete a transaction online, he/she would probably need enough TRUST in that company especially in insurance where trust is a big factor considering that you are trying to protect your asset, be it a car or home or your health, against risks like an accident. Another factor to keep in mind is the journey of the customer and where they are coming from! For instance, if you take car insurance most of these customers would have experienced a dealer or an agent either over phone or in person prior to realizing a need to check online if they are paying more or already paid more earlier. Besides the fact that they would have realized that they paid more, the primary pain point for most would have been the EXPERIENCE, be it before buying/renewing a policy in terms of cost and time to purchase or during purchase in terms of transparency with respect to features and payment options or after purchase with respect to service quality in case of an insurance claim and speed of settlement. This is where I believe the current crop of companies have failed in gaining the TRUST of the customer based on the feedback we received so far. Most of them have made it easy to buy insurance online and that is great, however, they have failed to EDUCATE and gain trust of the customer for ensuring long term relationship between the seller, an insurance company or an agent or a broker or a web aggregator, and buyer, a regular customer who is looking for convenience and value. Confusing right how many can sell the same policy! That’s a whole different problem for the customer by the way.
Anyways, unlike others mentioned above, we, Coastal Insurance Brokers, have launched jingme.in (Jīng Me means Surprise me in Chinese), an online insurance platform, to primarily EDUCATE people in India that you can not only save on your insurance when compared to current options but also get the best service EXPERIENCE you are supposed to get when you have decided to put that trust on us and shop online instead. Just because you pay less online, you shouldn’t be faced with an inferior option in terms of service quality. Hence, we have decided not to offer the option of buying online at this stage when the public, most of it, is not completely aware of all the terms and conditions involved.
On jingme.in, you can check how much you can save or would have saved if you purchased through us in a simple yet intuitive manner. However, to purchase a policy through us, we prefer the customer talking to our experienced professionals who can guide you on the benefits of different products and help you decide what you need and don’t so that you don’t buy just based on the sticker price like it’s a dress or a smartphone. Insurance is complicated and we want to simplify it to you in the right way!
On a concluding note, we have begun this journey in 2016 and when people ask me why I’m doing this in a very competitive market with minimal profit margins, I recollect the same answer I received from my father when I asked him the same question when he was running this business till 2014 before he left us for a better world – to help people understand the benefits of insurance and undo the bad work done till date in the insurance sector where buyers were seen more as customers than people. He always told me that when you are selling something to people, we should always see us in them and take it as a responsibility than as a sale lead just for the sake of making a profit. Hence, I believe if one does the right thing which here is to help people make a better and smarter choice in protecting their assets, then one never needs to worry about the business side of things. We always follow the customer and not the money. I wish all of you to have a great day and I request your best wishes as we begin an exciting journey with jingme.in. Get ready to be Jīnged or surprised.
