“Customer-agent-relationship in the German insurance industry within augmenting digitalization of its society”

The insurance sales and distribution environment in Germany faces a transformation scenario as it has never been the case before - existing sales models and approaches may be revolutionized (Fell et al., 2023). In that context, a full awareness concerning requirements from a customer viewpoint is crucial for insurance enterprises and their distribution entities. Accordingly, the purpose of this research is to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the digital value proposition for customer-agent-relationship within insurance. Recent statistics emphasize strong indications for changes concerning customer interaction and behavioural patterns in insurance (YouGov, 2023). Despite the effects of digitalization, circa 90% of the insurance products in Germany are still sold via physical sales channels such as enterprise-tied agents or brokers (Gesamtverband der Versicherer, 2023, p. 18). The research adds to the body of existing literature around value propositions these days by extending the concept of the RDF by Ziaie, Shami-Zanjani & Manian (2021) towards insurances. The proposed value proposition framework for customer-agent-relationship in insurance is the primary research outcome of this study. It provides a holistic overview concerning the enablers for insurance customers experience patterns in a digital epoch. Accordingly, it defines the building blocks for customer-centric strategies in insurance distribution. Meanwhile, the customer experience is shaped by both digital value proposition and non-digital stimuli. Hence, the non-digital stimuli are assessed as the fundamentals. Consequently, insurance sales representatives must perform according to modern and digitally enabled customer requirements while traditional sales competencies continue to be the pre-requisite. Meanwhile, the five digital value proposition drivers relevant for a customer-agent-relationship in an insurance setting are interactivity (speed in customer interaction), mobility (flexibility in terms of customer interaction), telepresence (online presence of sales agents), customization (adaptation to customer requests) and information availability (availability of information and data). The six non-digital stimuli are trust, personality, referral, quality, skill set and image of the provider. The research contributions focus on three dimensions. Firstly, the digital value proposition for hybrid based sales approaches is derived. Secondly, changes and outlook within the customer-agent-relationship in insurance are evaluated. Lastly, requirements for insurance organizations as well as their intermediaries in managing the transition towards hybrid models are determined. Moreover, four paths for future research are suggested, such as a study with a focus on paths for operationalizing a strategic approach based on the insurance value proposition framework.