2020 at Marshmallow

There’s no doubt that 2020 was a challenging year, but here at Marshmallow we’re looking back proudly at everything we achieved despite the global turbulence of the last 12 months 🏆

Our journey to make insurance more instant, affordable and inclusive is only just beginning, but in the last year we’ve really hit the ground running, and we’re ready for another incredible year of growth 📈

Here’s a few highlights from 2020 that we think are worth shouting about…

First and foremost, we entered 2021 owning an insurance company! 🎉 We’re now able to deliver the entire customer experience ourselves without an incumbent standing in the way, from sign-up all the way through to the claims process, and we’re incredibly excited to be improving insurance for customers through digitisation 👩🏼‍💻 Insurtech is a huge growth area, and we’re very proud to be leading the way as the first B2C insurtech in the UK with an insurance licence ✅

Growth 📈

- We almost quadrupled our customer base, starting the year with 12,934 and ending it with around 50k. And this was no accident — it’s down to the passion and graft our team has been putting into their work all year long 💪

- During a year in which 7/10 companies furloughed their staff, we were lucky enough to be pushing the other way. Starting the year as a team of 41, over the course of 12 months our headcount more than doubled, ending 2020 as a company of 87

- We welcomed incredible new investors in a funding round that valued the company north of $300m, and provided us with the capital to continue investing in our team and product offerings

- We received 9,248 applications that led to over 1,000 phone and 400 face-to-face interviews, all whilst maintaining incredibly high standards in our hiring processes to attract the best talent.

- We welcomed our first employees from outside of the UK by hiring an entirely new team in Gibraltar 🇬🇮

- By expanding our expertise, and thanks to the exceptional amount of hard work from our product, design, engineering and operations teams, in December we became a full insurer! This was a monumental achievement for us and a real testament to the team and the energy they dedicated to Marshmallow in 2020 — the only way is up! 🚀

- We’ve seen a huge increase in our brand awareness and reach, recording over 3.5 million website page visits.

Customers 💕

Our customers are our priority, and we know they’re counting on us now more than ever 🙏🏼 Here’s how we helped them in 2020:

- With 387,676 messages sent across 100,000 conversations, 85,000 of those have been rated positive by customers ✅

- At the start of 2020, 25% of conversations were responded to within 2 minutes. Now it’s over 70% ⚡️

- And that’s with quadruple the customers! Meaning we now send at least one message every minute of every day. We’re getting rid of the expectation that if you try to contact your insurer, you’ll have to endure hours of music and stalling. It’s incredible 🙌

- This includes late into the evening, which we know is helpful for our customers. We now have 13 people who work outside of core hours to make this happen 🌓

- With 1,775 5* ratings on Trustpilot, these efforts aren’t going unnoticed 😍

Whilst it’s tempting to just look at the numbers, the real wins are unveiled when we think about the individual stories of the customers we’ve helped 🤝 Whether it’s a working Mum who couldn’t believe that she got a speedy response to her query on a Sunday morning, or us making it possible for a US expat to drive to work when no one else would insure him — behind every five-star review, is someone whose life has been made easier, and there’s nothing more motivating than that 🌟

Communication 🗣

We’ve all had to adjust to a working life away from the office environment, and therefore effective internal communication has never been more important. Here’s some stats to show how we’ve kept things going:

- We sent over 1m slack messages. Fast, effective communication has always been our approach. Lockdown didn’t stop us! 💌

- Up to 100,000 minutes of zoom calls a month 📞

- Over 1,100 1–2–1s recorded in 15Five. Personal development and honest feedback are incredibly important to us, so we made sure we kept our finger on the pulse

- Approximately 560 donut meetings (randomised virtual coffees!) took place amongst the team 🍩

We’ve always been proud of our culture, and it’s been amazing to see how we’ve adapted our ways of working to keep it alive during the pandemic; once again, a testament to our incredible team ❤️

What next?! 🚀

2020 was a huge year for us, but the work doesn’t stop here. In 2021 we expect to double in size as a team (that’s 90+ hires!!), launch our mobile app, and reinvent the customer experience around claims 📱 We’re spending the next 12 months pushing ourselves to innovate, continually challenging the status quo with the aim of creating an unrivalled customer experience in the insurance space. We’ve got big ambitions, and we’re on the lookout for smart, ambitious people to help us realise them. If this sounds like a journey you want to be a part of, take a look at our careers page and get in touch — we’re only just getting started.