Live Consulting in Virtual Reality
With ERGO VR, insurance consultation becomes an exciting experience. The customer and advisor gather at a virtual table and play through typical insurance cases to identify the most suitable insurance product. The experience was developed for the Meta Quest Pro with its face-tracking technology. Customers can also participate using a Meta Quest or Meta Quest 2.
VR as a channel for communication
With live sessions in VR, ERGO is opening up an entirely new communication channel for their clients and simultaneously revolutionizing the consulting business of the whole industry. Customers can get an appointment on the associated landing page to meet for a consultation in the virtual space. At the agreed time, both participants – wearing their VR goggles – sit at a physical table in their respective locations to start a conversation at eye level.
A new use case for mixed reality
Physically sitting at separate tables in different places, the customer and consultant come together around the same virtual table through VR. Both start the experience in passthrough mode, meaning their real environment remains visible. At the same time, it gets augmented with virtual elements. Both see the same objects on the table, and any interaction changes the scene for both. In line with the conversation, the consultant can change the objects on the table and the surrounding scene to let them fully immerse in a virtual "what if" insurance scenario.
Insurance consultants become storytellers
Without any additional training, ERGO VR turns insurance representatives into even more powerful persuaders. They can simply use the virtual tool to increase the impact of their message. Guided by the consultant, who is present as a trustworthy and friendly avatar, the story comes to life through immersion and visualization. As a result, the consulting situation remains familiar while being elevated through modern storytelling and the possibilities of innovative VR technology.
Interactive onboarding
Customers get an interactive onboarding before starting the consultation to become comfortable with the experience and familiarize themselves with hand tracking, the virtual environment, and interactions. They playfully answer questions about their travel plans using sliders and buttons. The answers are then collected and serve as the basis for the consultation. Finally, ringing the table bell will call the consultant.
Modular structure, adaptable solution
In addition to the mountain scenario, the application can be extended to include others, such as city trips, skiing, or beach vacations. Also, travel cancellation or baggage insurance story elements can complete the travel insurance solutions. Generally, the concept can also be applied to other insurance products – for instance, insurance regarding housing or retirement. Different story elements, infographics, and insurance packages would be created to bring each use case to life. The basic structure of the story and conversation remains the same. This modularity ensures maximum storytelling flexibility with less effort in production.
3D Art & Animation
We used body and face tracking technology to make the consultant avatar feel as authentic and approachable as possible. Meta's Movement SDK served as the technical basis for this.
For the art style of the experience, we chose a cartoon look with bright colors that feels positive and inviting. The scene is stylized with handpainted textures and simple lighting based on pre-calculated light maps. Characters and objects have been animated with great attention to detail to add to the charm of the experience.
Assuring storytelling
To make the experience a truly helpful tool for ERGO consultants, we took a leaf out of their own book. For example, exaggerations and clichés are part of the story to make the insurance cases even more vivid. The dynamic structure and timing of the experience allow the consultants to work at their own pace and, if necessary, include their anecdotes. ERGO VR enables an immersive conversation at eye level that entertainingly transfers the value of insurance products through state-of-the-art consulting.
Finally
The result of ERGO VR. It pioneers a new, promising consulting channel and is an essential step towards the metaverse for ERGO.
So far, concluding an insurance contract in VR verbally and with a handshake has been possible. In the future, ERGO would also like to make the complete contract processing possible live in VR.
