In recent months, traditional Chinese medicine milk tea and resin turtle blind boxes have exploded on the Internet, and understanding and catering to the consumption needs of young people seem to have become a business magic weapon for merchants. The "2024 China Youth Consumption Trends" report pointed out that in the first half of this year, the phenomenon of youth consumption is very contrasting.
Young people who have grown up in the environment of rapid development of the Internet are gradually evolving their consumption habits and concepts towards Internet e-commerce.
If it is said that the traditional Chinese medicine milk tea, which is both healthy and happy, is the new consumption concept of young people for self-health management, then choosing a suitable critical illness insurance that can meet the consumption psychology of "both cost-effective and service quality" is a new consumption concept of "cow and horse" self-deprecating crispy workers investing in family property in advance.
Before 2017, premiums of tens of thousands of yuan at every turn discouraged many young people who had just left the society from risking critical illness. In 2017, Huize took the lead in the industry to try Internet critical illness, and launched Darwin No. 1 in August 2018, committed to becoming a "protection that every struggling young person can afford", so that young people with low incomes are no longer rejected by critical illness insurance.
However, from 2017 to the present, the development of critical illness insurance in the industry & the competition has gradually entered a white-hot stage, and many so-called "innovations" are like squeezing toothpaste, which has not given many surprises to young people, and the development of the critical illness insurance market is gradually declining, according to the data disclosed by Huibao World, the sales of critical illness insurance have declined for 5 consecutive years, and the new single premium is only 20% of that of 5 years ago.
The Darwin series of critical illness insurance, which is positioned as a "critical illness insurance evolutionary", iterates the coverage and service system from the perspective of young people, and evolves from No. 1 to No. 10 in 6 years, breaking through and growing into the head customized insurance IP of Internet critical illness insurance, with a total of 310,000+ insured customers and an insured amount of 100 billion+.
In the face of the three axes of "price, protection and service", how can critical illness insurance break the involution? Maybe we can get some inspiration from the "Darwin" IP that is not a little old man customized by Huize.
1 "Free Order" Critical Illness Re-innovated, Pregnancy/Accident Additional Compensation, Darwin No. 10 New Product Meets the Rigid Needs of Young Customers Again
How does critical illness insurance really return to the source of protection? With Darwin series products as the flagship, Huize continues to polish and innovate in product protection from the social multi-dimensional risks faced by young people, so that "intelligent consumers" can get the pleasure of independent consumption.
At the beginning of September, Darwin No. 10 (hereinafter referred to as "Da 10"), jointly customized by Huize and Ruihua Insurance, was newly listed, once again winning the attention of the market with solid basic protection and rich optional liability innovation protection. It is understood that in addition to the continued validity of all the guarantee liabilities for mild and moderate illnesses after the payment of critical illness claims, up to 10 has a total of 8 optional liabilities, such as multiple critical illness insurance benefits, malignant tumor severe treatment allowance insurance benefits, and specific cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease insurance benefits, fully considering the protection needs of malignant tumors and cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases with high claim probability in terms of new occurrence, recurrence and metastasis. Among them, the setting of the insurance premium for severe treatment of malignant tumors allows customers to accumulate up to 120% of the basic sum insured, and the maximum amount of insurance can be paid within 1 year, which is 14-22% cheaper than competing products in the market, which greatly reduces the psychological burden and economic pressure of customers. Compared with the "multi-protection liability bundling" and expensive insurance form, up to 10 rich optional liabilities are also more conducive to everyone's independent consumption according to personal budget and disease protection needs.
At the same time, in Darwin No. 9, the optional protection of "waiving the remaining premiums payable after critical illness and paying additional premiums paid" has been pioneered, so that young customers can truly feel the "sense of free policy" of insurance purchase, and the upgraded Da10 continues to retain this innovation, while focusing on the accident risk and pregnancy risk of young people, providing protection of up to 180,000/300,000 yuan due to accidents or critical illnesses during pregnancy.
According to the 2023 Huize Compensation data, the top three causes of accidental death are: high falls, traffic accidents, and poisoning[i]. Among the accidents caused by accidents, 66.7% are aged 31-50. Up to 10 anchor the risk of the unexpected to do responsibility innovation, is not a fantasy. According to the person in charge of Darwin's products, the average age of Darwin's customers is 32 years old, which is the age of the breadwinner of the family, and the sudden accident may cause serious damage to the family is also worthy of attention, therefore, up to 10 added to the protection of an additional 30% of the basic sum insured due to an accident caused by critical illness.
Recently, the news of "second-child mothers diagnosed with leukemia in the second trimester" has been widely discussed by netizens, and the physical health risks faced by pregnant mothers of appropriate age have once again entered the public eye. According to the journal Cancer, "Cancer in Pregnancy and Postpartum: A Population-Based Study", the 10 common cancers in pregnant women include malignant melanoma, breast cancer, cervical cancer, ovarian cancer, colorectal cancer, endocrine gland tumors, nervous system tumors, thyroid cancer, Hodgkin lymphoma and leukemia, among which malignant melanoma, breast cancer and cervical cancer are the most common.
In addition, the average age of Darwin insurance is also roughly consistent with the childbearing age of the TOP4 insured urban areas of the product - Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen. Statistics from various sources show that Shenzhen, as a typical immigrant city, has an average age of 32.5 years old[ii], and has a large number of marriageable and childbearing populations. The age range with the highest proportion of women of childbearing age in Beijing became 30-34 years old (21.3%), followed by 35-39 years old group (18.5%)[iii]. The average age of childbearing in Shanghai is 32.56 years[iv], which is almost as close to the age of Darwin's customers.
Therefore, by providing 50% more compensation for the risk of critical illness during pregnancy, the superimposed protection of up to 10 can further reduce the psychological worries of pregnant women during pregnancy and the possible increase in the cost of childbirth due to diseases, improve the "emotional value" of protection for the main force of childbirth in key age groups, and assume the due protection responsibility of commercial critical illness insurance for the mainland to cope with the aging of the population, the decline in the birth rate year by year, and the response to the birth policy.
2 From 1 to 10, the responsibility of protection continues to innovate and provide a variety of choices for young people growing up
In the era of Internet information transparency, how to keep pace with young "intelligent consumers"?
In terms of insurance purchase experience, young people have changed from initially paying attention to the added value brought by insurance brands to paying attention to whether the protection & insurance amount purchased with limited expenditure is sufficient, and whether it is sufficient to maximize benefits at critical moments; They have become more savvy, and will check strategies, find reviews, and read recommendations from multiple self-media platforms; I also hope to start from my own physical state, have my own independent customized choice for protection, and regain the initiative of insurance consumption, rather than being rejected by insurance or being selected as a package of insurance because of some minor problems.
According to the person in charge of Darwin products, Darwin IP has been committed to allowing young people to obtain the highest protection with the most cost-effective age and physical condition since its birth. The Darwin series is iterated once every 5 months on average, and has a total of 14 iterations for a total of 16 products. In the past 6 years, the number of covered diseases has been upgraded from 115 to 185, and we have continuously tried to make breakthroughs in the amount and grouping of medium and mild illness claims, the increase in the protection of key liability periods, the number of multiple claims for high-incidence critical illnesses, and the richness of optional benefits.
In August 20018, Huize first launched Darwin No. 1, in order to break the public concern that "if you buy critical illness insurance and don't get sick, it is a loss", as a consumer-oriented critical illness, its cash value has increased cumulatively, and the average premium is only 4100+;
From July to September 2019, on the basis of the cost-effectiveness of No. 1, Huize began to increase the key protection for high-incidence malignant tumors and cardiovascular and cerebrovascular tumors. Darwin Transcendent's optional malignant tumors can be paid up to 320% cumulatively, and the Heart Care Edition adds an additional 35% of the basic sum insured for specific cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases;
In November 2019, Darwin No. 2 changed from simple cost-effective to fully cost-effective, and at the same time, in order to prevent the risk of key family liability periods, Darwin No. 2 added 150% of the basic sum insured for critical illnesses before the age of 60;
In July 2020, taking into account the insurance threshold for non-standard people, the Darwin easy-core version was launched, which further optimized the underwriting of more than 20 diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, hepatitis B, and thyroid dysfunction, and improved the pass rate.
In March 2021, in order to eliminate the worry of high premiums caused by the package of protection, the Darwin No. 5 Glory Edition started the trend of flexible customization through the basic + optional mode;
In January 2022, taking into account factors such as the new onset of malignant tumors, recurrence and metastasis, Darwin 6 began to explore unlimited cancer claims with an interval of 3 years and 100% of the basic sum insured per year. In July of the same year, the Darwin No. 7 innovative ICU hospitalization insurance premium was paid in a lump sum, so that non-heavy, medium and light hospitalizations were also covered;
In April 2024, in order to further improve the loss ratio, Darwin 9 Innovation will cancel the restriction on the grouping of mild to moderate diseases after critical illness.
...
For the upgrade of a good insurance product, Huize has always had its own five good evaluation criteria: "trustworthy, to meet the needs, easy to compensate, flexible choice, and human warmth".
The polishing of the products by the Huize team and the cooperative insurance company also strive to ensure that the details match the health realities faced by young people. According to the 2024 edition of the Nutrition and Exercise Guidelines issued by the National Health Commission, the current prevalence of hypertension in adults in mainland China is about 27.5%, the prevalence of diabetes in adults is about 11.9%, the prevalence of hyperlipidemia in adults is about 35.6%, and the prevalence of hyperuricemia is about 13.3%. Unhealthy diet, physical inactivity, overweight and obesity are common risk factors for these "four highs" chronic diseases. According to the "Meinian Health 2023 Health Big Data Blue Book", in the physical examination, the top 5 with the highest detection rate of high-incidence diseases or abnormalities are "pulmonary nodules (53.6%), overweight and obesity (50.7%), thyroid nodules (47.7%), fatty liver (39.1%), and female breast nodules (33.9%)". Morning C (coffee) late A (alcohol), late going to bed and getting up early, sitting all day, overeating and decompression, and other overly "classy" living habits make it a norm for young people to work with "illness".
It is understood that at the level of health notification, 96% of the customers of the Darwin series in the past have passed the health notice and intelligent underwriting review. In the post-epidemic era, considering the actual physical condition of some young customers, Da10 has also been optimized in terms of underwriting. For common diseases, the intelligent core questionnaire for thyroid nodules, lung nodules, kidney crystals/stones, ovarian cysts, urine occult blood and other intelligent core questionnaires is further relaxed, and the history of previous limit coverage is no longer asked, so as to better facilitate the allocation of critical illness protection for the new generation.
3. Create a Pony Insurance Universe Service System, which not only provides thoughtful services for the whole process, but also gives young people service boundaries
Another characteristic of contemporary young people's consumption outlook is that they "want, want, and want" in consumption decisions, and they are "local generous" consumers who want comfort, quality and emotional value.
On the one hand, rational consumption has become a trend, replacing overseas travel with domestic "Little Switzerland" attractions, replacing luxury brands with niche brands, and picking and spending money has increasingly become a common consumption proposition for young people.
On the other hand, large-scale concerts and small theater talk shows are booming across the country, and their demand for entertainment experiences continues to grow. According to data from the China Performance Industry Association, the large-scale performance market will continue to rise in the first half of 2024, with the box office revenue of concerts and music festivals increasing by 134.73% year-on-year; The number of performances in professional theaters, small theaters and new spaces to which "talk shows" are popular among young people increased by 32.21% year-on-year[v]. This generation of young people's consumption is mainly sober and happy, and there is a degree of relaxation.
Similarly, at the level of insurance consumption, the new generation of young customers "should buy right, cost-effective, have service guarantees, and have service boundaries" seems to be becoming a common popular view.
As of the end of 2023, the IP of popular customized products led by Darwin has reached 35+, and a total of 300+ customized products have been launched.
Focusing on the pre-sale, in-sale and after-sale insurance business, Huize continues to iterate service standards, and provides customers with one-stop and full-process insurance services by building a professional team of more than 100 people, building an intelligent integrated system directly connected to the insurance company, and creating a 7*24-hour human-machine collaboration model.
At the same time, Huize has launched the "Pony Insurance Service Universe System" to meet the core demands of customers when purchasing insurance, such as insurance consultation assistance, policy information inquiry, preservation guidelines, renewal payment reminders, consumer rights protection, etc., and has created a number of star value-added services such as Pony Claims, Pony Butlers, Pony Escorts, etc., among which, Pony Claims can provide customers with 1+1 >2. For the co-compensation experience, Pony Butler provides real butler all in service for Golden Diamond/Diamond customers, and Pony Escort provides door-to-door shuttle service for singles, mothers with babies, the elderly and other customers. When customers need it, Huize can respond at any time, and when customers don't need it, Huize also adheres to the "do not disturb" service commitment, so that customers can truly enjoy a professional, convenient, warm, boundary and spatial service experience.
Postscript: Resonate with young people at the same frequency and open up the critical illness insurance market space
Behind the reasons for the declining sales of critical illness insurance, there is not only the cliff-like decline in the number of agents, the impact of medical insurance from the industry's millions of medical insurance & Huimin Insurance, but also the gradual conservatism of the mass consumption mentality after the economic downturn, coupled with factors such as the numbness of consumer choices caused by the involution game between the details of product protection, and the numbness of consumer choices, it is not easy to break through the volume and squeeze market share.
The middle stream hits the water, and the one who struggles advances. Huize Darwin IP has maintained a long-term success in the industry for 6 years, and has won a total of 14 industry awards. After all, for today's young people, the pursuit of maximizing utility has become a new philosophy of life practiced in the downturn economy, and every joy of life comes from smarter choices.
[i] Data from "Pony Claims 2023 Annual Service Report"
[ii] Data from the Seventh National Population Census
[iii] Data from the Seventh National Population Census
[iv] Data from the "2023 Shanghai Population Monitoring Statistics Main Data Compilation"
[v] Data from the "National Performance Market Development Briefing in the First Half of 2024" released by the China Performance Industry Association