Weather Risk Mitigation for Insurance Carriers

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Weather Risk Mitigation for Insurance Carriers

Weather Targeting Solutions™

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Insurance carriers can’t prevent severe weather from happening, but they can mitigate the billions of dollars of inevitable risk that severe weather causes with leading weather targeting technology from Skymosity and a smart weather targeting strategy that protects policy holders and drives results.”

-Andrew Christison, Director of Business Development, Skymosity

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Introduction

Severe weather plays an absolutely critical role in risk assessment and mitigation for insurance carriers across the globe, but especially in the United States. Due to the land mass and location of the United States, the U.S. has the greatest quantity and variety of hazardous weather on the planet, including tornadoes, blizzards, hurricanes, droughts, floods, and both extreme high and low temperatures. Even seemingly mild weather events such as rain storms or consistent warm and dry weather can have an enormous impact. Weather is estimated to have a financial cost of nearly $30 billion per year on average - relaying a direct cost to insurance companies, policy holders’ first line of defense. Weather targeting allows insurance carriers to take control of weather’s impact on their business by getting appropriate information into the hands of policy holders at the right time, which can reduce claims and help add value to the customer experience.

Severe Weather’s Impact

There is no doubt that severe weather has a direct impact on the well-being of individuals across the nation and the well-being of their assets, insured and uninsured. Understanding weather’s impact and being able to take action to mitigate losses during catastrophic weather events is quite possibly the most important function for property/casualty, automobile, business, and life insurance carriers.

HISTORIC SEVER E W EATH ER LOSSES: According to The Economist, the combined insured losses from Hurricanes Katrina, Wilma, and Rita in America totalled $117 billion USD, with Hurricane Katrina alone having insured losses of

$71 billion USD alone and claiming 1,836 lives.

According to The National Storm Damage Center, hail causes approximately $1 billion USD in damage every year to property and agriculture with the costliest hail storm in U.S. history, in Kansas City in 2011, causing an estimated $2 billion USD in damage alone.

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According to the Insurance Information Institute, in 2013, natural disasters caused approximately $21.8 billion USD in total losses and $12.8 billion USD in insured losses- down from the $29.4 billion USD average, from 2000-2012, yet still massively significant.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Weather Service, from 2003-2013, on average, 640 lives per year were taken from severe weather, with the majority attributed to extreme heat, hurricanes or tornadoes.

THE FUTUR E IM PACT OF SEVERE WEATHER: It is largely believed that we are in a period of increasing risk of severe weather. The 2014 CoreLogic Storm Surge Analysis recently identified more than 6.5 million homes throughout the United States with a total reconstruction value of nearly $1.5 trillion that were at risk of hurricane storm surge damage- an estimate only for potential hurricane damage.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued their fifth synthesis report in November, 2014, stating their belief that carbon emissions are likely to lead to more frequent severe weather that will continually amplify existing risks and create As of December 31, 2013 Estimated Overall Losses (US $m) Estimated Insured Losses (US $m)

Severe Thunderstorm 16,341 10,274

Winter Storm 2,935 1,895

Flood 1,929 240

Wildfire, Heat & Drought 620 385

TOTAL 21,825 12,794

NATURAL D ISASTER LOSSES IN TH E UN ITED STATES, 20 13

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new risks for natural and human systems. Weather causes an enormous burden of uncertainty on the insurance industry and mitigation of future impacts is of the utmost priority in order to mitigate losses and protect individuals, businesses and their assets.

Further Understanding The Importance of Weather Targeting

A report issued by Ceres in October 2014, Insurer Climate Risk Disclosure Survey Report & Scorecard: 2014 Findings & Recommendations, found that only 3% of insurance carriers (9 out of 330 insurance company survey respondents) scored in the leading category for preparedness in addressing climate-related risks and opportunities. 97% of insurance companies are not properly prepared or properly hedged against extreme weather scenarios, putting themselves and their policy holders at risk. Of the key recommendations for all insurance segments, weather targeting is an integral part in how insurance carriers could better engage with key stakeholders on climate risk, provide a forum to work through climate change scenarios and impact assessments, add to the sustenance of comprehensive public corporate policies on climate risk, and ultimately reduce claims and improve policy holder satisfaction. Weather risk is a significant threat and advanced weather-based targeting technology can help.

WEATH ER D IVER SITY & VAR IABILITY: At any given point in time, the weather is drastically different throughout the country and throughout the world, creating different needs for different individuals located across regions. At the same time that the Polar Vortex was freezing the Midwest and Southern U.S. in 2014, the weather for much of California, Nevada and Arizona was warm and sunny. Simultaneously, while Colorado was flooding in September of 2013, most of the U.S. was experiencing fair and clear weather conditions.

Whereas, it may make sense to deploy geo-targeted preparedness content to states and cities where catastrophes typically occur, more can be done with advanced Weather Targeting Solutions™. By automatically sending perfectly timed

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US Distribution (Late January) 22.9%

6.7% 8.8%

39.7%

Colder than 15 degrees Colder than 32 degrees Warmer than 55 degrees Warmer than 70 degrees

messaging to policy holders in locations where weather is making a specific impact, insurance carriers can assist in saving lives and policy-holder assets, which would result in reduced claims and higher profitability.

Leveraging Weather Targeting™ Technology

Weather Targeting technology allows insurance carriers to automatically send extremely relevant content to policy holders when they need it the most. The top content categories for relevant messaging fall into four major groups, including safety, maintenance, property protection, and planning. Not only are these categories the most pertinent in times of severe weather, they also allow policy holders to keep weather’s influence on daily endeavors top of mind.

Relevant Weather Content should include some of the following:

• General & Specific Safety Tips

• General & Specific Maintenance Tips

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• Potential Risk Impacts of Specific Weather Conditions

• Review of Security Goals

• How to Identify Assets & Protect Inventory

• Implementing a Household/Business Evacuation Plan

• How to Assess Vulnerabilities & Consequences

• The Importance of Prioritizing Needs

W EATHER -BASED EM AIL TR IGGERS™ : Automated email triggers help insurance carriers to deliver the right content to the right person at the right time.

Weather-based email triggers allow insurance carriers to target email subscribers by their immediate or forecasted weather condition, including temperature spikes and dips and weather alerts. By utilizing weather-based email triggers, insurance carriers can craft carefully thought out emails in advance with relevant content that applies to specific weather conditions. In addition to providing timely information, it allows insurance carriers to be positioned as thought leaders when policy holders need it the most. Email is a powerful channel, but many insurance carriers treat it as a one-to-many communication. Using weather-based email trigger technology, insurance carriers can create automated email trigger campaigns that deploy specific content during highly targeted conditions, allowing insurance carriers to minimize their risk exposure of weather on their business and on their policy holders, by sending SM S W EATHER TRIGGER S™: Weather-based SMS triggers can help insurance carriers to deploy pertinent weather alerts and warnings in short-messaging form to their policy holders that are at the highest risk. By utilizing weather-based SMS triggers, insurance carriers can make policy holders aware of oncoming storms to warn of potential threats to their personal property and businesses, and give as much time available to reasonably protect property and evacuate, if needed. SMS triggers have historically been used predominantly to relay marketing messages or general urgent news insights, however, with weather-based SMS triggers from Skymosity, insurance carriers can assure that their policy holders are receiving the right targeted information to make the best decisions and truly recognize the insurer as the first source of information in times of need.

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WE BS ITE PER SON A LIZATION: Weather-based website personalization allows for brands to dynamically change site content based on each visitor’s immediate or forecasted weather condition. Marketers have become smarter by testing extensively to present different content based on various visitor criteria. Weather is both a rudi- mentary and necessary element here, as minimizing weather’s risk to policy holders by better voicing key website real-estate allows insurance carriers to create a much more targeted visitor experience and to offer the right content at the right time.

By understanding what weather conditions their site visitors are in while visiting their website, insurance carriers can then maximize the way that policy holders interact with their website, by having the appropriate content show up for the policy holders during various weather conditions. For example, for a homeowner’s

insurance landing page, the site could offer solutions for rain-proofing their house when it’s raining, how to check for foundation problems when there’s extreme heat, warnings and recommendations for policy holders to protect their property and, most importantly, themselves, during inclement weather. Skymosity’s patent-

pending weather-based trigger technology makes it seamless for insurance carriers to easily setup advanced campaigns that deploy via their ESP.

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and tips on ensuring their home is protected from snow during a blizzard, honing in on the exact weather that could be causing the policy holder challenges at that time.

DY NAM IC CONTENT WITH IN EMAIL: Weather-based dynamic content within email is another tool to deliver the right content to the right policy holders at the right time. Unlike weather-based email triggers that deploy based off of the subscriber's immediate or forecasted weather conditions, making for the most timely notifications, dynamic content within email allows insurance carriers to include a content region within their other emails to offer relevant content, based off of the policy holders’ immediate or forecasted weather condition at time of open. While insurance carriers are sending out transactional or marketing email communications, adding this capability to their arsenal can improve communications with weather-related content.

Conditions

Clear Windy Fog Sleet

Temperature Dips and Spikes

Rain Hail Snow Thunderstorms

SA M P L E C O N D I T I O NS A N D A LE RTS

Alerts/Warnings

Blizzard Warning Fire Warning Severe Thunderstorm Warning

Plus over 100 Emergency Warnings and Alerts Dense Fog Advisory Flash Flood Warning Tornado Warning

Earthquake Warning Hurricane Watch Heat Advisory

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Weather Targeting Strategy for Risk Mitigation

PROPERTY/ CASUALTY IN SURANC E: For General Property/ Casualty Insurance, the benefits are extensive for weather targeting for risk mitigation. When weather is occurring, or bound to occur, that will affect the assets of an individual, the owner of those assets has a tremendous interest in protecting them to the best of their ability.

With weather targeting from Skymosity, insurance carriers can deploy information to their policy holders when they need it the most. When a tornado or hurricane warning is issued, the insurer can be the first to automatically notify their policy holders of best practices to protect assets, reiterate their disaster plan, and instructions to evacuate, if need be, making the biggest possible impact with the highest chance to mitigate risk from that severe weather occurrence.

Whether protecting from hail, blizzards, rain, or more catastrophic severe weather, for Property/Casualty Insurers, the savings from having a solid warning system in place can make a monumental difference in quantity of assets properly protected, as well as the bottom line.

AU TOM OBILE IN SURANCE: Automobile Insurance is not only a requirement by law in every state throughout the U.S., it is also primarily available to assist drivers in times of need. By utilizing weather targeting in the auto insurance industry, insurance carriers can keep more drivers off the road in severe weather conditions and craft and provide effective messaging to protect drivers and vehicles, when they are most likely to be in an accident or experience vehicle damage.

With weather targeting, insurance carriers can send the most timely and effective messages to their policy holders, warning them of conditions or providing tips at the most relevant times. When there’s a hail storm in the forecast for the following day, insurance carriers can deploy messaging to encourage policy holders to make sure that their vehicle is covered. When fog is thick and unrelenting, insurance carriers can give tips and reminders on driving strategy in the fog.

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When the temperature is dropping over 15 degrees and it’s forecasted to be under 20 degrees the next day, insurance carriers can send messaging on proper vehicle maintenance to assure safe driving in freezing conditions. Smart messaging with weather targeting technology from Skymosity will mitigate losses from claims, protect drivers, and help insurance carriers to save money.

BUSINESS INSUR ANC E: In order to protect tangible assets, including human resources, inventory, real estate and other types of property, businesses are driven to mitigate risk the best that they possibly can, no matter where that risk comes from, but especially from potentially devastating severe weather. By utilizing weather targeting technology from Skymosity, insurance carriers can offer an extra layer of protection to policy holders by providing them with relevant content to reiterate severe weather plans and provide assurance on how their businesses can stay protected, when they need it the most.

The beauty of weather targeting is the ability to deploy messages or display messages, at the precise time that it can add the most value. When a Fire Weather Advisory is in effect, insurance carriers can have content ready to automatically deploy or display with specific advisement on how to best hedge against potential fire damage. When

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a flood warning goes into effect, business insurance carriers can be the first to let the companies’ risk management teams know the exact measures that should be taken to mitigate risk. The use of weather targeting by insurance carriers will mitigate risks for severe weather incidents, by providing the right information at the right time to businesses that are being impacted by severe weather, protecting assets, saving lives, and saving money.

LIFE INSUR AN CE: Hundreds of preventable fatalities occur from severe weather catastrophes every year, not to mention the thousands that are caused in which weather had a direct effect. With weather targeting technology, insurance carriers can alert their policy holders when severe weather is afoot to provide tips and information to help them their families stay safe.

For example, targeting policy holders who are affected by a heat advisory and extreme temperatures to advise on proper hydration, risks of exercise in extreme conditions, and other factors that could potentially be risking their own health and wellbeing, allows insurance carriers to have a voice when it can make the biggest differencedifference to their policy holders.

Whether targeting automatic triggers based on extreme heat, hurricane or tornado warnings, or virtually any condition, life insurance companies can provide meaningful value with advanced weather-based targeting.

Conclusion

Severe weather is a crushing force that affects the insurance industry and their policy holders every single day of every single year. By utilizing weather targeting technology from Skymosity, insurance carriers can hedge against the inevitable risks associated with severe weather, while preserving the assets and lives of their policy holders along the way.

Whether insurance carriers choose to deploy SMS Triggers, Weather-Based Email Triggers™ with pristine timing and impact, dynamically change site or email content, or a combination thereof, weather targeting provides a practical solution for

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insurance carriers to mitigate risk and exposure, which directly leads to reduced claims, increased bottom line, and more insured assets being protected. Weather targeting technology provides the tools necessary for insurance carriers to hedge risk against potential climate change or climate fluctuation in a systematic and strategic manner that is a major win for policy holders and insurance carriers alike.

Weather targeting is an essential component for insurance carriers to deliver the best possible assistance to policy holders and the highest possible return to shareholders. For insurance carriers, weather targeting is not just important, it is absolutely necessary.

Skymosity is the leading Weather Targeting™ Platform, powering advanced weather-based technology for some of the world’s biggest brands. With patent-pending solutions for SMS and Weather-Based Email Trigger™

automation, plus website personalization and analytics based on weather, the Skymosity Weather Marketing Cloud™ helps businesses seamlessly leverage big weather data. For more information, visit www.skymosity.com.

Weather Risk Mitigation for Insurance Carriers