Building a business case for protection retention technology
The strongest case rests on the money already earned that the firm stops giving back.
Start with clawback
For most protection distributors, the largest element of the case is reduced clawback. Begin with the current position: annual policies written, average commission, and the cancellation rate within the earnings period. Our homepage calculator illustrates the approach with a distributor writing 5,000 policies a year at £1,000 average commission and a 20% cancellation rate. Moving post-sale check completion from 40% to 70%, and applying the lower cancellation rate we observe among customers who complete a check, brings the overall rate to around 15%. On those assumptions, that is a meaningful reduction in commission reclaimed each year.
Use your own data
Illustrations are a starting point, not a forecast. Use the firm's own cohort data to establish the baseline cancellation rate and its causes. Estimate how much of that is influenceable. Where possible, run a pilot with one cohort to measure the effect directly before committing to a full rollout.
Cost to serve
The second element is operational saving. Calculate the fully loaded cost of current post-sale, failed-payment and review processes, and the outcomes they produce. Compare that with the cost of delivering the same or better outcomes through automated journeys, including the time to handle routed responses. Across Adviser.ai clients, automated engagement has delivered outcomes at up to 14 times lower cost than equivalent phone-based work.
Additional revenue
Cover reviews and benefit reminders create appropriate opportunities for further advice: customers whose needs have changed, families with gaps in cover, policies that should be in trust. Estimate conservatively, based on response and conversion rates from similar activity, and keep this element separate so the core case does not depend on it.
Customer outcomes and regulatory value
Some benefits are harder to value but no less real: issues found and fixed, complaints avoided, evidence for Consumer Duty board reporting, better outcomes for vulnerable customers. In one representative Adviser.ai client sample, about 54 in every 100 completed post-sale checks raised something needing prompt action. Each of those is a potential complaint or poor outcome avoided.
Costs and risks
Include platform costs, implementation time, internal resource to handle responses and manage the process, and any integration work with existing systems. Consider risks such as data security, supplier dependency and the effort to change established processes. A supplier should be able to explain how it addresses each, including its security certifications and how it fits around existing CRM systems.
Timing of returns
Operational savings appear quickly. Clawback reductions take longer to show, because they emerge as cohorts age. Model returns over at least two to three years, and track early indicators, such as completion and issue rates, to show progress before the full persistency effect is visible.
Presenting the case
Lead with the clawback opportunity, supported by the firm's own data. Add operational savings, then outcome and regulatory benefits. Keep additional revenue separate. Show the assumptions clearly and the measures that will confirm whether the case is being delivered. A simple, conservative case that the board can test is more persuasive than an ambitious one it cannot.
Choosing what to measure
Agree the measures before starting: baseline cancellation rate by cohort, post-sale completion and issue rates, cost per completed check, time to resolve issues and early lapse rate. Report them monthly. Clear measures make it easy to show the board whether the case is being delivered, and to adjust the approach if it is not.
Common objections
We already call our customers. Ask what share are actually reached, and at what cost per outcome. Our customers prefer the phone. Offer both and measure which they choose. It will take too long to show results. Track leading indicators, which move within weeks. We cannot integrate with our systems. Many platforms work alongside existing CRM systems with simple data exchange.
A pilot design
Choose one product or one month's sales. Send automated post-sale checks to every customer in that cohort while keeping the existing process for a comparison cohort. Measure completion, issues found, time to resolve, cost per completed check and, over the following months, early cancellation rates. A pilot like this gives the board evidence from the firm's own book rather than relying on supplier figures.
We help the UK's leading protection distributors identify post-sale issues and protect revenue through intelligent, automated customer engagement.
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FCA: FG22/5, final guidance on the Consumer Duty
Adviser.ai figures are drawn from anonymised client data and are illustrative. Results vary by firm, product and implementation.
Last updated 27 October 2026