In the next five years, millennials are set to comprise the largest chunk of America’s working population. That also means that they’ll soon overtake the Baby Boomer generation as insurance companies’ most profitable clients. But carriers must be aware: although the millennial market is a lucrative one, the young guns that comprise it are very discerning. The cost of living is different from how it used to be, and millennials are extra careful about their financial priorities. Carriers can’t simply expect them to sign up for the first insurance programs advertised to them, or those with the flashiest traditional advertising campaigns.
Why startups should invest in insurance
For an insurance company, winning this segment of the market will be a challenge unlike the ones posed by the previous generations. The old methods of enticing new policyholders to sign up—and the old insurance system used to accommodate it—simply won’t cut it anymore. If you’re a decision-maker for an insurance business and you want a steady clientele among millennials, you have to be open to innovation. You also need to keep the pulse on current consumer trends for insurance, as well as the standard of insurance delivery now expected from carriers. To that end, here are five tips to help your insurance company entice millennial customers and stand out to them as the carrier of choice.
Make the shift to digital insurance delivery
The first step your company should take in order to cater to millennial consumers is to optimize your current insurance system for digital delivery. It isn’t just an issue of translating your pen-and-paper insurance process into an online counterpart. Rather, it’s time to re-examine your core insurance system and resolve to do away with any elements that hinder your processes. Aim to restructure your legacy system’s convoluted IT environments, and make it easier for your staff to do good work in a digital setting.
For best results, shift out of your legacy system and onto a digital insurance platform that’s built for the times. Take the opportunity to improve your carrier’s IT backend and your core processing systems for managing high volumes of insurance data. Doing so may help you eliminate restrictive data silos, or bottlenecks that prevent important data from flowing to different departments in your company. Moving to an upgraded platform will allow you to streamline your insurance data from a single source of truth. In simple terms, it will help all your staff get on the same page with regard to policyholder information. This will increase your staff’s ability to deliver great customer service experiences online, a nonnegotiable when dealing with millennials who are constantly connected.
Simplify key insurance processes
The second step should be to simplify your insurance processes and make them much easier for your customers to complete. This generation of policyholders knows the value of straightforward, step-by-step processes. Millennials are used to fulfilling their everyday needs quickly and simply, from booking transport via ride-hailing services to ordering groceries. It doesn’t take that long to get from Point A to Point B, and there aren’t very many obstacles along the way. Why shouldn’t the same principle apply to something as important as insurance?
In order to court the millennial crowd, see to it that you can cut the fat out of your processes. Ensure that it’s possible to get quotes, compare prices, sign up, pay bills, and renew policies in just a few steps. The clearer the steps are, and the less time it takes to fulfill them, the more willing your millennial customers will be to go through them. This is your key to increasing sign-ups within this market, as well as renewals for insurance policies.
Craft unique insurance experiences for mobile
The third step your company will want to take in order to secure millennial customers is to re-engineer your insurance experiences for mobile. This generation grew up with smartphones and tablets. They will want the option to receive updates, settle insurance payments, and even register claims using their mobile devices. They’ll also want the most streamlined and organized platforms to do all of these.
It will be in your best interest to use a core insurance system that guarantees smooth integration with mobile devices. You’ll want to invest in a great user interface for mobile, as well as compatibility with all necessary application programming interfaces (APIs). These are the third-party software intermediaries that will allow customers to use different applications when getting insurance. They will need seamless API integration to interact with your insurance system via email or messaging app, compare policy prices, and pay their bills online. If you can guarantee your millennial customers trouble-free insurance transactions on their mobile devices, you’ll be leagues ahead of your competitors.
Develop insurance products that resonate better with millennials
The fourth step pertains to releasing fresh and relevant insurance products that truly resonate with millennials. This market isn’t as keen on bundled, all-in-one insurance products as its predecessors were. Younger members of the workforce may want to start their insurance journeys with leaner, more flexible, and more affordable products. This allows them to get more comfortable with the idea of insurance without pressuring them to spend for products they can’t afford yet.
Once you’ve upgraded your insurance system, you can also revamp your product development process. Use your new infrastructure to decouple your old insurance programs and develop smaller, more reasonably priced policies. If your millennial customers have the option to start small with you, they’re likelier to sign up now and pursue more extensive insurance coverage later.
Follow a standard of insurance delivery that matches today’s fast-paced needs
The last step to winning the millennial market is easy in theory, but difficult in practice. It pertains to keeping up a standard of service that millennial policyholders already expect, and not settling for less. Your insurance company must be consistent in answering queries, giving quotes, and settling more complex insurance-related concerns when they are relayed to you. You must also aim to deliver end-to-end customer service that makes your millennial policyholders feel engaged with their provider.
On the business end, this means that insurers must welcome more automation and cloud computing technologies and use these to their advantage. It also means setting aside time to orient employees and teaching them how to use the new tech for the enhancement of their current capabilities. Millennials should know that their providers are not only good with technology, but also as warm and trustworthy as they were to previous generations.
Growing your insurance company with your new millennial clientele
Insurance is a highly customer-centric industry, and carriers won’t succeed if they don’t take the pulse of their customers. In order to thrive, today’s insurance companies must be able to evolve with their markets. Welcome the millennial generation of policyholders, and demonstrate your readiness for a future with them. Then, start them on an insurance journey that they’ll ultimately be glad they signed up for.