40% more quotes turned into policies, live on schedule in 14 weeks

The challenge

Most people who start a motor insurance quote never buy. Across the industry, 70 to 90% of quote journeys are abandoned, and each one is a wasted acquisition cost. 

Sterling wanted to help more of those customers finish. It needed something that could answer questions accurately at the point of sale, across a large and varied scheme panel, without adding compliance risk.

Why OpenDialog

Adrian Flux Group already knew what OpenDialog could do because it had delivered measurable results at their Bikesure brand. That made Sterling's decision simpler. It could start from something that had already worked inside the group.

About Selma

Selma is OpenDialog's AI sales agent, built specifically for insurance quote-to-bind.

Most chat tools on a quote page wait for the customer to ask something. Selma doesn't. It pays attention to how someone is moving through the quote, including where they slow down, what they go back to and which fields they change, and uses that to predict when they're likely to drop out. It then steps in at that point with the answer or reassurance they need to carry on.

Its answers come from the customer's actual quote. Selma knows which scheme they're on, what that scheme covers and what the live policy wording says, so a learner driver comparing excesses gets an answer about their own policy and not a general explanation of motor cover. At Sterling, that meant 53 schemes with different wordings, all served live through Sterling's own API.

The same understanding helps with add-ons. Selma can tell when an extra is relevant to a particular customer and explain why it matters to them, which is part of the reason add-on attachment rose alongside conversion.

Implementation

The project went live in just 14 weeks.

Sterling and OpenDialog chose a focused launch. They started with Sterling's two largest learner driver schemes, which share a policy wording, so the first release could be tested thoroughly against one set of product documents before it was extended.

Motor schemes differ in cover, eligibility and wording, so each one was tested separately before going live. That took longer than a bulk rollout would have, but it kept delivery on schedule and meant every scheme went live with confidence that the agent was answering correctly for that product.

Sterling built an API that serves live policy wordings and IPIDs directly to the agent. When a document changes, the agent is working from the new version straight away, and there's no separate content library to keep in sync.

The deployment raised no compliance or regulatory issues.

Watching the numbers after go live

Going live was the start of the work. In March 2026, a change to the quote journey had a knock-on effect on conversion. OpenDialog's monitoring picked it up, the team adapted the agent to fit the new journey, and lift climbed steadily over the months that followed.

Every customer who leaves at the quote stage is one we've already paid to win. Selma is bringing a lot more of them over the line, and doing it in a way that stays accurate to each scheme. That's why we put it on every Private Car quote, and why it's already on our next product.
Andy Morton, General Manager, Sterling Insurance Services

Conversion lift went from roughly level with the control in March and April to between 39% and 41% in July and August.

Results

Sterling ran a controlled A/B test from January to August 2026, comparing customers who used the AI journey with those who didn't.

Customers who used the AI journey were more likely to buy a policy, and more likely to add extras when they did.

On the strength of those results, Sterling expanded from the two launch schemes to every Private Car quote across all 53 schemes, then added a second product, Short Term Car.

At Sterling Insurance Services, we are committed to continually improving the experience we provide to our customers and partners. Working closely alongside the OpenDialog team has enabled us to explore new ways to deliver more intuitive, responsive, and efficient customer interactions. This collaboration represents an important step in our ongoing digital transformation journey, helping us combine innovative technology with the high standards of service our customers expect.
Darren Lee, Online Business Manager, Sterling Insurance Services