Millennial Insurance Marketing Spotlight: Six Takeaways

Millennials used to be misunderstood. Not anymore. Today, millennials have redefined themselves as hard-working, highly-creative individuals with high expectations and values-driven lifestyles. Employers now take this power-packed generation seriously, offering creative benefits packages designed around millennial priorities. Marketing strategies have evolved: inviting dialogue rather than just broadcasting a message, conveying authenticity rather than aiming for an immaculate image.

How did millennials achieve so much influence, given how they were perceived (as sniveling ninnies) at first? Well – for one thing, there are a lot of them. Millennials are the largest living generation, having surpassed Boomers and skipped right over the middle-child in this family, Generation X.

Lynette Gil put it succinctly at Property Casualty 360: “Millennials … have not only taken over the workplace. They are now your biggest market and opportunity.” Which means that some of those who once rolled their eyes about misunderstood millennials are realizing now, they really were misunderstood.

Research organizations are working to repair that divide. For example, AXA Lab recently commissioned a survey to find out how millennials view insurance. The project was produced by Alpha UX, “a company that specializes in getting to know your target market,” Gil said.

According to their findings, here’s what millennials want:

1. Instant access. Millennials are digital natives who are almost always connected. The majority of online and mobile purchases are their doing, and when they shop in those channels, they expect instant price comparisons, product info and peer reviews.
2. Price sensitivity. Millennials have big diplomas and small bank accounts. Student debt is a problem. So is employment. They’re putting off buying houses and having babies. They need a price that fits.
3. Reliability of coverage. If anything outranks price among millennial priorities, it’s reliability of coverage. This category beat price by 11 percentage points and left all the others in the dust, including customer service, the ability to understand terms, transparency, and mobile app integration.
4. Product education. When asked what insurance is for, a millennial’s mind will likely jump to health. The ability to cover medical expenses handily outranked the ability to protect loved ones, to replace valuable possessions, and to achieve financial security. Their second-most important line of coverage was auto. For insurers working in other lines, it’s necessary to educate this audience on the value and importance of what they offer.
5. Human connection. You might expect digital natives to be averse to speaking in real time (in fact, many millennials do have phone anxiety), but by far their most popular way to interact with an insurer was in person. Phone ranked second. Using the Internet from a computer came in third, with mobile in the rear.
6. Trustworthiness. Among those millennials who don’t want to interact with an insurer at all (eight percent), reasons included distrust of the insurer’s intentions, expecting the insurer to make them sign up for more than they need, and, in a word, hassle. Millennials with these concerns need to be reassured in an authentic, believable way.

Some of these priorities are to be expected; others are somewhat surprising; but all of them have the potential to refine an insurer’s approach to meet millennials where they are – not just where we used to assume they were.

Of course, if you’re going to market to millennials, you need insurance software that functions in real-time, providing the instant access this generation craves. Silvervine Software can deliver. Download our free report, “The Five Mobile Game Changers” to learn more.