alletta is reinventing the way insurance is sold

The Aargau-based InsurTech start-up alletta offers health insurance comparisons and the opportunity to take out insurance policies. The digital sales platform has been operating in the Swiss health insurance sector since autumn 2023. Since May of this year, legal expenses insurance can also be taken out on the platform. What is new about this is that the insurance policies can be taken out completely digitally and paid for monthly by credit card or Twint.

thebroker talks to Jürg Stupp, CEO of alletta sales platform ag, about how insurance can be taken out with the help of AI and an avatar.

Who is alletta?

We are a team of ten employees with more than 100 years of experience in brokerage, insurance and IT. As an intermediary platform, we address the significant changes in customer needs: at alletta.ch, customers can choose their insurance independently and with full knowledge at any time and take out the policy directly online.

Is alletta an insurance company or an intermediary?

Definitely an intermediary! We are registered with FINMA as an independent intermediary and act entirely in the interests of our customers.

How does the platform differ from other intermediaries?

Oh, there are many significant differences. alletta is fully digital, from choosing the insurance to taking out the policy and the cancellation service. And it’s available in ten languages. You won’t find that anywhere else. And, very importantly, when choosing health insurance, the personal offers on alletta.ch include not only basic insurance but also supplementary insurance. These are individually tailored and calculated for the specific needs of the customer.

Why do customers receive cashback when they switch health insurance providers, and how much is it?

With the valuable support of our avatar, customers advise themselves. That’s why they deserve a share of the commission we receive from the insurance companies! For supplementary health insurance, the cashback can be as much as CHF 300 per person.

Isn’t a personal consultation very important when taking out complex health insurance policies?

The behaviour of customers has changed significantly in recent years; most of them no longer want advisor visits. They prefer to make their own decisions, without influence, when and where they want. That’s why we place a high value on transparency – in terms of both the insured benefits and the premiums. For example, with just a few clicks, customers can obtain a specific calculation of the comparable premiums for themselves and their family from ten major providers, for both basic and supplementary insurance.

What has been your experience with the avatar alletta? Is she able to answer all customer queries satisfactorily?

At first, we were very impressed by how quickly the avatar was able to read all the laws, ordinances, benefit overviews, insurance conditions, FAQs and more. So far, we have received very positive feedback from our customers. But of course, our avatar also learns something new every day.

It is also possible to compare health insurance providers on your platform. How many health insurance providers are there?

We are proud to be able to offer the services of ten health insurers on our platform. This means we can provide a wide selection without burdening customers with an unedited, enormous choice. Just over 85 per cent of Swiss people are insured with one of these providers, so the range is very comprehensive.

The deadline for terminating basic insurance was 30 November. What about the additional deadline of 1 July?

Everyone can change or adjust their health insurance for the following year, for example, reduce the deductible rate or choose a new insurance model, up until the end of November. The summer deadline is much more restrictive: policyholders can only change health insurance companies if they are in the standard model (free choice of doctor) and have chosen the lowest deductible rate of CHF 300. The cancellation must reach the health insurance company by 31 March, and the change will take place, as you mentioned, on 1 July.

What advantages does changing health insurance companies offer anyway?

We see that our customers have various goals when they switch: the top one is clearly saving on premiums. Others want to insure new needs, such as fitness or protection abroad, or cover expensive risks like orthodontics for children and young people. The good news is that it’s easy to check your insurance and switch if necessary.

Do you encourage your customers to change their health insurer every year?

We encourage our customers to regularly review their insurance situation. This may lead to a change. On our platform, three-year contracts are the main option for supplementary insurance. This rewards customers with an additional discount for their long-term choice.

Can and should pensioners also change their health insurance?

Everyone should review their own insurance situation. There is no difference for pensioners in terms of key issues such as the amount of premiums, accident cover, the chosen deductible rate, the scope of services, etc. Great caution is advised for pensioners with supplementary insurance, because new products can usually no longer be taken out. This means specifically: firstly, you should only dispense with products such as semi-private hospital insurance if you no longer require it. This is because it is no longer possible to take out a new policy at a later date. Secondly, when changing, the existing insurance may only be cancelled once the new insurer has confirmed acceptance in writing!

Why is it worth taking out legal expenses insurance?

Often people go without legal representation because the costs for legal advice or a lawyer are too high. But conflicts are part of life, such as a dispute with a neighbour or a minor traffic accident with only body damage. The benefits of legal expenses insurance are immediately apparent.

Is it also necessary if you have liability insurance?

Liability and legal expenses insurance complement each other perfectly: liability insurance covers the costs if I accidentally cause damage to other people and helps me to defend myself against such claims. Legal expenses insurance is there for me even if I have not caused any damage to anyone.

What types of legal expenses insurance does alletta offer?

alletta offers the classic types for private individuals: private law, traffic law and combined.

On your website or app, you promise to help people take out legal expenses insurance within five minutes. How does it work?

Yes, it’s quite amazing and it takes just a few steps: you enter a little personal information, state your needs and you’ll immediately get an overview of the offers. You can view these in detail if you like. You make an informed choice, take care of a few formalities and sign digitally. That’s it. Try it out – we keep our promises. And by the way: if you opt for Coop legal expenses insurance, you can also pay your monthly premium by credit card or TWINT.

What about cashback here?

Cashback here is CHF 70 per household.

Under the motto ‘Member get Member’, your policyholders can also earn money when they acquire new customers. How does it work and how much do you get?

On the alletta portal, each customer has their own personal member-get-member link. They can share this with their friends and acquaintances as an ordinary link, as a QR code or as a social media post. And if one of their friends successfully takes out insurance through this link, the customer collects the cashback of up to CHF 100.

Why is alletta aimed exclusively at private customers?

We are fully digital and therefore very efficient. This is particularly worthwhile if a large number of transactions are possible. That’s why our offer is aimed at private individuals. On the B2B side, however, we offer brokers and agents the opportunity to use our platform for their customers. Alletta is then the responsible agent – brokers can realise the digital opportunity in personal consultations, newsletters, on websites and more, without additional effort.

Jürg Stupp, a graduate in business administration, is a customer- and market-oriented leader with 25 years of broad experience as a business developer in healthcare and insurance. He has spent ten of those years at management level with responsibility for marketing and sales. He invests his energy in employees and their networking in order to inspire customers and achieve sustainable growth and earnings.

Jürg Stupp has experience in managing a business unit with 800 FTEs, a cost budget of > CHF 200 million, and 40 locations throughout Switzerland. Acquisition targets > 150,000, retention targets for > 2 million individual customers, lead for sales processes and systems, support for top accounts, cooperation and distribution partners, project management for strategic strategic projects, employee performance increased from 78 to 83 (highest index value in the company), 2020 production targets massively exceeded despite pandemic thanks to complete digitalisation (best performance in the market)

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