DOI: 10.14457/tu.the.2020.365
title: Factors affecting future purchase intentions of Thai consumers towards health insurance post COVID-19

description: The transformation of the population structure into an aging society is an important issue of concern in Thailand nowadays and it brings challenges in many dimensions such as declining labor numbers and domestic consumption, as well as health problems which are a major problem of elderly in Thailand. Over the past several years, more Thai people have noticeably been suffering from non-communicable diseases (NCDs), together with the medical expenses that have increased every year. That is the reason why Thai people must face health problems in the future. However, this problem can be resolved by purchasing health insurance, having health insurance not only reduces the risk that people will face in the future but also helps them manage financial planning. As a result, researchers are interested in studying the factors that influence the decision to purchase health insurance post-COVID 19 by using consumer behavior model, lifestyle segmentation from AIOs, and marketing mix factors. There are two objectives of this study. 1) To identify characteristic of people who willing to purchase health insurance in the future both demographics and psychographics, 2) To identify the key marketing mix factors (4Ps) by demographic and psychographic segment that influence future purchase decisions toward health insurance.This research focuses on Thai consumers who never purchase health insurance before but have intention to purchase within the next one year and conducted using both qualitative and quantitative methods. The qualitative consisted of secondary research and in-depth interviews of 10 people, and the obtained data were used to develop questionnaires in the quantitative research stage. The quantitative research consists of questionnaire using a sample of 208 respondents. Both in-depth interviews and questionnaire survey use the convenience sampling method, and all data analysis was conducted using the Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS) program.The research result showed that demographic factors such as age and income influence purchasing intentions. There were relationships between income and insurance premium that customers are expected to pay per year, as well as age toward distribution channels. There also were differences between the respondents’ demographics toward the marketing factors that affect the intention to purchase. In addition, the result of this research concluded that when they purchased health insurance, most people concerned most about insurers’ credibility, the convenience and fast to receive compensation, and the simplicity of the purchasing process. On the other hand, they are least interested in the influencers. In terms of the intention to purchase, most of them were still unsure of which company to purchase as well as in the period after COVID-19, respondents tend to purchase insurance directly through online channels, have the power to make their own decision, and interested to purchase health insurance at price between 5,001 and 10,000 baht.Furthermore, the result showed that all psychographic factors were related to the marketing factors that influence the health insurance purchasing decision. Health-conscious people will pay most attention to tax reduction factors and the simplicity of the health insurance purchase process, while the people who meticulous will interest most in products that can customize, and shorter periods of health insurance. In addition, the people who spendthrift will more love to purchase health insurance by installment method, while the apathetic people interest to purchase health insurance through convenience or department stores.Recommendations from this research, insurers should pay more attention to online channels and provide additional ways for clients to customize their policies. Also, they should be more concerned with building the credibility of the company and improving the purchase process and the procedure for receiving compensation to be more simple, fast, and convenient. In addition, insurance companies should focus on customers that are age less than 39 since they are less concerned about price, provide different channels and methods for each psychographic group, and the price should be around 5,001-10,000 baht to attract customers.