Treating Customers Fairly: A Key Strategy for Customer Retention in the Insurance Industry

By Eric Adu Gyamfi

In today’s hyper-competitive financial landscape, customer retention is no longer a passive outcome, it is a deliberate strategic art, powered by trust, transparency, and consistency.

And in the Ghanaian insurance industry, where intangibles like trust and service delivery hold the same weight as premiums and policies, the philosophy of Treating Customers Fairly (TCF) offers not just compliance with global best practice, but a meaningful, homegrown path to building lasting relationships.

Management thinker Michael LeBoeuf stated it best, when he said, “A satisfied customer is the best business strategy of all.”  In insurance, this means that failing to build systems of fairness and empathy, after decades where dissatisfaction, mistrust, or transactional coldness prevailed towards customers, is not just careless, it is a recipe for continuous loss.

The TCF initiative, originally championed by the UK’s Financial Services Authority (FSA), outlines six key outcomes. They are principles that must be deeply embedded in the daily practices of every insurance company, especially those who, like Hollard, wish not only to acquire customers, but to earn their loyalty.

Let us explore these six outcomes with examples from our work at Hollard Ghana.

1. Putting Fairness at the Heart of Corporate Culture

“Culture eats strategy for breakfast,” Peter Drucker famously said. In insurance, if fairness does not live in the culture, from the boardroom to the delivery door, no amount of glossy policies or training will compensate. At Hollard, our culture of “being a catalyst for positive and enduring change” is not a poster slogan. It’s visible in how claims are handled, how branches are staffed, and how our teams are incentivised. As Bono Regional Manager, I often say to my team: “If you wouldn’t sell this policy to your own mother, then don’t sell it at all.”

2. Designing Products That Reflect Real Lives

Too often, insurance products are created in sterile boardrooms, far removed from the rhythms and realities of the people they’re meant to serve. At Hollard, we approach product design differently. Hollard’s Award winning MSME Asomdwee Product is created with the SME sector in mind. With this product, we seek to grow with the petty trader to become an industry giant. The Product is affordable and offers all manner of business to get insured.

Equally, our MeBanb? product, developed for the underserved and distributed via MTN Mobile Money and Telecel Cash, extends coverage to people who would not have had the access to traditional insurance to earn protection at affordable premiums through simple payment channels. That’s what fairness looks like in practice, understanding barriers and designing around them.

3. Communicating Clearly—Before, During, and After the Sale

We believe that clarity is kindness. That’s why we at Hollard ensure that policy documents are translated into plain English (and where necessary, local languages), free of industry jargons and hidden clauses. Whether a client is buying car insurance, life cover, or business interruption protection, they should know exactly what they are buying.

In our branches, we use visual aids and storyboards to explain policies, especially to first-time buyers. A well-informed customer is not only more likely to renew but also becomes an ambassador.

4. Giving Suitable Advice, tailored to the Individual

Insurance is not one-size-fits-all and it never has been. At Hollard, our sales staff are trained to listen more than they speak. We assess the customer’s life stage, income level, risks, and future plans before offering a product. In my region, I once advised a farmer to delay purchasing our life policy until his cocoa income stabilised the following season. He returned, not only to buy the policy, but with two of his friends.

5. Meeting Product and Service Expectations—Every Time

“Promise less, deliver more” and this is a silent creed in our service delivery. Whether it’s a claim turnaround time or policy maturity, expectations must be met or exceeded. At Hollard, our customers come first and treat them with respect and dignity. We pay legitimate claims on time and go the extra mile to delight the customer. Where we make mistakes, we graciously accept same and aspire to win back the trust.

Keeping customers informed, even when there are delays, builds trust. Silence, on the other hand, erodes it swiftly.

6. Removing Unfair Barriers After Sale—Claims, Complaints

In the past, customers who wanted to make a claim or switch insurers were treated like traitors or beggars. That era must be put behind us. At Hollard, we simplify our claims processes using digital platforms. Customers can initiate claims, upload documents, and track progress without having to enter a branch.

Complaints are and should be treated as gifts. They present a unique moment to clutch long-term loyalty or lose a customer in a split second if poorly managed. The difference between losing and retaining a customer lies in how the complaint is handled. A clear explanation, regular updates, and guided support can turn dissatisfaction into renewed confidence.

Customers stay where they feel respected, informed, and valued. “Treating Customers Fairly” is not merely a compliance exercise, it is a business philosophy that transforms transactions into trust, and contracts into confidence.

When fairness underpins culture, products, communication, advice, service, and after-sale support, customer retention ceases to be a challenge, it becomes the natural outcome of doing what is right.

Placing fairness at the centre of firm operations will not only retain customers but also build the kind of reputation that outlasts competition, regulation, and even time itself. Fairness is not just good ethics; it is good economics.

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