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Multichannel customer journeys and their determinants: Evidence from motor insurance

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  • Hu, Tun-I
  • Tracogna, Andrea

Abstract

This study focuses on channel choices in motor insurance. Our aims are twofold: to fill a gap of empirical studies on the determinants of multichannel behavior in the insurance industry and to help companies improve their retail strategies by better predicting customers’ channel decisions. The paper adopts a broad set of personal and digital channels and several dimensions of customer profiling, including psychographic and channel-experience variables. We identify four different customer journeys, based on channel combinations. Our web-based survey, which has turned out 338 valid responses, shows that the majority of insurance customers adopt multichannel search behaviors. However, although most of the search is carried out through digital media, such channels generate low search-to-purchase conversion rates. Most customer journeys are, instead, finalized in the personal channels (namely, the insurance agents), thus evidencing an interesting webrooming effect. We test our set of hypotheses on the determinants of customer journeys with a multinomial logistic regression. Our findings show that multichannel journeys can serve several purposes: they may reflect the customer need to collect more information, the customer preference for shopping innovation, and his/her preference for shopping convenience. Corporate channel management strategies and practices shall consider such determinants and be revised accordingly.

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  • Hu, Tun-I & Tracogna, Andrea, 2020. "Multichannel customer journeys and their determinants: Evidence from motor insurance," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:joreco:v:54:y:2020:i:c:s0969698919309087
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2019.102022
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    2. Pradeep Kautish & Arpita Khare & Rajesh Sharma, 2022. "Health insurance policy renewal: an exploration of reputation, performance, and affect to understand customer inertia," Journal of Marketing Analytics, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(3), pages 261-278, September.
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    7. Tueanrat, Yanika & Papagiannidis, Savvas & Alamanos, Eleftherios, 2021. "Going on a journey: A review of the customer journey literature," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 336-353.
    8. Tueanrat, Yanika & Papagiannidis, Savvas & Alamanos, Eleftherios, 2021. "A conceptual framework of the antecedents of customer journey satisfaction in omnichannel retailing," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
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    10. Harris, Patricia & Dall’Olmo Riley, Francesca & Hand, Chris, 2021. "Multichannel shopping: The effect of decision making style on shopper journey configuration and satisfaction," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    11. Aw, Eugene Cheng-Xi & Kamal Basha, Norazlyn & Ng, Siew Imm & Ho, Jo Ann, 2021. "Searching online and buying offline: Understanding the role of channel-, consumer-, and product-related factors in determining webrooming intention," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    12. Pekovic, Sanja & Rolland, Sylvie, 2020. "Recipes for achieving customer loyalty: A qualitative comparative analysis of the dimensions of customer experience," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 56(C).
    13. Tun-I Hu & Andrea Tracogna, 2021. "Multichannel search patterns and webrooming behaviours in the service industries: the case of motor insurance," Italian Journal of Marketing, Springer, vol. 2021(1), pages 57-81, June.
    14. Hoskins, Jake D., 2020. "The evolving role of hit and niche products in brick-and-mortar retail category assortment planning: A large-scale empirical investigation of U.S. consumer packaged goods," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).

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