The first digital insurance in Croatia

At the end of last year, Croatia Insurance (Croatian: Croatia Osiguranje) launched LAQO, the first 100% digital insurance in Croatia. With the rapid development of new technologies, businesses have adopted new ways of interacting with customers. As a market leader in the traditional insurance industry, Croatia Insurance obviously wanted to champion the insurtech sector.  

Digital insurance has been made possible due to digital transformation in general, with traditional businesses incorporating digital technology in their business processes, culture and customer experiences. 

Croatia Insurance launched LAQO, as an answer to the current global situation, as well as to adjust their communication and way of working to younger, tech-savvy customers. 

Car insurance to commence the rollout

You can forget going to the office to talk to an agent, getting information verbally and leaving the office with a paper map full of different options and even more questions than you had in the first place. 

Now, everything can be reached from any digital device, at any time. At the moment, LAQO digital insurance offers just car insurance but it gives a full overview of how you can benefit from using this type of insurance. 

For instance, if you want to find out how much insurance you need to pay for your car, now you can simply input the number of your car registration and just follow the steps. The whole process is finished in just a couple of clicks. 

The initial information isn’t the only thing made easier. You get a valid insurance policy in digital format, so there’s no need to print papers and carry them around. As a customer, every question you have can be answered by using chat services like Viber and WhatsApp. 

The project has been a collaboration between 404 and Shape 404 agencies, which, together with the team from Croatia Insurance, came up with a name, created the branding and visual identity as well as a PR strategy, social and video production and website and app. 

It took around eight months to launch the functional product. The funny mascot, Pavle Pauq, was created by Bruketa&Žinić&Gray agency. 

LaqoPrevent 

After a couple of months in the market, LAQO introduced an addition to the application, called LaqoPrevent, a program for education on road safety. The technical solution was made by Amodo, one of the top 5 insurtech companies in the world. 

The launch of this program was prompted by recent EU road safety statistics showing road fatalities in Croatia are well above the EU average, mainly due to drivers exceeding speed limits and using their mobile while driving.

LaqoPrevent promotes safe driving and responsible traffic behaviour by using advanced telematics technology solutions. Telematics combines telecommunication and information technology to transmit, store and receive information from communication devices. 

For LAQO users, it means that LaqoPrevent analyses their behaviour in traffic and encourages them to correct it. The capability made following road safety rules seems like a game, using the trend of gamification to engage users. 

For instance, drivers collect badges for different desirable actions, like driving under the speed limit, and they can compete with other drivers and earn benefits. If you are concerned about the implications of data collection of this kind, the use of this application is completely voluntary.

Awards

In the first couple of months, the LAQO won several awards – the cx.hr award for the best user experience and for the best call centre with less than 30 people. Considering that the experience with a call centre is one of the main causes of frustration for customers in general, this award is all the more important. 

From a marketing point of view, LAQO won the Grand Prix from The Croatian Public Relations Association, HUOJ (Croatian: Hrvatska udruga za odnose s javnoscu) for the project launch, and a bronze Effie, bronze Ideja X and MIXX recognition in the Best Mobile App category. 

Results and future

In less than a year on the market, LAQO has grown tremendously and beat all expectations. They exceeded the plan for 2020 by 50% in terms of contracting policies, and the growth trend continues in 2021. 

Customers have recognised the simplicity of contracting policies and communicating with an insurance company on a new level.

LAQO is currently working on enhancements, and we are looking forward to seeing what the next steps for digital insurance in Croatia will be.