Ashutosh Prakash Singh, Co-Founder & CEO, RevRag.AI
Despite major strides in digital insurance over the past decade, onboarding remains a stubborn bottleneck. Policies can be purchased online, claims initiated through apps, and premiums paid instantly—yet the basic act of completing a policy sign-up is still plagued by drop-offs, delays, and user confusion.
This disconnect sits at the heart of one of Indian insurtech’s most critical – and most overlooked – opportunities today.
The Abandonment Zone
For most insurers and digital brokers, onboarding is where the customer journey begins—and far too often, where it ends. Drop-offs during KYC, friction in document uploads, or delayed agent responses remain common – and costly. The issue isn’t low demand, but a lack of timely, intelligent support.
Whether it’s term life, health, motor, or embedded travel insurance, the intent to buy is usually strong. What’s missing is the infrastructure to guide, nudge, and convert that intent – at the right moment, through the right channel, in the right language.
Why Workflows Still Drop the Ball
To address this, most insurers have turned to automation – onboarding forms, email nudges, WhatsApp reminders, or FAQ bots. But static automation has its limits. It doesn’t adapt to individual user behavior. It can’t explain why someone dropped off mid-application. And it certainly doesn’t step in to recover that user in real time.
On the other hand, manual call center follow-ups are reactive, expensive, and – given the scale of drop-offs – impossible to sustain. The result? Thousands of high-intent customers quietly slip away every month.
According to McKinsey, the insurance industry’s penetration rate in India slipped from 4.2% in 2022 to 4.0% in 2023, indicating that its progress has not been on par with the country’s economic growth. This highlights a critical gap in product innovation, distribution efficiency, and renewal management.
Enter AI Agents: The New Layer of Engagement
This is where AI agents are beginning to reshape the landscape. Think of them as intelligent, proactive assistants embedded right into the onboarding journey – whether in-app or over a phone call.
These agents go far beyond answering FAQs. They can detect when a user drops off at a critical step (like PAN verification or payment), trigger a contextual follow-up via voice or chat, guide the customer back to completion, and escalate to a human when necessary.
They work across languages, operate 24/7, and adapt in real time – delivering the kind of responsiveness no static workflow or rule-based system can match.
Converting Abandoned Journeys into Policy Activations
A leading financial services firm recently piloted AI agents to re-engage users who had dropped off during the onboarding of a personal accident policy.
Previously, their call center could reach only 18% of drop-offs within 48 hours – limited by timing issues and bandwidth constraints. With AI agents initiating follow-ups within 15 minutes – and in the customer’s preferred language – engagement rates tripled. In just six weeks, they recovered a significant portion of customers who would have otherwise been lost.
Following the success, the pilot was expanded to other business lines, including group health and travel insurance.
Scalable Results Without Scaling Headcount
Early pilots with AI onboarding agents have shown measurable improvements in key metrics:
- Uplift of 15–25% in onboarding completion rates
- Recovery of leads that would otherwise be lost
- Faster policy issuance times, leading to higher NPS and reduced support load
For insurers operating at scale, even a 10% reduction in drop-offs can unlock significant additional revenue – without adding to headcount or operational complexity.
Human-AI Collaboration, Not Competition
Importantly, this isn’t about replacing human agents – it’s about amplifying them. AI can take on the repetitive, high-volume tasks needed to qualify, guide, and nudge users forward. Human agents can then focus on what they do best: handling complex queries, building trust, and driving upsells.
This hybrid model is especially effective in markets like India, where customers range from digital natives to first-time policyholders in Tier 2/3 cities. The AI agent can warm the lead and complete onboarding, while a human advisor steps in for the moments that truly require a human touch.
Why Does This Matter Now?
The future of insurance onboarding is not just digital – it’s intelligent. As the industry moves toward embedded insurance, instant policy issuance, and decentralized distribution, onboarding will become a key battleground for differentiation.
The players that invest in AI-led onboarding today will not only improve conversions, but also build stronger, more responsive relationships with their customers – right from the first touchpoint.
Because at the end of the day, onboarding is not just a form-fill process – it’s a conversion moment. And every moment counts.
Author: Ashutosh Prakash Singh, Co-Founder & CEO, RevRag.AI
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