Short Answer

An insurance explainer should help one audience understand one thing well enough to make a better decision: how a claim moves from first notice of loss (FNOL) to settlement, what a product does and doesn’t cover, or how a platform fits an underwriting workflow.

A good insurance explainer answers a single question through one concrete scenario. It shows the limits of cover at the same moment as the benefits, defines terms like deductible or exclusion visually, and is structured so the client’s compliance and legal teams can review every line of narration and on-screen text.

It supports the policy wording, product documents and advisor; it doesn’t replace them. The aim isn’t a video that sells coverage, but one that helps people understand what they’re buying, including what isn’t covered.

Insurance Has a Comprehension Problem

In the US, KFF’s 2023 Survey of Consumer Experiences with Health Insurance (3,605 adults; US health insurance only) found that about half (51%) of insured adults find at least one aspect of how their insurance works at least somewhat difficult to understand. More than a third (36%) said it was at least somewhat difficult to understand what their insurance will and won’t cover, and a quarter reported difficulty with specific terms such as “deductible”, “coinsurance”, “prior authorization” or “allowed amount” (KFF, 2023).

In the UK, the Financial Conduct Authority’s consumer-understanding review, published on 13 March 2026, reported that its 2024 Financial Lives Survey found 12% of adults (around 6.3 million) had limited understanding of the products they held (FCA, 2026). That figure covers all financial products held by UK adults, not insurance alone.

These figures cover different products and markets, so they shouldn’t be combined. What they share is where the difficulty sits: in what’s covered, what isn’t, and what the terms mean.

Why Reading the Policy Isn’t Enough

The instinctive fix, sending people the policy wording, can backfire.

In a 2025 working paper, Daniel Schwarcz, Brenda J. Cude, Kyle D. Logue and German Marquez Alcala tested how accurately people answered coverage questions about a standard US homeowners policy (the ISO HO3 form). In two of the seven scenarios tested, respondents who were given the policy language were less accurate than those who weren’t, by roughly 24 and 33 percentage points. Across scenarios, accuracy among respondents given the policy language ranged from roughly 21% to 73% (Schwarcz et al., 2025, hosted in NAIC meeting materials). This is independent academic research hosted by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC); it is not an NAIC finding, and its scope is US homeowners cover.

The authors point to policy structure. A policy opens with a broad coverage grant, the insuring agreement (“we will pay for direct physical loss…”). It then narrows that promise through exclusions, conditions, definitions and sometimes endorsements that add or remove cover. A reader who stops at the grant, or can’t connect an exclusion several pages later to the promise it limits, can end up more confident and less accurate.

An explainer that copies that structure, with benefits first and limits in a closing disclaimer, reproduces the misunderstanding more persuasively. The principle instead:

Show the exclusion at the same moment as the coverage. When the narration says what the policy pays for, the same scene shows the main situation where it doesn’t.

Five Explainer Jobs in Insurance

Five recurring briefs in B2B insurance and insurtech:

Carrier claims and coverage journeys

For carriers, the highest-stakes explanation is usually the claims journey: FNOL → claim assessment → settlement, and what the policyholder must do at each step. A short explainer in the claims portal, or in onboarding after quote → bind, can set expectations about documents, timelines and the deductible before a frustrated call happens. Renewal is another fit: what changed, and why.

Digital journeys are often where help is missing. McKinsey’s 2023 survey of more than 8,500 customers of the 40 largest North American carriers found that more than 30% of insurance customers were not satisfied with the digital channels available, and that customers contacted their insurer four times, on average, while learning about and considering insurance products (McKinsey, 2023).

MGA-to-broker product launches

In the US, the NAIC’s State Licensing Handbook describes a managing general agent (MGA) as an insurance producer authorized by an insurance company to manage all or part of the insurer’s business in a specific territory. Depending on the arrangement, its activities may include marketing, underwriting, issuing policies, collecting premiums, appointing and supervising other agents, paying claims and negotiating reinsurance. The handbook notes that many states regulate MGAs’ activities and contracts (NAIC State Licensing Handbook, ch. 24). An MGA’s authority, and how its products reach clients, vary by contract and jurisdiction, and the term is used differently outside the US. Many MGAs distribute through brokers.

Where a product launch runs MGA → broker → client, the broker must understand the product well enough to place it, often in a short launch window and alongside many other products. A broker-facing explainer covers target risks, appetite, key exclusions, how to submit, and how the product compares with cover the broker already knows.

Broker and agent client-education libraries

Brokers and agents (whose roles and duties vary by market) constantly re-explain excess, coinsurance and sum insured. A library of short, neutral explainers, one concept each, gives the advisor something to send before or after a conversation.

That supports the advisor rather than replacing them. McKinsey’s 2023 North American research found that, for more complex journeys such as buying a policy or resolving an issue, more than 70% of customers preferred in-person interaction with an agent or third-party representative (McKinsey, 2023). The video prepares the client so advisor time goes on their situation.

Insurtech “how it works” videos

Insurtechs often sell a mechanism that’s new to the buyer: AI-assisted claims triage, usage-based pricing or parametric cover. Swiss Re describes parametric insurance as index-based: cover is triggered, and paid, only when predefined, measurable event parameters such as wind speed or earthquake intensity are met or exceeded, with a pre-agreed payout rather than an assessed indemnity. Payment still depends on the agreed trigger and the policy’s terms and conditions; Swiss Re notes, for example, a post-loss confirmation step that can adjust the amount paid (Swiss Re Corporate Solutions). It also highlights “basis risk”, the difference between the payout and the loss actually sustained (Swiss Re Corporate Solutions).

A parametric explainer should therefore show the trigger definition, what happens when the trigger is met, and what happens when a real loss occurs but the trigger isn’t met.

Insurance software for buying committees

Vendors of core, policy administration, claims and distribution software sell to committees spanning IT, claims, underwriting, compliance, finance and executives. Much evaluation happens without the vendor present. Gartner’s 2020 cross-industry B2B research (not insurance-specific) found that buyers typically spend only 17% of their time meeting potential suppliers when considering a purchase, and that 33% of all buyers want a seller-free sales experience (Gartner, 2020).

That argues for explainers that circulate internally while the rep isn’t in the room, usually one per role: a claims-workflow walkthrough for operations, an integration overview for IT, an audit-trail and controls overview for compliance. See why animated explainer videos work for SaaS.

Embedded Insurance: Two Audiences, Two Videos

Embedded insurance means cover offered inside another company’s purchase journey: travel cover at flight checkout, device protection at an electronics retailer, GAP cover through a car dealer. It’s a B2B2C model. The insurer or insurtech sells to a partner, and the partner offers cover to its customers. The flow runs partner checkout → policy → claims, with different organisations owning different steps.

The partner video. Partner staff often sell cover outside their core business. They need to know what the cover is, who it suits, what they can and can’t say, and where to hand off questions.

The end-buyer video. The customer meets the cover in a flow designed for speed, with no advisor to ask. That video must be short, neutral and clear about key limits, and it sits alongside the product information the customer receives, not in place of it.

The two audiences need different information, so plan them as separate videos.

Planning an Explainer for Client Compliance Review

Design for review from the first draft.

Testing is part of the picture. In its March 2026 consumer-understanding review, the UK FCA described, as an example of good practice, customer journeys that use tools such as calculators, videos, walkthroughs and summaries, test them to check they genuinely help customers, and refine them based on user evidence (FCA, 2026). The FCA presents this as good practice observed in the UK, not a US rule or a legal requirement elsewhere.

EIOPA’s Eurobarometer 2025 survey of 25,846 EU consumers found that 24% of respondents had bought insurance only online in the past two years (EIOPA, 2025). For buyers who never speak to anyone, the documents and any explainer on the journey carry the explanation. In the EU, the Insurance Distribution Directive provides for an insurance product information document (IPID) giving standardised information about non-life insurance products, while insurance-based investment products come with a key information document (KID) under Regulation (EU) No 1286/2014 (Directive (EU) 2016/97, EUR-Lex). Where such a document exists, an explainer should be consistent with it.

Our production workflow runs through discovery, scripting, storyboard development, visual design, animation, feedback and delivery. For insurance work, the client’s reviews fit into it at the points where changes are cheapest:

1. Discovery. Audience, the single question, the policy wording and product summaries the video must match, and target jurisdictions.
2. Scripting. Every claim traceable to the source documents, with limits placed next to the benefits they qualify. Where required, the client’s designated legal or compliance reviewers review the script before the agreed approval stage.
3. Storyboard development. On-screen text and captions are checked against the approved script, since a caption can make a claim the narration doesn’t.
4. Visual design. Style frames and on-screen text built on the approved storyboard.
5. Animation. Motion built on approved words and frames.
6. Feedback. The client reviews the finished animation, including disclaimer legibility and timing.
7. Delivery, ideally followed by a client-run comprehension test with a small group from the target audience.

WSV can plan production around client-led legal, compliance and stakeholder reviews, subject to agreed scope, approval stages and revision terms. Those terms are set for each project before work begins. Regulatory and legal approval of the content remains the client’s responsibility; WSV structures the script and storyboard so they can be reviewed. WSV does not provide legal, regulatory or compliance certification of any video.

This article is general information, not legal or regulatory advice. Requirements vary by product, jurisdiction and distribution model, so confirm your obligations with your own compliance and legal advisers.

Scripting Method: One Question, One Scenario, Visual Definitions

One question per video. “What happens after I report a claim?” is a video. “Everything about our home insurance” is a brochure.

One concrete scenario. For example, a hypothetical home-policy explainer might follow a burst pipe: what’s covered (sudden escape of water and the resulting damage), what isn’t (gradual leaks or wear and tear, if the wording excludes them), and what the policyholder pays first (the excess or deductible). Coverage and exclusion share the same scene.

Visual definitions at the point of use. Define each term when it first matters, not in a closing glossary. When the deductible applies, show it as the slice of the claim the policyholder pays. When an endorsement changes cover, show the policy card changing.

For general script structure, see what an explainer video script should include before animation starts.

Choosing Style and Length

Flat 2D animation and motion graphics suit insurance because they abstract away from real people, properties and brands, avoiding the implication of a specific customer’s situation, and on-screen text can be revised precisely when compliance requests a change. Interface animation suits software vendors. See choosing the right animation style for your business for the trade-offs.

There’s no universal length. It depends on the audience, the problem, the product’s complexity and where the video will be used. A 30-second format can work for a single-concept clip, such as one definition in a client-education library or a short reassurance at checkout. A 60-second format gives room for a scenario that shows coverage and a key exclusion together, such as an FNOL walkthrough. Broker launches or buying-committee explainers may need more. For a framework, see explainer video length: 30 vs 60 vs 90 seconds.

Measuring Understanding, Not Just Views

Views show a video was played, not understood. Things to measure (not promised outcomes):

• Comprehension checks. A few questions on what’s covered, what isn’t and what to do next, compared with non-viewers.
• Call and contact reasons. Whether contacts on the video’s topic change after launch, for example “what documents do I need for my claim?”
• Drop-off points. Where the script lost viewers.
• Journey behaviour. Abandonment on the quote, claims or checkout page where the video sits.
• Broker and partner questions. Whether intermediaries’ questions shift from “what is this?” to case-specific queries.

Agree a baseline before launch.

Budget and Timeline Factors

The main budget and timeline drivers in insurance work:

• Audiences and versions. Partner and buyer cuts, or one per committee role, multiply work.
• Review cycles. The number of stakeholders in the client’s compliance and legal review, and how long each round takes, often drives the timeline.
• Jurisdictions and languages. Each market may need different wording, disclaimers or product names, and each version needs its own review.
• Script complexity. Many conditions or variants take longer to script.

For a detailed breakdown, see how much an animated sales video costs, and for current packages, visit our pricing page.

Next Step

If you’re an insurer, MGA, insurtech or insurance software company planning a claims, product-launch, embedded or software explainer, start by telling us about it. Share:

• Your audience. Policyholders, brokers, embedded partners or a software buying committee.
• The product or workflow. The cover, claims process or platform feature the video needs to explain, and the one question it must answer.
• Your source documents. Policy wording, product summaries, process documentation or interface screens the video must stay consistent with.

From there, we can propose a script and storyboard approach, with your review stages built into the plan.

Discuss Your Insurance Explainer Video

You can also browse our portfolio for examples of our animation work, or review our pricing before you get in touch.