BBC’s Watchdog was one of the first to respond by launching a consumer campaign which aims to understand which companies are charging more for staying with them than if they switched.
The emotive reaction on social media has been vast with thousands of loyal customers commenting on the brands they think are taking advantage of their loyalty, using the hashtag #TreatLoyaltyLikeRoyalty.
With consumers quite obviously fed up of businesses taking advantage, whether they be time-poor, too trusting or often vulnerable, the reaction clearly shows how your customers care about getting the right policy at a fair price.
And that prompts the question what mortgage intermediaries can do about it?
Major opportunity for advisers
The type of business model that competes heavily on upfront new business prices is the most popular way of buying home insurance today and where the consumer demand for fairness and transparency is now circling.
It’s certainly the area of the home insurance market that in my opinion is likely to be most impacted by the proposed regulation.
For many years, the intermediary market has felt the competitive forces of these business models; and although mortgage advisers are usually one of the first to become aware that a home insurance product might be needed – it has failed to secure significant market share as it struggled to compete with highly discounted first year premiums.
Looking forward, there is now a monumental opportunity for mortgage advisers to reset the primary way in which home insurance is purchased, by demonstrating how their customers can access fair value premiums over the lifetime of the policy.
Brokers catching up
The timing could also not be better as intermediary technology has advanced much faster than price comparison websites and aggregator technology.
A traditional quote and apply journey requires more than 50 data entries, whereas the innovation in the intermediary market means that most home insurance providers now use technology, data innovation and customer relationship management (CRM) system integrations to deliver the same outcome within 20 seconds and a fraction of the effort.
What is even more exciting is this gives time back to the customer, ensuring they receive your invaluable advice as opposed to spending time keying complex information, comparing deals and trying to remember passwords.
And even for the tech savvy customer who wants to self-fulfil and be in control of their purchase, intermediary technology can now be used to buy on their mobile in a matter of seconds.
With a new level playing field when it comes to price, combined with an unparalleled home insurance purchase experience for customers, intermediaries are now strongly placed to take control of home insurance market share across the UK.
