COVID-19 Really Has Powered Up Life Sales: Idea File
The founder of a digital life agency says it's as if a light switch went on.
Jake Tamarkin, the founder of Everyday Life, an online life insurance selection system, says the conventional wisdom is true: The COVID-19 pandemic really has had a big, obvious effect on consumers’ interest in life insurance.
Tamarkin started out by getting a bachelor’s degree from the Berklee College of Music, then a master’s degree in business from Indiana University’s business school.
He got into financial services as a retirement plan consultant and team leader at MetLife, worked for BNY Mellon for eight years, then spent a year as head of strategy and innovation at Foresters Financial.
He started Everyday Life in Andover, Massachusetts, in November 2018.
Everyday Life systems gather information from a consumer who is interested in life insurance, make product recommendations, and then pass the consumer on to a life insurance application system.
The company received a cash infusion from American Enterprise Group of Des Moines — the parent of American Republic, Medico and Great Western Insurance Co. — in June.
Here are three things Tamarkin said in an email interview about the pandemic and life insurance.
1. COVID-19 has had a clear-cut effect on demand.
“On Thursday in mid-March 2020, a light switch went on,” Tamarkin said. “We’re a life insurance platform designed for people who don’t typically seek help from financial advisors. We’re like independent agents that help average income people get life insurance. And in March they started looking for life insurance.”
2. COVID-19 has changed people’s life insurance shopping clock.
“Families worried about their financial needs in the middle of the night, and they didn’t want to wait for offices to open to find a solution,” Tamarkin said. “Traffic peaked on Everyday Life at night starting at 9 p.m. through 8 a.m. We saw our site traffic increase 500% overnight, and we haven’t looked back.”
3. The demographics of the buyers have changed.
Tamarkin said Everyday Life has seen a surge in demand for life insurance from younger people.
“Average earners — people who have been previously overlooked by traditional insurers and have fewer employer-sponsored options than they used to — realize the value of life insurance,” he said. “They are prepared to budget for it, so if it’s easy for them to get and it’s not too expensive, they will make the purchase. New platforms like ours are set up to serve this new market.”
Jake Tamarkin (Photo: Everyday Life)