FWD Life Insurance Thailand will launch an e-commerce platform next year to increase customer engagement, a fresh move aimed at achieving the goal of becoming the fifth-biggest Thai life insurer in terms of premiums and brand awareness within three years.
The e-commerce platform has been launched in some of the countries where the Hong Kong-based FWD Life Insurance has a presence and it is growing rapidly, said Aman Kapoor, chief marketing officer of the Thai unit.
When the company's online insurance business is launched in Thailand, customers will get reward points for taking out insurance policies through the e-commerce channel, Mr Kapoor said.
Reward points can be redeemed for prizes but not for insurance premium discounts or cash.
FWD's premiums grew rapidly in the first half of the year, thanks to a build-up of customer engagement via digital media, Mr Kapoor said.
"Today, people use mobile phones for 6-7 hours every day," he said. "It becomes a part of people's life."
He said the company's Facebook fan page in June was No.1 in terms of engagement for a sixth straight month, with more than 400,000 participants.
FWD now ranks seventh in Thai market share.
The company was the fastest-growing life insurance company in terms of agents, new selling channels, new product launches and group insurance last year, when it launched a digital marketing strategy for 2015-17.
FWD unveiled digital communication channels such as a website, Facebook, Instagram, Line and its own FWD Max -- a loyalty and engagement app -- developed by the company.
The app allows customers to join the company's activities in return for reward points.
"The purpose of the digital engagement programme is not for sales, but to make them [customers] feel good with the brand," Mr Kapoor said.
He said the company will continue to develop varied content for numerous channels to reach different groups of customers.