• Market size of US$100M.
• Institutions in the relationship-focused industry offering personalized service.
• Small Boutique non-bank FI with 40 staff members.

Data Availability

• The initial round of research indicates that information surrounding boutique non-bank financial institutions [with market size of US$100 million (or annual revenue), in the relationships-focused industry, offering personalized services, and with 40 staff members] is low to limited [meaning we might have to choose companies that do not meet all these qualifications]. This is especially the case for the requirement of 40 staff members and an exact revenue of US$100 million.
• However, the selected companies will have revenues close to or slightly above US$ 100 million and meet the other qualifications (be in the relationships-focused industry and offer personalized services)
• Based on the low-limited data availability in the public domain, we have pivoted the research to reflect this and still obtain some useful insights.
• This will be done by identifying non-bank financial institutions that meet these qualifications and providing the details relevant to the customer service policy for each. This is because the initial round of research also indicates that the information surrounding a customer service policy for non-bank financial institutions [with market size of US$100 million (or annual revenue), in the relationships-focused industry, offering personalized services, and with 40 staff members] is low.

Company #1: Kin Insurance

•  Kin is a home insurance company that operates in "California, Florida, and Louisiana, which make up 21 percent of the home insurance market." It offers homeowners', landlord, condo, and mobile home insurance through the Kin Insurance Network (KIN), which is a reciprocal exchange that is owned by the customers who have a share in the underwriting profit. It has a direct-to-consumer model, providing exceptionally low prices without compromises to the coverage.
• This is a non-bank financial institution as detailed by the World Bank which describes non-bank financial institutions (NBFI) as those that do not have full banking licenses and cannot accept deposits from the public. Insurance firms are examples of NBFIs. As an NBFI, Kin Insurance offers alternative financial services and specializes in a specific sector which is home insurance.
• Kin insurance qualifies as a boutique non-bank financial institution since it is a small financial firm that "provides specialized services for a particular segment of the market." Kin was founded in 2016 and is a fully licensed home insurance technology company providing affordable coverage to homeowners in catastrophe-prone regions.
• According to the company's website, there are over 200 employees. Craft.com provides the number of employees as 226 as of May 2021.
• In April 2021, Kin Insurance announced that it had achieved $100 million in annual revenue.

Customer Service Policy

• Kin insurance does not have a written customer service policy document, but the company's website provides a lot of information that provides guidance, advice, and examples of how to ensure customer success.
• Kin Insurance has a fully-detailed 'Contact" page on its website that is tailored for different customers. This provides users with the company’s details, the customer service phone number (which addresses different needs like policies, quotes, and claims), fax and email contact points, opening hours, offices, and payments. There are also separate segments for lenders, marketing, and press.
• Kin states that it creates affordable coverage for homeowners who need it the most and its products are designed with the customer's needs in mind.

• The company puts its customers first, with licensed representatives that are trained to exceed clients' expectations. They check in to see how customers are doing, not just when they file a claim.
• When customers have a loss, Kin leverages virtual inspections to get things back in order.
• Kin believes that once a customer buys a policy, they own a piece of the company and this is a way of making sure that the customer's voice is heard.
• Kin Insurance makes everything easy, and the application makes "getting the right amount of coverage easy for customers" They can get clear coverage recommendations and see how their choices impact their premiums.
• Kin was built to put customers first, and based on its excellent customer reviews, the company is on the right track
• Finally, they state that customers can ask questions anywhere:
•  On the website. 
•  On the phone. 
•  Via email. 
•  On the social media channels. 
• Customers can learn more about insurance through the company's blog, FAQs, and glossary, which are regularly updated based on actual customer feedback and questions. 

Summary

• Our initial hour of research focused on ensuring that the research question could be answered using publicly available sources and then providing salient and relevant data.

• As explained in the data availability statement, the request, as provided, cannot be fully answered in the public domain. We have pivoted the research in order to provide research paths that will provide useful insights.
• We provided Kin Insurance as a boutique non-bank financial institution, with a brief description of how it meets the provided requirements. Then, we have provided the details that are relevant to the customer service policy. We believe that by using this approach, we will identify the tenant features that are relevant for boutique non-bank financial institutions.

• We were not provided a geographic focus for this project, so we assumed a U.S. approach. If a more general approach is desired, for example, global, this would have to be clearly communicated to us in any reply within each appropriate scoping box.

• As a reminder, Wonder only uses publicly available sources to answer all research questions. We do not do primary research, and we do not have access to paid databases or paywalled reports, but we can cite them in research for reference only [in case purchase is desired]. If that is of interest, that would clearly have to be communicated to us in any reply. However, no indication of paid resources to add value to this research was seen in the discovery phase.

• It is of note that while the initial hour of research does not allow us to embed graphics and other visuals, we can certainly do that for any subsequent research projects that are selected. This will enable us to provide visual examples/graphs/charts to add color and depth to the research.

• Please select one or more of the options provided in the proposed scoping section below.