SBI General team ups with WhatsApp to enhance buying journey of health insurance

By Leandra Monteiro

SBI General Insurance, one of India’s leading General Insurance companies, in its effort to simplify the insurance buying process, strengthens its collaboration with WhatsApp to launch an enhanced version of its WhatsApp chatbot to enable easy access to insurance products through the popular messaging platform. It has made available a larger array of Health Insurance products and introduced Two-Wheeler Motor Insurance to customers for buying, in a simpler and secure manner.

SBI General Insurance first launched its WhatsApp chatbot in 2020 with a unique buying journey for its health insurance policy on WhatsApp. This initiative was announced at Meta Fuel for India 2020. Today, it has made larger number of products available that customers can directly buy through a hassle-free interface and from anywhere, with end-to-end policy purchase on the platform itself.

The process can be started by initiating a chat with SBI General’s verified business account on WhatsApp, that will further prompt the product options available for purchase. Customers can explore the product features and get their policy document right within the WhatsApp chat thread. Riding on the success of UPI integration on WhatsApp, this is another landmark move, that will not just drive insurance penetration in the country but will also help in further expanding financial inclusion in India.

Commenting on the association, Anand Pejawar, Deputy Managing Director, SBI General Insurance said, “Customers today, are more evolved and much better informed as compared to the past. In line with customers’ changing buying behaviour and as a part of the Company’s constant endeavour to innovate and make insurance accessible, we at SBI General have made our products available for purchase on one of the most used platforms, in just a few chats. These are the milestones that make our customer experience strategies worthwhile. Given that WhatsApp is an important platform with robust security features and extensive reach, we are confident that this initiative will be beneficial for existing as well as potential customers and we will continue to evolve with the dynamic technological advancements both in product development and policy servicing.”

Abhijit Bose, Head of WhatsApp India said, “The banking and insurance industry has been at the forefront of building innovative customer engagement journeys on the WhatsApp Business Platform. These solutions are making financial products and services more accessible to people across the country thus contributing to the overall financial inclusion vision. We are delighted to further strengthen our collaboration with SBI General Insurance to make insurance products more easily available for their new and existing customers.”

SBI General Insurance unveiled the buying journey of their key products available on WhatsApp to the public at the Global FinTech Fest 2022. The Company will continue to identify and implement such innovations to realise its vision of becoming the most trusted general insurer for a transforming India.