What Do Millennials Want From Their Insurance Agency?

​Much has been written about the millennial generation and insurance, so let’s cut to the chase.

The most obvious differentiator between millennials and previous generations is technology.

Most millennials are fluent in technology and the internet. They are comfortable with using it to their advantage. They treat it as a resource to aid themselves whenever and wherever they want. Entertainment? Check. Help? Check. Insurance? Check.

Millennial buying power is estimated at $200 billion. Want to tap into that market? Luckily, your agency likely doesn’t have to make drastic changes to capture more millennials. Simply consider what millennials want from their insurance agency.

An Online Presence That’s Mobile-Friendly
People trust you with their most valuable possessions and even lives. Your agency needs to appear as reputable as possible. Part of that trust comes from an online presence.

For millennials searching online, if a business doesn’t have a website, it probably isn’t reputable. Step one for your agency? Have a website.  

Your insurance agency website must also look good on mobile. Remember how I said millennials are internet natives? They are mobile natives too. It’s standard to search for something like insurance using a mobile internet browser or maps app. Make sure your website is mobile-friendly to capture those prospects.

A Website or App to Get Quotes (and More)
Millennial customers want to use their agent’s website to address common insurance needs. They don’t want to play phone-tag or wait until normal business hours to take action on their policy.

“I don’t want to have to talk to anyone on the phone. A streamlined website and app experience is way more important to me than anything else. Policy changes, new quotes, etcetera, all need to be done online.”

         Phillip Long, Internet Marketing Product Manager

Millennials are used to helping themselves with online customer service tools. A successful insurance website should be able to handle common requests. For example, an online quote form. Plus, as more customers use automated channels, you’ll have more time to dedicate toward other agency needs.

 
Many Communication Channels
It’s a good idea to have many communication channels open for your customers. This can be a phone line, website form, texting, social media, email, and more.

“I personally like being able to call them up and speak to them. Insurance is so difficult to understand, I can’t read it all and make sense of it, so I prefer to actually speak to them and ask a real live person all my silly questions.”

          Darmini Kara, SEO Consultant

 “I prefer if everything can be done over text or email. Not even a phone call. My agency was calling to set up an in-person meeting to go over my policy changes for the year. They asked me to come to their office for a whole discussion. I had to decline because why would I take time to go to my insurance agent during business hours?”

         Henna Javed, AgencyBuzz Coordinator

The distinction to bear in mind with millennials is similar to the previous topic. Millennial consumers want to contact you in a manner that is most convenient for them at that given time. At your agency, work to keep a range of channels open. Make sure each channel is staffed. As a contingency, have automatic replies set up to let customers know their message was received.

 
An Online Business Listing with Good Reviews
Before a millennial clicks to your website, they’ll see your agency’s Google My Business listing. In the age of the internet, it’s easy to get scammed. As internet natives, millennials are always on the lookout for signs that a website is credible.
 

A complete Google My Business profile lends plenty of credibility to your agency. Make sure there are plenty of good reviews, too.

Consider this: 85 percent of people trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. If your agency relies on referrals, treat reviews with the same importance. When a customer has a positive experience, ask them to leave a review. Run an email campaign with the intent of gathering reviews from longtime customers. Or, have producers conclude each sale with a request to leave a review.
 

A Rising Tide Raises All Boats
If you want to understand their expectation of your agency, this is a good starting point. Invest in meeting these expectations. It will also improve the experience of other customers. Millennials will only continue to patronize businesses who put their experience first.

Blog Post by: ITC