Product innovation
Insurance product innovation, from problem to pilot.
Ninety is a London-based insurance product innovation consultancy. We help insurers and reinsurers design, test and launch new products: we frame the problem, design the proposition, test it with real customers and get it ready for pilot. You build only what customers have already shown you they want.
We've done this across 500+ projects with 60+ tier 1 insurers and reinsurers, including Bupa, AXA, Zurich, Cigna, Lloyd's and SCOR.
What we do
What does an insurance product innovation consultancy do?
We take a new insurance idea, or a problem worth solving, and turn it into a proposition customers will buy. That is insurance product design in the insurer's sense: who the cover is for, what it protects, how it reaches customers and what happens when they claim. It goes well beyond the screens and the journey, though we design those too.
Most new products fail for the same reasons. Big assumptions go untested, hard questions get asked too late, and important decisions are put off. Our job is to find the assumption your product stands or falls on, and test it with customers before you spend money building.
How we work
How do we design and test a new insurance product?
Every project runs on our 1-2-3 method, the same method built into Ninety OS. At any point you know which stage the work is in, and which assumption it rests on.
- 01
The problem.
We frame the problem with your team and with customers: who has it, how much it matters to them, and what they do about it today.
- 02
The proposition.
We design the proposition and put it in front of real customers. Interviews, prototypes and live demand tests check the assumptions that matter, and the evidence shapes the product.
- 03
The pilot.
Once customers have shown the product is worth building, we get it ready for market, with a pilot plan your business can approve and run.
The tools we use are free on our Toolkit page, from the Insurance Innovation Canvas to the Assumptions Map.
Evidence before the build
How do you de-risk insurance product development?
By replacing assumptions with evidence before the expensive part starts. A product nobody wants is the most expensive thing in insurance, so we test whether customers want it first and build second.
For Bupa, we ranked four preventative health features on real customer behaviour, across 110,000+ tested impressions, before anything was built. For Cigna in Singapore, six weeks of testing with real customers turned a bold idea into a pilot plan, and the product is now live.
Every engagement ends with evidence you can act on and, where the idea holds up, a pilot ready to run.
Working with us
What does an engagement with Ninety look like?
Our product engagements run from a few days to around ten weeks, shaped around the question you need answered.
A few days
A focused sprint or bootcamp to frame a problem, generate ideas or get a team working the same way. Zurich's leadership bootcamp ran for three days.
Six to ten weeks
From problem to a proposition ready for pilot: framing, design, customer testing and a pilot plan. Cigna's took six weeks, Bupa's Quote & Buy redesign seven.
Longer programmes
Building product innovation into your own business: training your teams in our method, and setting up the models, funds and structures that keep it going.
We work alongside your team rather than handing over a report. Your people are in the sessions, see the customer evidence as it arrives, and keep the method when we leave.
We don't publish prices, because each engagement is scoped to the question in front of you. Start a conversation and we'll tell you what it would take.
Don't just take our word for it.
56 days to launch a new, sophisticated proposition is phenomenal. With any other approach, it would have taken months, or years. We might even still be working on it.
Head of e-trading, Zurich
Why Ninety
Who can help an insurer design and test a new product?
A partner who knows insurance and knows how to test an idea with customers. Ninety is a specialist: we work only on insurance products and the teams that build them, across life, health, general and specialty insurance and reinsurance.
Our 500+ projects are built into Ninety OS, our own product innovation platform, so each new project starts with what earlier ones taught us.
We've won or been shortlisted for 30+ industry awards since 2018, and been named Consultancy of the Year five times.
And we're a social enterprise: 90% of our profits go to causes that tackle global poverty. Read about our purpose.
Our work
What have we launched with insurers?
Lloyd's · Specialty insurance
Insuring the uninsurable.
A world-first IoT-powered proposition, designed to protect Covid-19 vaccines moving through fragile supply chains in Africa.
Cigna · Health insurance
Validated in six weeks.
Health cover that adapts to wearable data in real time, tested with customers before anything was built. It is now live in Singapore.
AXA Ireland · General insurance
A financial guarantee for going green.
Plenty of customers wanted to go green. Far fewer would gamble on whether it paid off, so we helped AXA Ireland guarantee the savings.
Bupa · Private medical insurance
2X conversion, in 7 weeks.
Bupa's Quote & Buy journey wasn't converting. We found out why, and proved the redesign with real customers before it was built.
Questions
Questions insurers ask us
What is insurance product design?
Insurance product design is the work of deciding what a new insurance product is: who it is for, what it covers, how customers buy it and how they claim. It is wider than UX design, which shapes the screens and journeys. We do both, starting with the product itself.
How long does it take to design and test a new insurance product?
Most of our product engagements take six to ten weeks from framing the problem to a proposition that is ready for pilot. Cigna's took six weeks and Bupa's took seven. Zurich's Head of e-trading described launching a new proposition in 56 days.
Do you work with reinsurers and specialty insurers?
Yes. Alongside life, health and general insurers, we have worked with reinsurers such as SCOR and Swiss Re, with specialty insurers such as Allied World, and with Lloyd's.
Do you test ideas with real customers?
Yes, always. We put the assumptions that matter in front of the people who would buy the product, through interviews, prototypes and live demand tests, and let what they do decide the design. For Bupa that meant 110,000+ tested impressions before anything was built.
Do you work with insurers outside the UK?
Yes. We are based in London and work with insurers across the globe, including Cigna in Singapore, Dai-ichi Life in Japan and AXA in Ireland.
What happens after the pilot?
Many clients take the method in-house. We train insurance teams in it and help insurers build the models, funds and structures that make product innovation a lasting capability. Ninety OS, our product innovation platform, lets your team run projects the same way.
How much does an engagement cost?
We don't publish prices. Each engagement is scoped to the question you need answered, so the quickest way to a figure is a short conversation: call +44 (0)20 7060 4090 or email hello@ninety.com.
Is Ninety connected to ninety.io?
No. Ninety (Ninety Consulting Ltd, company number 09353834) is the London insurance product innovation consultancy at ninety.com, founded in 2011. It is not connected to ninety.io, the US business operating system software company.
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