Mktg - India;ICICI pru launches Aboutulips.com

Kapil Ohri

ICICI Prudential Life Insurance has launched a website called AboutUlips.com. This effort is not to gain leads or gather information on potential consumers; rather, it is an initiative to educate and inform consumers about unit linked insurance plans (ULIPs) in general.

The website doesn’t disclose the identity of ICICI Prudential Life Insurance anywhere; neither does it say that the site is owned by ICICI Prudential Life.

It’s only when a visitor closes the site, a separate window pops up, which says that the site is an initiative by ICICI Prudential Life Insurance. The visitor has the option to write and submit feedback on the site through this window.

Speaking to afaqs!, Srinivas Balasubramanian, senior brand manager, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance says, “We purposely did not want to highlight ICICI Prudential Life’s association with the site. It’s because consumers would then perceive the information to be biased and not trust it.”


However, visitors, who can identify the brand’s icon, Chintamani can make out that the site is part of ICICI Prudential Life. Chintamani helps visitors navigate the site.

The information provided by the site includes an introduction to ULIPs, the type of insurance plans a consumer can opt for, the charges a consumer has to pay to get insured and steps to choose the right insurance plan. A glossary of insurance related terms is also available. Besides, the site offers insurance and retirement plan calculators and a ULIP related quiz and poll.

Balasubramanian explains the strategy behind launching the site. “The core objective is to educate the consumers, considering that ULIP is a high-involvement investment product and a consumer is required to understand the product properly before investing in it. Also, volatility in the markets makes it important for investors to take the right investment decisions, which serve their long-term investment needs.”

Developed by Interactive Avenues, the site was soft-launched in mid-September. No promotional activity has been carried out as yet to boost the traffic on the site.

Speaking to afaqs!, Paurush M Sonkar, brand manager, digital initiatives, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, says, “The site has received 8,500 visits and the average time spent by a visitor on the site is five minutes. On an average, users, who arrived on the site through a search engine, stayed there for 11 minutes.”

Balasubramanian says, “We are planning to promote the site through search marketing and carry out a display advertisement campaign across 12-15 websites.”

On making the site more interactive, Balasubramanian adds, “We will gauge the traffic on the site and once it reaches around 20,000-25,000 visits, we will chalk out our interactive content strategy. We will figure out whether to provide Live chat and Message board features to the users or create a community around ULIP.”