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September 16, 2015 at 01:12 PM
The purchasing habits of millennials are difficult to figure out, and as the largest generation in the U.S., your insurance business’ future depends on your ability to reach them.
Revealed in a recent study commissioned by Effective Coverage and performed by ORC International, what we do know about millennials is that they aren’t likely to purchase home and renters insurance from local agencies. In fact, 18-29-year-olds are 50 percent less likely than their parents to purchase from local representatives.
Of all the groups surveyed, millennial renters were the least likely to purchase policies from individual agents. Forty percent of all age groups surveyed purchased home insurance policies from local insurance agencies, yet only 24 percent of millennials followed suit.
Instead of working with local agents to find the right coverage, 67 percent of millennials are purchasing directly from insurance companies, leaving agents out of the picture. Before trying to win them over, we need to understand why local insurance professionals aren’t reaching this important demographic.
1. Millennials want immediacy.
Millennials are the on-demand generation and they don’t remember life before the Internet, nor do they want to. Clothing, television shows, and even dating are just a couple of clicks away.
The convenience of doing everything from the comfort of their living rooms has developed into a way of life. Unless the benefits of doing things differently are evident, there aren’t many occasions that will entice millennials to trade an instant shopping experience for the time-consuming task of driving somewhere and “dealing” with actual people. If a millennial is looking for a new pair of shoes or even insurance coverage at midnight, there are only two places to go: the Internet or the call center of a direct writer.
You can’t keep your office open 24 hours, but you may be able to provide extended hours, conduct meetings that are convenient for them (try local coffee shops), and utilize online tools and resources to reach them. At Effective Coverage, we recently filmed over 100 videos answering questions about renters insurance. Why? Because when millennials have questions, they want answers immediately.
Answering those questions on their terms is a good start to building a relationship and eventually offering them insurance products.
2. Millennials are hard to find.
Millennials are elusive and don’t often travel in packs. They don’t ask their friends or peers for referrals. They go online to social media and review sites to learn about products and to get a feel for a brand. If they’re comfortable with products or services after doing research, they’ll purchase immediately from where they currently are — online.
How to overcome:
Create online and social media profiles so millennials can find you. From advertising on social media, to providing your customers with easy ways to share information online with their networks, if you use technology to reach millennials, you’ll be a couple of steps closer to landing new policyholders in this demographic.
3. They have their own communication style.
Millennials don’t want to spend extra time speaking to someone in person or over the phone to complete a transaction. They want to send a text or press submit, and then receive receipts sent directly to their inboxes in case they ever need proofs of purchase. Upselling makes them uncomfortable, and they don’t see any benefit to sitting in offices for an hour filling out paperwork.
