Engaging millennials in insurance

Millennials, people 22-38 years old, are the single force disrupting insurance, according to IBM. “They don’t buy their father’s insurance and they don’t shop for it the way their parents do,” read an article on its web site. “Traditional insurance products just don’t match millennial lifestyles. And, almost no millennial wants to chat about his personal insurance needs with some guy who could be his father (or grandfather). Instead, millennials prefer the convenience and relative anonymity of shopping online for products that match their way of life.”

The millennial market has been posing a challenge in the insurance industry. In fact, a 2015 Gallup poll found millennials to be least engaged with insurers.

For insurers to meet the millennial market, it is necessary for them to fully understand how they think and behave and thereafter set a strategy that will reach and engage them.

In an interview with Insurance Business Asia magazine published on its web site, Nick Chadwick, a former senior researcher at market research cloud Fuel Cycle, observed that millennials “want to be engaged using multiple methods, including social media, apps, emails, online communities, or any other method available to the insurer.” In light of this, he suggested that insurers should set up direct channels of communication such as mobile apps or online web sites as well as invest in several non-traditional areas such as research and development and customer intelligence.

“[G]iving a voice to your consumers is the best way to ensure that you are meeting their expectations and needs on a consistent basis,” added Mr. Chadwick.

These things, along with more significant developments, have been done by insurance companies in addressing the challenge of engaging the millennial market.

Locally, for instance, Allianz PNB Life Insurance, Inc. in 2018 launched AZpire Growth, a millennial-tailored insurance product that acts both as protection and an investment vehicle. Philam Life, meanwhile, finds millennials to be one of its markets for its AIA Critical Protect 100. Manulife Philippines, on its part, tapped a celebrity very known to the millennial market as its endorser to attract and encourage millennials to start investing.

Overseas, an insurance start-up based in New York, USA called Lemonade has been popularly tagged as a “millennial-friendly” provider.

“Using artificial intelligence, a mobile app and other tech-centric methods, Lemonade founders Daniel Schreiber and Shai Wininger are turning the centuries-old business of property insurance into a Millennial-friendly consumer product,” reported Forbes magazine on its web site last May.

With its renters insurance covering personal property, personal liability, loss of use, and medical payments, Lemonade claims “to process claims in just three seconds” through its AI software. Its user-friendly interface on its web site and mobile app adds another edge to the product.

“It didn’t feel like we were taking the terrifyingly adult leap of insuring our belongings in case of an emergency,” read a review of Lemonade on Business Insider. It likened getting insurance on Lemonade to ordering dinner on a food delivery app, “except instead of getting chicken and broccoli, we get reimbursed if a leak in our apartment damages our couch.” — Adrian Paul B. Conoza