Policy Expert focuses on customer retention as top priority

According to Powell the insurtech has maintained a stable 20% annual customer growth despite market challenges including the Covid-19 pandemic, Brexit and inflation.

In August 2022, CEO Steve Hardy told Insurance Age that Policy Expert is aiming to double its 1m customer count in five years.

However, Powell this week stressed that the home and motor provider must address the price sensitivity of its customers in order to remain competitive and look after their wellbeing.

We have looked at the idea of moving into the pet insurance space. We don’t know the timings of that yet, but I would say in the next 12 to 18 months.

The insurtech has recently launched a three-tier bronze, silver and gold solution in an effort to enable consumers to handle their costs effectively while removing the risk of underinsurance.

He added: “The packages are also customisable. Policyholders can tweak cover levels and change excesses. If a customer has a silver package they can move to bronze if they need to save money.

“The process is well documented, so they are clear on what they are changing and might not necessarily be covered for anymore.

We have never price-walked our customers, so we are in a strong place retention wise.

Adam Powell

“We always include our ancillaries, for instance home emergency and legal expenses, with all our new business and renewals, no matter what the package. I think that’s what makes us competitive.

“It is important we are competitive because we wouldn’t be able to penetrate the market otherwise.”

Internal metrics

Powell warned that the market has materially changed in the past 12 months and, when looking at recent insurer annual results, it is clear to see that inflation has had an impact.

“We have got to keep an eye on things like average premiums because they are moving up, and we need to keep on top of that as a business. Loss ratio is always going to be key, but we have also got to look at our internal metrics and keep our customers happy,” he commented.

“If we can do that then we’ll maintain our retention levels. We have never price-walked our customers, so we are in a strong place retention wise.”

Once Policy Expert is in a comfortable position with its internal targets, Powell added that the insurtech plans focus on product launches.

He continued: “Once we have got our retention in a good place, we plan to focus on more tangible stuff like new products.”

M&A activity

Aside from organic growth, mergers and acquisitions could also be on the radar, but only if the right opportunity came along.

“We would never say no to M&A activity; for instance we acquired a claims business. We will have a look at anything that comes along, but I would not say we are actively looking. It will be on an opportunistic basis,” Powell detailed.

When Hardy last spoke with Insurance Age, he mentioned that the business had around 600 staff members which has now increased to almost 700.

Despite this increase, the insurtech has felt the recruitment challenges that have been a widespread industry concern.

He commented: “In the past six months we have noticed the market to be far more buoyant, but previously it had been quite hard. 

“The reality for us is that while technically we could work from home, that is just not the way we wanted our company to work. We are a much smaller business, and we believe in face-to-face interaction.”

In the past twelve months, Powell noted that Policy Expert has evolved its people proposition internally and it will continue to do so over the next two to three years.

He concluded: “We have made a cultural change as we mature as a business. We’re not a start-up anymore, we’re are operating as a scale-up. We have that mass, and we need to evolve the proposition including things like staff benefits and wellbeing.”

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