Offering Embedded Insurance at Point-of-Sale

Product and technology advancements always make you look back and wonder how things were ever as they were. Shopify made it possible for solopreneurs to launch an online brand easily, Affirm streamlined the process for consumers to access installment loans for everyday purchases, and the list goes on. At Oyster, we believe that everyone - consumers, retailers, and insurers - will look back in the coming years and wonder how there was a time when insurance was not purchased in a seamless process when it is most relevant; in other words, at the point-of-sale.

One of the key pillars of our grand vision is to provide a platform for all merchants to easily offer the best insurance policies to their customers during the purchasing process. We believe this is the future of insurance and we are building the infrastructure for it.

As a retailer, there are many benefits to embedding insurance in your purchase flow:

1. Increase purchase conversion rates: offering insurance to consumers incentives them to complete purchases.
2. Provide full protection: insurance offers the most complete protection for consumers, including coverages for theft, loss, accidental damage, and more.
3. Delight customers: offering a best-in-class experience to consumers leads to happy customers; happy customers = repeat customers.
4. Open new revenue streams: new revenue streams with $0 cost to integrate.

1. Increase purchase conversion rates 

Offering insurance during checkout provides additional comfort and protection to the consumer, as they can purchase the item, safe in the knowledge that the moment they start using it they are fully protected. You can see this desire in consumer responses, with nearly half of online buyers saying that insurance offered at checkout would increase their odds of making purchases. Our research also suggests that 60% of the consumers inquire about insurance when making purchases in product categories such as engagement rings and ebikes. By providing insurance at checkout, merchants can streamline the consumer experience and increase the purchase conversion rate for the affiliated products.

2. Provide full protection

Theft, loss and accidental damage are the most common issues consumers have with personal property. There are also nuances here between product types. For on-the-go products (e.g jewelry, bikes, and small electronics), theft and loss are typically the most common issues, often accounting for up to 90% of claims. Insurance is a highly regulated industry and coverage for theft and loss can only be offered by licensed insurance businesses who have been vetted and approved on a state-by-state basis. Oyster is fully licensed to sell insurance in all states we operate in, which means we can offer the best protection for you and your customers.

Importantly, we do not apply a ‘cookie cutter’ approach to our insurance offering. We have bespoke insurance built specifically to match each relevant product, this means that coverage matches the important, and sometimes nuanced, risks that each product has - think water damage for electronics, race cover and medical payments for bikes and stone dislodgement for engagement rings. 

As a retailer partner of Oyster, you can rest assured in the knowledge that the product you will be offering your customers has been specifically designed for that sole purpose, with market leading coverage backed by our panel of A-rated insurance partners.

3. Delight customers

Delighting consumers with a full end-to-end solution is becoming increasingly important as a means of differentiation for retailers. Offering a modern insurance solution at checkout allows retailers to turn what is currently a forgotten and/or dreaded after-thought into a seamless and  enjoyable experience.

As the saying goes: “a happy customer is a repeat customer”.

4. Open new revenue streams

Offering insurance with Oyster is completely free. There are no integration costs, no upfront or ongoing fees, and no catch. As a retailer, we allow you to offer tailored insurance products and benefit from additional revenue from insurance referrals.

We have integreations built with all the major ecommerce platforms so integration is a breeze. If needed, we will also create bespoke customer solutions completely free. As we mentioned, our mission is to allow all merchants - from the smallest store to the largest multinational - to offer tailored insurance products.

Aside from referral fees, there are also other revenue streams that retailers benefit from. Firstly, consumers can be routed back to the original retailer during the claims process. If a customer has their bike stolen, they lose their engagement ring or they break their laptop, we can route the customer back to the original merchant for repairs (if applicable) or to purchase a replacement item with the claims payment. This means new sales for the merchant with no marketing or customer acquisition costs. In addition, when ordering a replacement item, many customers will buy another insurance policy (additional referral fee), and this engagement also presents an opportunity for the customer to buy more products from the merchant. 

The benefits of offering insurance as a retailer are enormous and at Oyster, we have everything in place to help you get up and running in no time. If you’re interested in learning more, send us an email to chat with an Oyster insurance expert about our partnership program.