Paymentshield has announced the full launch of its Refer and Protect proposition, with the latest development enabling an immediate automated quote to be sent digitally to clients for them to purchase in their own time.

The full referral proposition has been developed to help advisers who are time poor or don’t have GI permissions but still want to ensure their clients receive quality insurance protection for their home.

It means advisers now have a digital solution which enables them to either seamlessly refer clients to a team of Paymentshield’s in-house insurance specialists to receive advice on a chosen date and time, or provide an “instant” automated quote to clients by email or text.

The automated quote, which is available for both Paymentshield’s Home and Landlord’s Insurance, also enables clients who begin an online journey to still speak to a member of Paymentshield’s dedicated referral team at any point if and when they need advice.

Paymentshield said that, having been trialled with select partners, the new online journey is already seeing strong conversion levels of 20% during Q2 2024 – well above those that are typically seen online.

Advisers are also able to track referrals via a new user interface, which separates both telephony and online referrals into key milestones. For example, for phone referrals, users will see: call arranged, customer contacted, customer quoted and the final outcome. This means advisers can see exactly where each client is in the customer journey, giving them confidence that their client is being looked after.

The new proposition will be supported by Paymentshield’s Refer and Protect business development team, which will proactively support those firms who could benefit from embedding a referral approach within their business.

Paymentshield has also announced the launch of two additional technology solutions. The first is a new API integration capability which offers Paymentshield partners the ability to integrate the referral service into their own platform or CRM system.

This solution saves advisers time by enabling them to quickly transfer all customer data already captured in their CRM via an integration, while still allowing advisers to select the referral experience the customer prefers on a client-by-client basis.

In addition, Paymentshield has created new capabilities to enable firms to embed insurance journeys into their own customer-facing web platforms to cater for clients who prefer an online only service.

Emma Green (pictured), distribution director at Paymentshield, said: “The launch of Refer and Protect is the latest addition to the range of support and technology we provide to the intermediary market. With Consumer Duty having brought the need to avoid foreseeable harm to the fore, many advisers and distributors are focusing more on general insurance and ensuring it is offered in a way that enhances the customer experience.

“Our new automated quote and integration capabilities mean we now have an array of options that can help advisers efficiently accommodate their customers’ insurance needs and preferences whilst also growing their business. This launch is all about empowering our partners to ensure they can seamlessly and digitally protect every single one of their clients when they don’t have time to do it themselves.

“While, to maximise conversion, we would always encourage a telephone referral over online, we recognise that sometimes clients don’t want to speak to someone over the phone and would prefer to finalise in their own time, confident that it’s a quality policy.”