Leading online payroll provider boosts digital sales of workers’ compensation by 70% with NEXT’s embedded insurance product

A multinational software company with a leading online payroll product for small businesses wanted to enable customers to purchase workers’ compensation insurance within their digital experience. They chose to partner with NEXT to make this possible.

NEXT collaborated with the payroll provider to implement NEXT Connect, our embedded insurance product. This solution allowed the partner to offer workers’ compensation and other business insurance within their native digital environment.

The frictionless, native NEXT Connect experience enabled customers to shop and buy policies from within the partner’s payroll product in minutes. In most cases, they could complete their application and purchase their policy 100% online.

As a result, the partner saw a 70% increase in digital sales of workers’ comp policies.¹ Total revenue went up 45%, significantly boosting the partner’s shared earnings from the program.¹

And customers were able to get the business insurance they needed easily and more efficiently.

NEXT Connect increases digital addressability and revenue

The problem:

While the leading online payroll provider recognized the value of offering workers’ comp to help ease regulatory compliance for customers, they were referring customers to an external broker for coverage. This process required customers to wait for an agent to contact them, and lack of digital addressability led to reduced sales and revenue.

By 2022, they wanted to enable customers to purchase workers’ comp and other business insurance digitally. Research that year indicated that customer preference for online experiences was at 65%, up from 33% only two years earlier.²

Plus, the payroll provider wanted to drive digital engagement with payroll, as well as offer insurance services on par with competitors that had in-house insurance agencies.

The solution:

To offer their customers a seamless, digitally driven insurance experience that was contained within their platform, the payroll provider partnered with NEXT to implement NEXT Connect, our embedded insurance solution.

NEXT Connect, which offers low- to no-code integrations, placed a fully native insurance purchase experience within the partner’s payroll platform. Customers could, in most cases, complete their application and purchase coverage 100% online in minutes. And NEXT’s in-house licensed agents were available to provide customer support as needed.

NEXT Connect served customers policies written by NEXT and a panel of other top carriers. The focus was on selling Pay As You Go (PAYGO) workers’ compensation, which can simplify coverage, but general liability, errors and omissions, commercial property and business owners’ policies were also available.

PAYGO provides the same protection as traditional workers’ comp but offers unique advantages because coverage is linked to a customer’s online payroll. Premiums are automatically calculated and paid based on actual payroll each time it is run, which can help customers better manage cash flow.

The results:

NEXT Connect successfully enabled the payroll provider to engage customers in a frictionless digital insurance purchase experience within their platform. And customers could easily get the simple Pay As You Go workers’ comp and other business insurance they needed online in minutes.

As a result, the partner’s digital sales increased by 70%.¹

In addition, total revenue went up 45%, significantly boosting the partner’s shared earnings from the program.¹ This was driven by a 44% increase in premium per sale, as larger businesses were purchasing coverage and more businesses were bundling other types of coverage with their workers’ comp policy.¹

What’s more, these metrics were amplified over time. After a full year of implementation, digital sales soared year over year up by 247%, digital revenue increased by 370% and premium per digital sale went up by 35%.³

Small business insurance is an untapped market

Small business insurance represents an enormous market sized at $140 billion in the United States.⁵ Partnering with NEXT can enable payroll partners and other digital-native companies to tap into this opportunity.

NEXT is a technology-led full-stack provider using artificial intelligence to transform business insurance. We’re taking on the entire value chain, including distribution, writing policies, handling claims, servicing, pricing and underwriting, to provide a modern customer experience.

Coverage from NEXT is simple, digital and affordable because it’s tailored for the needs of entrepreneurs. We’re 100% dedicated to small business and trusted by more than 600,000 customers.

NEXT Connect is our industry-leading embedded insurance platform.⁴ It’s an easy-to-integrate solution that enables our partners to offer business insurance seamlessly from within their digital experience. The platform is fully customizable, and NEXT’s team of support professionals guides partners to help ensure their insurance sales program is a success.

To learn more about NEXT Connect and discover how embedded insurance can help drive customer value and boost revenue for your business, visit our partner page.

Sources:

¹ NEXT data from a 2022 AB test comparing the payroll partner’s initial insurance sales experience with NEXT Connect.
² Oliver Wyman, Win the Small and Medium-Sized Commercial Insurance Market.
³ NEXT data, 2021–2023.
⁴ Coverager, Embedded Insurance: The Art and Science of Unselling Insurance, 2022.
⁵ Conning, https://go.conning.com/SMB-Transcript.html, July 2024