AIA HK reinvents customer journey with digital platform, purchase platform revamp

These improvements have been through its Project Wise to address shifts in customer behaviour.

The insurance industry is fast-paced yet also highly regulated. For example, insurance products that can be purchased online still require a compliance review. Therefore, agents have traditionally remained important in the conventional sales process and served as the primary points of contact for customers. 

However, since the outbreak of COVID-19, customer behaviour has shifted towards a preference for online, do-it-yourself service without face-to-face interaction. Younger customers also tend to explore and compare products online before making purchases.

To maintain a strong presence in this new environment, leading insurance company AIA Hong Kong (AIA HK) has been focused on delivering fresh digital experiences and empowering customers to take control of their own purchasing decisions. One challenge, though, is that a 2021 report by the Hong Kong Insurance Authority showed that only 7% of professional youth are insurance-literate.

In response, AIA HK launched Project Wise, an initiative designed to address changes in customer behaviour and help those from the younger generations maximise their financial capabilities. It is monitored according to a range of measurable objectives such as increasing brand affinity, providing a seamless and personalised online purchasing experience, and driving more leads online.

For many prospective customers, the first AIA HK touchpoint is iShop, the company’s corporate site and online purchase platform. AIA HK saw the need to redesign the platform with intuitive navigation, assisted self-service and streamlined application processes. 

iShop’s application flow has been reengineered to provide straight-through processing capabilities for products that are regulated for online sales. It is also bundled with a technical upgrade that migrates the application to the Azure cloud, enabling customers to apply for insurance products that meet their needs in as little as a few minutes.

The company has also adopted Adobe Experience Manager (AEM), Adobe Launch, Adobe Analytics and Adobe Target as its content management and personalisation platforms. AEM allows AIA HK to apply an atomised content approach by deploying reusable UI components, whilst the other tools enable the company to better understand individuals' behaviour based on their footprints and deliver real-time, personalised content. These footprint data and campaign statistics will also be synchronised with the AIA HK enterprise data lake to enrich the AI model.

The company says that compared to the past 12 months, it has reached new heights in terms of website traffic and experienced significant increases in both unique visitors and page views, all thanks to the platform's customer empowerment capabilities.

“By putting our customers in control of every step of their journey with us, we have been able to drive more traffic to iShop and achieve our campaign objectives of showcasing our offerings to a wider customer base while reducing bounce rates,” the company said.

The success of Project Wise and its subsequent revamps was recognised at the HKB Technology Excellence Awards, a prestigious programme that honours outstanding companies which have made exceptional contributions to the pursuit of technological innovation.

The HKB National Business Awards is presented by Hong Kong Business Magazine. To view the full list of winners, click here. If you want to join the 2024 awards programme and be acclaimed for your company's exceptional contributions to the local business landscape in Singapore, please contact Julie Anne Nuñez at julie@charltonmediamail.com.