Insurance Age - New technology sets the stage for buying revolution

Insurance Age - New technology sets the stage for buying revolution: "New technology sets the stage for buying revolution"

Sarah Hills
New technology that allows customers to buy insurance products by touching posters with their mobile phones has been launched by a marketing technology company.
Glue4 is currently piloting its full service with insurers and brokers to enable them to use 'near field communication' (NFC) smart posters to advertise, and eventually sell, their products.
The service, called Glue4Touch, will include a range of advertising media tagged with an NFC chip. The chip will pass information to viewers on demand - in this instance, through their NFC-enabled mobile phone.
Dr Neil Garner, managing director at Glue4, said: "Glue4Touch has brought together under one roof a range of marketing and connectivity technologies to deliver smart-poster propositions to mobile phones, including vouchers and interactive advertising. It's going to turn anonymous outdoor advertisements into something direct and add volume to products."
Mr Garner explained that, in terms of the insurance sector, there were several applications that could be used in smart-poster technology. This may include touching a mobile phone to a poster to buy an off-the-shelf travel insurance product at an airport, or to register interest to receive product details either in the post or via mobile internet.
Peter Ballard, managing partner at Foolproof Business Services - which carried out consumer research on NFC technology - said that any company that wanted to strengthen its relationship with consumers could benefit from this technology.
"This will allow the high street to re-engage with consumers," he said. "It's going to be great for distress purchases, or for services such as renewing insurance in a branch or buying pet insurance at the vets. In addition, the technology may be used by insurers to provide secure 'at home' payment systems alongside a PC."
Smart posters have also been developed to support payment functions. Consumers can buy products and services either online, where the process is similar to standard web-based purchasing, or in-store. NFC technology is fully compatible with the more traditional card-based 'contactless' payments schemes.
Dr Garner added: "Contactless is rapidly becoming a well-understood and trusted technology thanks to everyday uses - such as Oyster Cards and the new payments trials with Mastercard and Visa - which enable consumers to tap or wave their payment card near a specially equipped terminal."
The first Nokia NFC-enabled phones entered the market in May 2007, while Samsung and Motorola have both announced handsets for this year.
"This could revolutionise the way customers interact with advertisers," said Mr Ballard. "This is part of the growing trend for convergence, where the internet and mobile phones meet - and it will also play an important part in how customers buy products in the future.
"It will also empower customers to shop while they are on the go, and not in front of a PC or in a shop. For instance, they buy an insurance product from a poster while waiting for a train."