AI is reshaping customer relationships, with apps focused on customer loyalty and health, boosted marketing budgets and social media becoming increasingly authentic
In 2026, AI is establishing itself as the driving force behind digitalisation in the Swiss insurance sector. However, although it streamlines customer journeys, it also threatens the direct relationship between insurance companies and their customers by taking on an increasing share of the initial needs assessment process on platforms over which the companies have no control; this concept is the central theme of this year’s report. At the same time, mobile apps are evolving into ecosystems for customer loyalty and preventive healthcare, while social media is becoming more authentic; however, digital marketing budgets remain polarised despite significant growth, and responsible digital practices continue to decline.
The Top 5 companies have been reshuffled, driven by digital marketing, with Axa taking the lead
Axa takes the top spot in the ranking, driven by an exemplary performance in digital marketing and strong momentum in mobile apps, while Groupe Mutuel, in second place, capitalises on the user experience of its website and its mobile app results. Sanitas (3rd place) has achieved the biggest rise in the rankings thanks to a combination of paid digital marketing and web experience. Helsana has relinquished its top spot for 4th place, while TCS rounds off the Top 5, driven by its dominance in terms of web audience, organic search engine optimisation (SEO) and traffic generated by generative AI (GEO). The gaps are narrowing: the competition now hinges on a balance across all four dimensions rather than on a single area of strength.
Generative AI is capturing a growing share of the web audience for needs assessment
Websites are embracing conversational assistants, such as Alva at Sanitas (initially on the mobile app and now available on the web) or Clara at Helvetia, enhanced by generative AI. External conversational agents (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini) still account for only around 1% of incoming traffic on average, but their role extends far beyond this figure: it is increasingly on these platforms that the needs of prospective policyholders are assessed, sometimes at the expense of visits to the insurance company’s own website. The evidence speaks for itself: high GEO visibility (Allianz, Zurich, Helvetia) does not automatically translate into more direct traffic, a sign that web audiences and values are shifting towards generative AI. However, web performance is now measured as much by user experience as by the ability to be recommended by AI, with an emerging risk of losing control of the customer relationship at an early stage.
Mobile apps: the new arena for customer loyalty and preventative healthcare
Mobile apps are becoming everyday drivers of engagement: CSS Coin and Visana MyPoints are reinventing loyalty centred on health, while SWICA has integrated a preventative health podcast into Benevita. Patient journeys are becoming smoother thanks to AI (Compassana, Well, Sanitas Medgate, Concordia Medgate). However, this service momentum has not yet fully translated into measurable performance: while the rate of updates is increasing (+8% compared with 2025), app rankings in app stores are falling sharply (down by an average of 41 places) and customer satisfaction is stagnating (average NPS of 38%, down 3 points).
Digital marketing is growing rapidly, but the spending driven by a limited number of companies
Investment in digital marketing has risen by 17.6% to reach CHF 42.1 million, driven by a handful of insurance companies (led by Sanitas, Assura and CSS) that are significantly increasing their budgets, while others (Elvia, TCS, Visana and Concordia) are cutting theirs sharply: the market is becoming more polarised rather than growing uniformly. This increase is primarily benefiting banner adverts (36.6% of investment, +30.3 percentage points), at the expense of paid search (61.8%, -8.9 percentage points), which nevertheless remains dominant. At the same time, web traffic has fallen by 10.5% (7.3 million monthly visits), with the paid share rising slightly (10.5%, +1.9 percentage points).
Social media is becoming more authentic, but is still not very conversational
Insurance companies are moving away from promoting their products in favour of useful content, particularly on TikTok (Zurich, Helvetia, Groupe Mutuel, Axa), where Helvetia exemplified this success by achieving 3.9 million views for a humorous video. While these approaches are being handled more effectively, community features remain under-utilised. The challenge for 2026 remains to transform the companies’ social media audience into an active community.
Responsible digital practices: a decline that raises questions
With an average EcoIndex of 26.4/100 (-2.6 points), responsible digital practices have declined for the second consecutive year, even as digital investment rises sharply. This paradox – ‘more budget, less eco-design’ – is a cause for concern in a sector where social and environmental responsibility is becoming as much a differentiating factor as it is a necessity.
AI: a catalyst for customer journeys that challenges customer relations and digital accountability
Generative AI is already reshaping digital practices in the sector: it streamlines customer journeys via chatbots that are increasingly prevalent on the web and on mobile devices. But it is also shifting part of the customer relationship upstream, onto platforms over which insurance companies have no control. This poses a risk of losing direct contact with the policyholder, a concern that centres on GEO issues. This pace of acceleration also contrasts with that of eco-design. The next stage of digital maturity also lies in insurance companies’ ability to ensure seamless continuity between search, websites, apps, AI assistants and human interactions. Against a backdrop of rising health insurance premiums and climate challenges becoming increasingly pressing for organisations, the dual disconnect between ‘the acceleration of AI versus the stagnation of responsible digital practices’ and ‘greater fluidity versus a loss of control over the customer relationship’ also raises questions. The race for digital performance and influence in the realm of generative AI must not come at the expense of digital restraint or a direct and ongoing customer relationship – aspects which the sector can no longer treat as secondary.
Methodology
We have built this study based on measurements taken between March and May 2026 on a panel of 34 major players in the insurance sector and 2 integrated healthcare ecosystems.
Analyzed insurances: Allianz, Assura, Atupri, Axa, Concordia, CSS. Elvia, Generali, Groupe Mutuel, Helsana, Helvetia, la Mobilière, ÖKK, Sanitas, Swica, Swisslife, Sympany, TCS, Vaudoise, Visana, Wefox, Zurich, KPT
Health ecosystems: Compassana, Well
We offer a digital index to measure the 360° digital presence and performance of players according to more than 50 indicators:
- Website: audience, performance (bounce, visit time, loading time, core web vitals), customer experience (design, content and functions) and digital responsibility (EcoIndex)
- Mobile apps: updates, comments and ratings, NPS (Net Promoter Score), referencing in stores
- Digital marketing: GEO, SEO, display, email, social networks and partners
- Social networks: LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, Youtube, X (ex Twitter)
Solutions used
We used various market data collection tools, and reworked all the data in the form of an index for a simple, visual benchmark of the sector. The chosen solutions are : Built with, Decodeapps, EcoIndex, Google, Mangools, PageSpeed Insights, Semrush, Similar Web.
For more information, see our Insurance and social protection offering.