Now comes free insurance for online shoppers
The online insurer Smile wants to attract new customers with free insurance. In return, however, they have to reveal personal data.
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–A postman at work: Online shoppers are not always satisfied with the condition of the delivery.
Photo: Peter Klaunzer (Keystone)
Spotify does it, Fortnite does it: They offer a basic service for free in the hope that users will then buy additional services. Now the online insurer Smile wants to win new customers with a free offer.
At smile.shopping, every online purchase in Switzerland and from Europe is insured up to a value of CHF 300. The users are protected against defective and undelivered items. The insurance does not cover purchases from Chinese online shops such as Wish. The offer is free of charge.
Insurance protection against personal data
Smile wants to win new customers with the new offer and learn more about them. Because the customer pays for the offer with their data.
First you need the corresponding smartphone app. In this case, your first name, date of birth, mobile phone number and your email address are required to register with smile.shopping. “We are convinced that this is a great added value for both sides and that we can interact better with customers this way,” says Pierangelo Campopiano, head of the online insurer Smile, which is part of the Helvetia Group. The insurer could then address its customers in a more targeted manner and would not have to send mass emails that did not interest them.
“Trading in personal data is a common business model for free services.”
For the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner, nothing speaks against the offer for the time being. “The trade in personal data is a common business model for free services,” said spokeswoman Silvia Böhlen. It is important that the persons are adequately informed about the processing of their data and the processing purposes so that they can give valid consent.
Alexander Braun, insurance expert at the University of St. Gallen (HSG), believes that this new type of offer has a chance in Switzerland: “Since it is a cover for online purchases, the product offers obvious benefits for consumers with an affinity for digital. » The success of the model will, however, depend on the extent to which the insurer can motivate users to use the app regularly after the first download and then buy additional offers.
–Parcels are stolen from house entrances again and again.
Photo: Reto Oeschger
«Today we have 160,000 customers and we are growing strongly. We believe that with the new offer we will have more app users than customers by the end of next year, ”says Smile boss Campopiano. The free users should then become paying insurance customers.
But doesn’t Smile take a big risk with the free insurance in view of the many reports of stolen parcels (for example here in the “Tages-Anzeiger”)? “We know the probabilities of damage,” said Smile boss Campopiano. With the new offer, the insurance company will not lose any money, he hopes. First and foremost, Smile wants to win the trust of users. “In the medium term, we want to convince our customers of our core offers and so continue to grow. This includes insurance such as those for cars or household items, ”says Campopiano.
Whatsapp accident risk
With the new smile app, a different function is also available for every user. With the Smile Drive Coach you can measure and analyze your own driving behavior. The cell phone registers the speed, the braking behavior, the acceleration and the distraction. If the user replies to a WhatsApp message or changes something on Spotify, the mobile phone notices it.
«We do not punish the customer and do not deduct points from anyone, even if they drive poorly. However, we reward users with points that they can withdraw in cash. “
“Distracted drivers are the greatest risk in traffic, and they are more and more often because they look at their cell phones,” says Campopiano. Those who drive well and have activated the app collect points. «We do not punish the customer and do not deduct points from anyone, even if they drive poorly. However, we reward users with points that they, as customers, can have paid out in cash, ”says Campopiano.
–Drivers distracted by smartphones are a major risk in traffic.
Photo: Christian Beutler (Keystone)
So far, around 6,000 customers have used the Drive Coach. “We cannot yet say whether these customers drive more safely, this requires further evaluations,” says Campopiano. But one thing is certain: if one of these customers has a claim, the app’s data will not be used.
Jorgos Brouzos has been a business journalist at Tamedia since 2015. He mainly reports on the Swiss financial center and the raw materials sector. Brouzos studied political science at the University of Zurich.
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