VIU by HUB wants to get ahead of the customer
VIU by HUB is outlining a three-to-five-year plan to become more proactive with customers.
During an internal event last week, the HUB International-owned personal lines brokerage outlined its future strategy, which rests on three ideas: advice, value, and rewards.
VIU wants to differentiate by continuing to offer neutral advice on the customer’s terms, but also by delivering value beyond insurance protection and rewarding customers who take steps to reduce their risk. Examples included proactively
Neutrality and choice were recurring themes. VIU president Bryan Davis also emphasized that the brokerage measures clients instead of policies, reflecting its goal of managing more of a customer’s insurance needs over time. The agency is currently adding around 1,700 households per week.
The strategy aligns with a new VIU survey conducted by The Harris Poll. Among 1,663 US adults with home or auto insurance, 88% said they would value a provider that proactively alerts them when their coverage no longer fits their life. However, 56% said their provider had not contacted them proactively in more than a year or they were unsure whether it ever had.
The survey also found that 41% had not changed their home or auto coverage in more than a year, while 20% had made no changes since purchasing their policy. One-third of policyholders who had filed a claim said their coverage fell short of expectations.
The findings support VIU’s embedded distribution model. Some 77% of respondents said they would be likely to obtain home or auto insurance through a company they already use—such as a bank, mortgage lender or automaker—if it connected them with a licensed insurance professional.
VIU currently embeds its insurance shopping platform through partnerships across the real estate, financial, and automotive sectors, most recently with FirstService Residential and Spero Financial.
