Case Study | 26 August 2025
How a German-Based Insurance Company Redesigned Its Cybersecurity Insurance Product to Stay Competitive in the Digital Age
Posted by : Preeti Wani
As digital reliance in all sectors increases, the threat of cyberattacks has become a rising issue for all individuals and businesses. In response to this growing concern, a prominent German-based insurance company introduced a cybersecurity insurance product made to protect users against online risks such as data breaches, identity theft, and ransomware. However, despite the relevance of its offering, the product failed to capture market attention. Struggling with less demand and customer disengagement, the company consulted Research Nester to redesign its product strategy and re-establish itself as a top player in the cybersecurity insurance space.
An overview:
- A Germany-based insurance provider, founded in 2000 as a 53:47 joint venture between a German insurer and an Indian bank, initially gained popularity due to its niche in marine and accident insurance.
- By 2010, the company had broadened its business worldwide and entered into health, automobile, disability, and life insurance services.
- In response to increasing digital threats, the company created a Cybersecurity Insurance product in late 2018 for protecting individuals and SMEs from ransomware, data breaches, and identity theft.
- The product included personal and enterprise-level liabilities, including financial losses due to cyberattacks, data recovery services, legal representation, and crisis communication expenses.
- Despite the rising number of cyberattacks globally, the product failed to gain importance among both consumers and small business clients, largely due to low awareness, complicated terms, and underwhelming digital marketing efforts.
- In 2021, the leadership team engaged Research Nester consultants to re-evaluate the product performance and provide strategic guidance for repositioning it in a rapidly evolving digital threat landscape.
The Story
The German financial services company had become popular over the years as a reliable, regulation-compliant, and customer-centric insurer. As the company grew internationally, it prided itself on responding proactively to emerging risks and consumer protection needs.
The increasing cases of cybercrimes, ranging from phishing to large-scale ransomware attacks, caught the attention of the company’s leadership in early 2017. Following comprehensive market research and internal feasibility tests, the firm expanded its Cybersecurity Insurance product in 2018. The product was built to cover a range of losses incurred due to unauthorized online activities, including identity theft, reputational damage, fraudulent transactions, business interruptions, and legal costs related to personal data violations.
While the idea was well-timed, the execution lacked responsiveness. The product failed to garner much attention despite digital risk exposure rising among people and businesses. Internally, the sales teams struggled to position the product effectively. Brokers found it difficult to explain the technicalities to potential clients. SMEs, the main target group, often found the policy documents too confusing. For individual users, pricing seemed high compared to the perceived risk.
By the end of 2019, sales figures for the cybersecurity product barely went up to USD 400,000, well below initial forecasts. Even after slight changes and promotional offers in early 2020, sales remained plateaued. The company knew it needed more than just product upgrades; it needed a comprehensive strategic revamp. In early 2021, it reached out to Research Nester for product analysis, market alignment, and business expansion strategies.
Our Solution:
Research Nester analysts designed a multidimensional analysis of the product’s market performance, competitor insights, customer feedback, and operational challenges. It became visible that while the market for cybersecurity insurance was growing, the firm’s product lacked differentiation, clarity, and accessibility, pushing RNPL analysts to build a comprehensive plan, which included the following strategic measures:
Market Restructuring via Optimized Product Design: The original product was too difficult for mass-market adoption. RNPL suggested restructuring the strategy into three tiers:
- Essential - ensuring basic fraud and identity theft.
- Advanced - including data breach response and reputational support.
- Enterprise - made for SMEs with legal coverage, business interruption protection, and cyber extortion negotiation services.
This segmentation allowed consumers to choose according to their issue and budget, making the services less intimidating and more agile.
Awareness-Driven Customer Interaction: A major finding from RNPL’s surveys was the lack of knowledge about what cybersecurity insurance does. The consultants helped make multilingual animated video explainers, infographic-led brochures, and real-life examples showing how the policy had supported beta customers in recovering from losses. These were shared across email campaigns, social media channels, webinars, and B2B expos, aiming at customers and small businesses.
Partnerships with Cybersecurity Firms and Tech Retailers: To boost credibility and ease of access, RNPL encouraged the insurance provider to collaborate with antivirus software companies, IT consultancies, and tech retailers.
Through co-branded campaigns and policy bundling options, the insurance could now be purchased at the time of buying antivirus software or setting up IT infrastructure for small businesses.
Pricing Optimization and Risk-Based Underwriting: The original premium structures did not account for risk variability. RNPL introduced an AI-driven pricing framework that incorporated:
- Type of internet activity (personal or business)
- Number of devices and endpoints
- Geography and sector for business users
- Historical cybersecurity incident rates
This made pricing clearer and justified, pushing conversion rates during policy purchase.
Next-Gen Onboarding and Claims Platform: Customer drop-off was high at the claim stage due to complicated form fill-up and manual experiences. RNPL partnered with the company’s IT and UI/UX teams to build a smooth mobile-first system with AI chatbots for handling policy inquiries, document auto-upload and scanning, along with 24/7 multilingual support. This digital upgrade provided better customer satisfaction.
Cyber Risk Score Tool and Preventive Assistance: RNPL also built a value-added feature, i.e., a Cyber Risk Score for users, akin to a credit score, which rated a user’s cybersecurity hygiene and offered tailored risk-reduction suggestions. This boosted interaction and preventive awareness, proving the importance of the insurance product.
Results
Before the partnership, the company’s cybersecurity insurance sales had reached a standstill, with an insignificant market share despite the sector's growth. However, with Research Nester’s strategy implemented all over 2021, the narrative changed drastically:
- By Q4 2021, the new segmented product architecture began to resonate, and sales rose to USD 2.8 million.
- In 2022, due to tech retailer partnerships and revised pricing, annual revenue reached up to USD 9.5 million.
- In 2023, the cybersecurity policy became one of the top 3 best-selling non-life insurance products, with total sales crossing USD 15.2 million and 300,000 active policyholders.
- Customer satisfaction (measured via post-claim surveys) increased from 58% in 2020 to 92% in 2023.
- SME penetration across Europe, especially in Germany, the Netherlands, and France, saw a 3.5x increase, owing to tailored enterprise policies.
The company is now gearing up to introduce the product to North American and Southeast Asian markets in 2025, retaining the RNPL advisory team to adapt the model to regional threat landscapes and regulatory structures.
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