CERTAINTY IN AN UNCERTAIN WORLD: 100KICKS X Marine Insurance Client

100kicks had the pleasure of working with one of the biggest P&I insurance clients in the UK, to help them capture and understand their members' experiences of renewing a policy.

As anthropologists, we recognised the potential impact of a relatively open-ended piece of discovery research. If you’re familiar with anthropology, you’ll probably recall how Malinowski's early ethnographic research in the Trobriand Islands demonstrated that the human relationship with the sea is fraught with risk. Therefore, the Islander’s would conduct specific rituals designed to regain a sense of certainty, and offset risk, before setting off for deep-sea fishing voyages.

You could say that P&I insurance works in the same way by offsetting risk and helping to regain a sense of control in a naturally dangerous and uncertain environment for predominantly land dwelling creatures. However, this risk reduction depends entirely on the efficiency of the ritual (or policy renewal process in P&I terms). With this in mind, we wanted to discover how clients current members and brokers felt about the renewal process, and whether our insights could help stimulate  greater trust in the clients ability to offset risk effectively.

In a risky situation, you want someone you know you can trust to help you should things go awry. Because of this, fear of upsetting the status quo was prevalent in participants. Our job, therefore, was to help them feel safe to discuss so that things can evolve for the better. Getting them involved in an activity - an interactive journey map of their experiences - was key to this. 

The most interesting insight to emerge from our research was the unimportance of time. When you’re preparing for a risky voyage, you want to ensure things are done properly right? When rushing mistakes are made, which inevitably leads to an increased risk of things going wrong. Therefore, taking that little bit longer to ensure things are done correctly increases trust in the efficiency of a service (or ritual if you are a Trobriand Islander).

This understanding was reflected in our findings. The accuracy of details in a policy was the most important element for participants. Yet this was also the element that client had missed, preferring instead to prioritise turnaround times. Sharing this insight, along with short- and long-term action plans, allowed them to regain their ritualistic power as steadfast protectors of sea-farers.