How we're using a free AI SaaS to grow our 'boring' insurance business
We're the team behind WeCovr, the UK's most innovative insurance brokerage.
Yeah, I know – insurance isn't the sexiest industry. It's often seen as a transactional, "set it and forget it" product. We wanted to change that.
We kept asking ourselves: How can we provide genuine, ongoing value to our customers beyond just the policy document? How can we help them with the very thing they're insuring – their health?
Our answer was to build a completely separate, high-value product and give it away for free to our members.
Meet CalorieHero: Our Value-Add "Perk"
We've just launched CalorieHero, an AI-powered calorie and nutrition tracking app. We designed it to be the most intuitive and intelligent tracker on the market, taking the soul-crushing friction out of logging meals.
Instead of building a cheap, throwaway feature, we went all-in to build a premium, standalone app.
What makes CalorieHero different?
Frictionless AI Logging: This was our #1 goal. Users can log meals just by taking a picture, scanning a barcode, or typing naturally (e.g., "a bowl of oatmeal with blueberries and a coffee"). The AI handles the rest, breaking down calories and macros with high accuracy.
A Real AI Coach: The app doesn't just track; it learns. It analyses your dietary patterns, goals, and preferences to suggest personalised meal ideas, healthier swaps, and portion sizes. It adapts whether you're keto, vegan, or just trying to eat a bit better.
Deeper Nutritional Insights: We go beyond just calories and macros. The app helps you track micronutrients, understand the quality of your food, and spot potential dietary gaps, helping you make genuinely smarter choices.
The Business Model / The "Hack"
This is the part we're most excited about and would love your feedback on.
Differentiation in a Crowded Market: The insurance world is a sea of sameness. By offering a premium tool like CalorieHero for free, we immediately stand out. It's a tangible benefit that helps customers from day one.
Creating a Virtuous Cycle: Health and life insurance is fundamentally about health. By giving our customers tools to actually improve their health, we're aligning our business with their best interests. Healthier customers are happier customers, which we believe will lead to better retention and fewer claims in the long run.
Shifting from Transactional to Relational: Instead of talking to our customers once a year at renewal, we're giving them a reason to engage with our brand daily in a positive, health-affirming way.
CalorieHero is complimentary for anyone who buys a private health or life insurance policy from WeCovr (https://wecovr.com/pmi).
What sets WeCovr apart is its hybrid distribution model – combining embedded insurance partnerships with fintechs, employers and other platforms, alongside a growing direct-to-consumer service.
Through these channels, WeCovr has already issued hundreds of thousands of policies across the UK. WeCovr aims to be a trusted UK insurance broker providing expert, FCA-authorised advice across a wide range of insurance products, including private medical insurance, health insurance for individuals and families, business health insurance, motor insurance, and life cover.
The CalorieHero app is also available for anyone to use, as we want to build a great product that can stand on its own two feet.
We'd Love Your Feedback
As fellow builders and entrepreneurs, your perspective is invaluable.
The Strategy: What do you think of this value-add model? Have you seen it work well in other "boring" industries? What are the potential pitfalls we should watch out for?
The App: For anyone who tracks nutrition (or has tried and failed!), we'd be grateful if you'd give CalorieHero a spin. What do you love? What's clunky? What feature is a "must-have" that we've missed?
You can check out the official launch post here: WeCovr Launches CalorieHero
And you can try the app directly here: CalorieHero Web App
Thanks for reading. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!
