Millennials, those born in the early 1980s, have become the most dominant buyer group for insurance products.
This article is an excerpt from my soon-to-be-released book "iBroker: How an insurance agency should engage with the millennial and Gen Z demographic"
Connecting with one's prospective customers is the goal - or should be the goal - of every marketing initiative. Whether said marketing plan is meant to promote brand awareness, or drive sales, every effective sales and marketing system must seek to connect, in the most curated way possible, with a target audience.
With that being said, your first step in embarking on this journey to position your Life and health insurance agency to serve the needs of today's digitally savvy client is to try to gather as much information as you can about her.
And to draw some conclusions as to how you and your agency, given your own resources and unique qualifications, can connect with her.
Lucky for you, we are living in the information age and folks who are smarter than both of us have done the work of collecting a bunch of data points highlighting the needs, wishes, and wants of the consumer about whom we speak.
The truth is... younger folks, especially Millennials, those born in the early 1980s, have become the most dominant buyer group for insurance products. Even surpassing Gen X and Baby boomers.
Both Gen-Z and Millennials, outside of life insurance products, tend to shop for other types of insurance products including Pet insurance, health, accident, and other forms of employee health benefits.
Audience appreciation
Both groups have been known to cite "too much paperwork" as a reason to not enroll in various insurance plans. A fully digital experience is preferred. Mobile apps with fewer steps to getting covered work well for this type of prospect.
A fully digital experience is preferred. Mobile apps with fewer steps to getting covered work well for this type of prospect.
Consultative engagement
Heavily investing in systems and processes that help demystify some of the more complex products and services in the insurance space, and all the tons of terminologies will also go a long way to help educate this unique cohort on the main benefits of services and products available.
Firms like Healthee and Sana have been able to build vibrant businesses that first seek to connect with and help solve some of the obstacles their clients may face both directly and indirectly during the utilization of their insurance plans.
Healthee’s powerful AI tool liberates HR teams from time-consuming insurance questions and empowers employees with the knowledge they need to get the most out of their existing healthcare coverage.
The price factor
Also for this cohort, cost is a big factor when shopping for insurance products. Younger audiences often feel that traditional insurance policies were designed to cover those much older than them and feel like with the added features come added costs. Curated plans, ones that directly address the specific needs of Millennials and Gen-Z folks may have are typically preferable.
Works well with Indie Agencies
To that end, there are various quality insurance outfits out there that are well-positioned to embrace the digital evolution of our industry while working well with independent agents and agencies. Ethos comes to mind. As well as Oscar and Bright Health.
Game plan
As an insurance agent/agency, it is important to communicate clearly the key benefits of the insurance solutions you offer as it relates to your audience. As opposed to simply educating your prospects on the many features the various products you sell come with. This is a mistake I often see those in our industry make.
Any effective marketing strategy should surely begin with you getting to know exactly who you are trying to reach with your new service or product and how to best communicate with the folks you want to convert into customers.
Aside from the more common sense aspects of marketing, such as what success means for you, the process your would-be customers must follow in order to take the ultimate action needed, and so forth, you must learn to speak the language of your specific audience and craft your messaging according to their pain points.
