Power of Online activity is vastly underestimated!
In an industry where heavy-duty advertising is the norm, what is your focus? ?
Our view to this is that every company has to be very sensible the way it does it’s advertising. We are going state by state for our agency expansion, so currently marketing is restricted to these two states and it is much more cost effective to go this way. Presently it is region centric but once we build scales and achieve the critical mass then only it makes sense to use the national media.
What role do you foresee for On-line media to widen your reach?
You know in the US, Prudential is very well established being a 100-year old company. There Prudential is doing very interesting activity on the Internet, where it talks of protection plan, which is called MY TERM, and here the whole fulfillment is done on the Internet and it is not an underwritten product. I think the power of online activity is vastly underestimated and it is the segment we want to get into. If you are able to devise your Online activity in painless manner then you can find huge penetration. The kind of activity that is going on Online, it is fantastic. There is huge opportunity in information dissemination and the fulfillment aspect, which is grossly underutilized, the Companies, which want to be protection oriented, it becomes particularly important.
On our interaction with customers, we have noticed that they are apprehensive about taking a policy from an outside company (other than LIC). Will it pay – is the apprehension. So what is your take as an industry person?
The perception may be there but it has been reducing considerably. Customer has become more comfortable with private sector companies. The capital deployment done by private Companies is more than sufficient to take care of the future claims as you know the regulator very closely monitors it. Claim repudiations data is publicly available. The focus should not be public sector v/s private sector but on the industry as a whole. This is what Life Council ensures.
What is your message to our readers?
It is important that people priorities their needs. People underestimate the need of protection or of long-term saving. We see all the time what happens to families when there are unwanted deaths. So awareness towards such unforeseen events needs to build up. People are buying life insurance policies as any other personal finance instrument, there is a minimum amount of research, which you need to do, and I feel very strongly that people just do not research enough. I request them to exercise minimum due diligence in selecting insurance.
Mr. Mehta wishes to develop DLF Pramerica Life Insurance Co. into a successful and enduring life insurance enterprise in India.
About Pramerica>>> Pramerica is the brand name used in India and select countries by PFI. Pramerica and the Rock Logo are proprietary service marks and may not be used without the permission of the owner. Prudential International Insurance Holdings, Ltd. and Prudential Financial, Inc. of the United States are not affiliated in any manner with Prudential Plc., a company incorporated in the United Kingdom.