In view of the recent regulatory changes and volatile market conditions, the insurance and finance industry started focusing more on developing strategies to find new customer segments. Acquiring new customers is difficult especially in a fiercely competitive industry like insurance. Also, the dynamic nature of pricing for insurance products makes it even more challenging. In this context, it is essential for an insurer to have knowledge about customers, plan customer-centric offerings, attract more profitable customers and increase the bottom line. In the changing market and economic conditions, the insurance industry has started considering customer-centric rather than a product-centric view to well serve the customers. Information Technology (IT)-driven data analytics now has the capability to discover knowledge hidden inside very large amount of data to help in making business decisions which are customized to customer needs. This paper is an attempt to create business rules from customer lead data which will help in identifying customer segments for better marketing campaign and to acquire new customers, and also to explore answers for specific business problems like low lead conversion ratio, important attributes influencing lead conversion and right customer profile to optimize lead conversion.

In general, customer acquisition in insurance starts with identifying quality potential customers. This is sometimes accomplished by locating individuals and businesses that either express interest in or already use products similar to those produced by the business. From this initial list, these leads are then qualified a little further using various research methods to determine if there is any possibility of making a sale with a given lead. The prospective customer is then explored further after understanding the preference and behavior. This emphasizes the need for understanding customers and to be able to respond proactively to their needs. It also helps in designing customized products and services specific to customer needs.

Knowledge Management Journal, CHi-squared Automatic Interaction Detection (CHAID), Customer acquisition, Lead
conversion in insurance.