The millennial generation, generally defined as those currently in the 18-30 age-range, are a tech-savvy and suspicious bunch. They grew up with computers and the Great Recession, and Oracle predicts they will generate $2.45 trillion in annual spending by 2015. This demographic offers plenty of opportunities for lead generation, but you aren’t going to get the best results if you go with the same sales tactics you use on their parents. Understand what concerns Millennials, where they go online, and the best ways to reach them in their day-to-day life, and you may be able to help them find feasible insurance solutions.
Understand Millennial Concerns
Millennials are coming of age and working in a time of slow economic growth, and many of them are shouldering a heavy student loan burden. The result is that 34 percent of Millennials live in their family home, according to Pew Internet. Millennials seek services that provide them with good value and fit within their budget as they wait to establish an independent household; as such, high cost products may be off the table. Additionally, it’s important to stress why various insurance products are an important investment, knowing that your audience does not have a lot of choices or disposable income.
Insuring Millennials
The government’s push to encourage Millennials to enroll in Affordable Care Act programs has proven unsuccessful so far. The Act needs young healthy Americans to sign up to subsidize the cost of older and sicker Americans. But, according to a recent Harvard Political Review poll, most Millennials are rejecting The ACA and Obamacare because they believe it will bring higher costs and poor coverage. Among the polled 18-29 age group, only 13 percent said they would definitely sign up through the ACA. This leaves a lot of un- and under-insured young Americans. Cater healthcare and other insurance benefits to the needs of Millenials by giving them an understanding of the ACA versus their other options.
Interactive Online and Social Media
Millennials know what they’re doing technology-wise, and you better know, too. Agents need to generate different kinds of insurance leads online and off to balance business. A Web and mobile-compatible site will draw a wider audience.
Millennials are connected. More so than any other generation, they will have a smartphone at their side at all times. The Boston Consulting Group found that Millennials are not only active on social networks with their friends, they are also likely to reach out to brands for interaction.
One way to reach Millennials through social networks is by using tools such as Hoot Suite to keep up with the social conversations. You minimize the chance of missing opportunities to connect with potential customers through monitoring software, as well as taking care of any public relation problems coming down the pipe. According to a recent Forbes article, Millennials want to have a personal relationship with a business, insurance company, or anywhere they do business. They want to know their insurance agent personally, socially interact with businesses online, and have their voices heard.
The Mobile Era
If the Millennials aren’t at the computer, they’ve got their smartphones on hand. Google reports that 88 percent of millennial smartphone owners used their mobile devices to shop online during the 2013 holiday season, and they aren’t shy about pulling their phones out the rest of the year, either.
Mobile-accessible insurance websites are more likely to capture their attention, or consider responsive designso the same web design works on all versions of your website. Look into making a mobile app available for your services to create a captive mobile audience. Think of relevant resources, information or tools related to your service to incorporate into the app. You want it to be useful, not created solely for closing the sale.
