PURE has launched a new advertising campaign built around a simple idea: we're motivated by our members. 

If you're skeptical of that claim, you should be. Companies say they put their customers first all the time. What matters is whether their decisions back it up. 

Every company has incentives. They may not appear in the advertising or the mission statement, but they influence decisions: what gets prioritized, where money is invested, how success is measured and who ultimately benefits from it. 

Insurance companies are no different.  

At PURE, members are central to how we think about those decisions.

PURE is structured as a reciprocal insurance exchange. The mechanics can be complicated, but the idea is simple: our policyholders own the insurance company. And that influences how we run it.

Helping members through a claim is one of our most important responsibilities. We want to make a difficult situation as easy as possible. 

But an even better outcome is helping prevent the loss in the first place. We help members identify vulnerabilities in their homes and take steps to address them. We continue to invest in ways to reduce the likelihood and severity of losses from wildfire, water damage, severe weather and other risks. And as those risks change, our approach has to change with them. 

When members invest in sound loss prevention, we all can benefit over the long run. Members are less likely to experience the disruption and potential loss of something important to them, while fewer and less severe losses can benefit PURE and the membership as a whole. 

That shared benefit is powerful. It influences how we think about coverage, too.

Insurance is ultimately a promise written into a contract, but the risks that contract is designed to address don't stand still. We put a great deal of thought into how our members' risks are changing and where insurance coverage needs to evolve along with them. 

Our new Service Line coverage and enhancements to our Cyber coverage are two recent examples. In one case, we introduced new protection to address a gap we saw. In the other, we improved existing coverage as the risk evolved. 

The same thinking extends to service.

The insurance industry often describes a claim as its “moment of truth.” Certainly, when a member has a loss, we need to be at our best. But I have always thought the phrase misses something important. 

Why should there be only one moment of truth?

Sometimes exceptional service means doing something extraordinary. More often, it means consistently doing the ordinary things exceptionally well. 

And then there is what happens when the company itself performs well. 

Because PURE is a reciprocal, members have the opportunity to participate in our financial success through Subscriber Savings Accounts, or SSAs. When results allow, a portion of surplus may be allocated to those accounts. Since PURE’s founding, nearly $170 million has been allocated to members. 

We do not promise an allocation every year. Insurance results are inherently uncertain. We have a responsibility to maintain a financially strong company capable of keeping its promises to members. What we can do is run PURE responsibly and for the long term, and when results allow, members have the opportunity to benefit.  

To me, that distinction gets to the heart of what it means to be motivated by members. 

Being motivated by members does not mean every decision will make every member happy. A strong insurance company still has to price risk responsibly, underwrite thoughtfully, manage its capital carefully and make difficult decisions. In fact, serving members over the long term requires all of those things. 

What matters is that we consider those decisions through the eyes of our members.  

You can see it in the choices we make: investing to prevent losses, evolving protection as risks change, treating service as an ongoing responsibility and, when results permit, giving members an opportunity to participate in PURE's financial success.