Photo: GDV
Jörg Asmussen: “This is a remarkable development that follows the general trend of digitization of everyday life and consumer behavior.”
Digital insurance sales have gained significant market share in 2023. An analysis by the GDV shows where consumers prefer to click. Nevertheless, personal advice remains the ultimate in insurance sales.
Digital insurance sales have increased significantly in the past year. “In 2023, 19.1 percent of all insurance policies were concluded digitally,” says Jörg Asmussen, General Manager of the German Insurance Association (GDV). A year earlier, the share was 16.7 percent, and in 2021 it was only 15.3 percent.
The results come from a special survey conducted by the GDV among its member companies, which account for around 80 percent of premium income. The figures refer to private customer business. Digital contracts are those that are concluded without human support or advice – for example via a website, a comparison portal or an app.
Personal advice and support remain crucial
Conversely, this also means that personal advice continues to be very important, accounting for around 80 percent of new contracts. “Agents also use digital tools, of course,” says Asmussen. Consumers are particularly keen to take advantage of support and advice when it comes to protecting themselves against existential risks or when it comes to pension products such as life insurance. In this segment, the share of digital contracts has stagnated at just under three percent for years.
Car insurance with a high digital share
In the case of motor vehicle insurance, however, the proportion of digital contracts is regularly high: around a quarter (24.4 percent) of contracts in this segment are already concluded over the Internet, according to the GDV. The proportion has been at this level for years, and has increased slightly compared to 2022 (23.9 percent).
In property-accident liability insurance, the share of new business from contracts concluded digitally was 15.5 percent in 2023 – an increase of 2.5 percentage points compared to 2022. Examples of insurance policies in this segment that are particularly frequently concluded digitally are device protection insurance or extended warranties. “Such policies are often purchased at the same time as expensive consumer goods are purchased online,” says Asmussen.
Divided picture in health insurance
Private health insurance is rarely taken out without personal advice, similar to life insurance or pension insurance. Supplementary health insurance and international health insurance are an exception. These tend to be small-volume contracts and can therefore be taken out by consumers online with just a few clicks, according to the GDV.
The share of contracts concluded digitally in the entire health insurance sector is now 29.4 percent – an increase of 2.8 percentage points compared to 2022. Measured by the premium volume, however, the share of digital contracts will only be a good ten percent in 2023.
