The life insurance market has traditionally been dominated by a few key players, but not anymore. The awesome team at YuLife are on a mission to change the industry and are shaking things up in a big way.
YuLife offers more than just a life insurance service. They are there for you should the worst happen of course - but their unique approach puts wellbeing at the heart of everything they do – from their mission and members to their people.
For the team at Yulife, their values encompass protecting lives, rewarding living and inspiring life. We recently spoke to Lauren Berkemeyer, VP Marketing at YuLife to find out more about how gamified tech is revolutionising their service, the importance of protection products and why the industry is so exciting right now.
Can you describe YuLife in 30 seconds? What do you do?
YuLife is insurance that inspires life. We have shifted group risk insurance to a win-win model by helping individuals live healthier lives. YuLife provides access to medical treatment in the event of ill health while also improving and enhancing everyday life and wellbeing by rewarding positive daily habits, like walking and meditating. YuLife is also really affordable costing on average £10 per employee per month for £100,000 of life cover.
What's different about YuLife?
We have created a completely new insurance model - insurance that inspires life. We're here to motivate people to live healthier and happier lives - and essentially de-risk themselves. We use a holistic approach, engaging in three important stages: Protecting your future (ensuring your loved ones are taken care of), preventing illness (through accessible healthcare) and living well everyday (by encouraging positive daily habits) We place a lot of emphasis on engagement, so it’s really important that the service we offer delivers a holistic life enhancing product that is relevant at any stage of life.
Why should employers offer their employees protection products?
Group risk benefits provide financial support for employees at the worst of times – when they’re absent through ill-health, when they’re diagnosed with a critical illness or for their dependents if they pass away.
YuLife’s Insurances include a comprehensive health and wellbeing programme. At YuLife, we’re disrupting group risk insurance by creating a proactive model where policies decrease risk by helping individuals live healthier lives. As an employer, providing peace of mind to employees through simple, accessible and affordable protection enables them to live healthier and less stressful lives, resulting in happier companies.
There’s also a common misconception that life insurance is just for “grown ups” and that it’s purely for people who have a family or own a house. At YuLife, we focus on supporting people at any age and loved ones in any capacity, even if the member does not directly finance them.
How are companies using YuLife?
YuLife, is fundamentally rethinking and redeveloping life insurance, by harnessing principles of AI and game mechanics to engage with their members on a daily basis.
YuLife enables employers to tailor a health and wellbeing programme to employees’ actual interests and needs, rather than investing heavily in transitory perks that offer little lasting value and often fail to successfully engage employees for a long period of time. This approach enables SMEs, who otherwise wouldn’t necessarily think of offering group life insurance, to set up insurance policies and demonstrate their care for employees’ present and long-term futures – creating a win-win result.
YuLife inspires policyholders to live their best lives every single day through a highly engaging app that provides tangible incentives for members to embrace physical, mental and financial wellbeing activities. Employees earn rewards for completing activities, such as walking, cycling, meditation and mindfulness which can be exchanged for vouchers or discounts at many of the UK’s leading brands, such as ASOS, Fitbit, Nike and Amazon.
Our YuLifers (employees who are using the YuLife app) love the simplicity and accessibility of the YuLife app. YuLife fits easily in their busy lives. YuLifers can earn YuCoin for stepping outside for a 5-10 minute walk or meditating for 5 minutes.
What is your typical customer profile?
Our customers range from high-growth startups like Curve and What3Words to large enterprise businesses like Sodexo and Co-op. While the composition of the businesses we attract vary from small to large organisations, our buyers exhibit similar characteristics. YuLife appeals to the HR and business leaders who are change-agents. They are the movers and shakers who are looking to partner with best-in-class services that their people will love, use and value. Our buyers are very dedicated to supporting the health and wellbeing of their teams and want to take a more proactive approach.
What excites you about the business protection insurance space?
There is a massive opportunity to re-write the rules of insurance to be a proactive and preventative model. For far too long, insurance has been focused on death, sickness and claims, and had low industry trust and perceived value.
We are really excited to be transforming two industries at once: life insurance as well as workplace benefits. By offering tangible incentives to encourage people to build up healthy habits, YuLife is a clear demonstration that financial products can be used as a force for good, with employers also standing to gain from healthier, happier, more productive and more motivated teams.
A big thank you to YuLife for the great insights into your unique and revolutionary approach to life insurance. We’re excited to see what the future holds for the team! You can find out more about YuLife over on their website.