Insurance agents across the nation have been waiting, and waiting and waiting for Millennials to start buying life insurance and other life stage related insurance products. However since Millennials are marrying, starting families and buying homes later than previous generations, many insurance companies are unsure when to begin targeting Millennials in earnest.
“Life insurance is for old people. I’m young with my whole future ahead of me. Life insurance can wait, my student loans can’t. ”
According to the just released 2016 Insurance Barometer Study, 51 percent of Millennials and 30 percent of people overall are very or extremely likely to consider wearing an activity tracker and share those results with a life insurance company in return for financial rewards for healthy behaviors.
At this very moment, a client is handing its agency reams of reports to brief them on a new product. The target audience is described in detail. Be they Millennials, Baby Boomers, or a segment with a catchier name, say Alpha Moms, chances are if you showed the description to the target they wouldn’t recognize themselves.
The Gig Economy or Freelance Economy has become the norm for many workers. According to a recent survey, more than 3 million Americans are doing freelance work. That’s 34% of the entire workforce. And no one is embracing freelancing more than Millennials. A full 69% of Millennials surveyed said they would prefer to freelance provided they could find enough projects to earn the salary they want.
Yet for all the flexibility and freedom, freelancers miss out on traditional corporate benefits. And while most freelancers understand the need to purchase individual health coverage, another key piece of their safety net remains off the radar –life insurance.
Reports show that only 34% of adult Millennials own an individual life policy. Yet 55% are already married or in a domestic partnership. Among older Millennials, between ages 25-34, there are now 10.8 million households with children. Unless these families proactively take steps to protect themselves, they remain vulnerable to financial disaster.
How can insurers raise awareness of the need for life insurance? How can they break though when Millennials have become so resistant to traditional advertising approaches? The answers to these and other questions can be found in our new ebook, The Essential Guide to Marketing Life Insurance to Millennials. Download your copy today.
If you would to tap our expert guidance, contact Mark Silverman for a free, custom consultation.
Professionals associations large and small are facing new challenges. Longtime members are retiring and replacing them with younger members is becoming more and more difficult. According to the groundbreaking analysis in the book Bowling Alone, in the past several decades civic organizations, community groups have disappeared by the thousands and many professional associations are struggling to grow membership and remain relevant.
The author explored various factors that may be contributing to this phenonomenon from time pressures, suburbanization, commuting and urban sprawl to what he referred to as the “privatization of our leisure time.” But the biggest influence by far, is generational change – the slow, steady and relentless replacement of the older membership-driven, civically involved generation with their less involved children and grandchildren.
The book raises an intriguing question. Do people of different ages behave differently because they are momentarily at different points in a common life cycle or because they enduringly belong to a different generation? To illustrate the point, at the end of the 20th century, American males in their 60s and 70s had much worse eyesight than their grandsons in their 20s and 30s, and the older men were also much more likely to have served in the military. Obviously, these two related age patterns have different origins. The eyesight effect is due entirely to life cycle. As we age, our vision deteriorates. On the other hand, the difference in military service are attributable to the generational change in world affairs and policies toward the draft. When the grandsons reach the grandfather’s age, their vision too will blur, but they will never share their grandfather’s military service.
The question for professional and other associations is will the younger generation eventually have the same joining behavior as previous generations? The data, and our experience, suggest that they will not. The incoming generation of young professionals have extensive professional networks right out of school and who don’t use the word “join” the way previous generations do. Yet the strength of social media demonstrates that today’s young professionals still see the value in connection and networking. The challenge for Associations to provide an experience that potential members can’t get elsewhere in the real or online world and to find a business model that aligns with the way these members choose to interact.
In the meantime, to continue the work of the Association, many groups are relying more and more on non-dues revenue. A recent Association Adviser poll shows that accounts for at least 25% of total revenue at the vast majority of associations (86%) and for more than half of revenue at 22% of associations.
One area often overlooked is in helping members with individual challenges they are facing in their lives outside of the association. The ASAE study, The Decision to Join, found that although collective benefits such as those that support the industry or field as a whole are the primary appeal of membership. Yet interestingly, a variety of personal benefits such as educational opportunities, networking, access to products, services and suppliers were rated almost equal in importance. Despite this some associations offer such minimal personal benefits that they appear to be overly focused on acting as an advocate for an industry and underestimating the need to advocate for their members as individuals. Other associations offer a robust package of personal benefits but they are so underutilized it would appear the offerings are out of sync with what members want and need.
Can your association advocate for its members on a more personally meaningful level? What impression do your benefits-related communications give your members about the association and the value it is providing them? Are your benefit programs generic or tailored to the needs, interests and input received from members? Are your benefit programs delivering a sustainable level of non-dues revenue?
At Bodden Partners, we specialize in member marketing. If you would like to improve the effectiveness of your member acquisition, onboarding and retention efforts, contact us for a free consultation.
In the rush to capture the Millennial market, too many marketers are relying on oversimplified stereotypes rather than data. These 80 million Millennials have an estimated buying power of $200 billion. Every major life insurance company is eager to lock them in to their first policy. The problem is most insurance marketers have no idea how to market to Millennials. The problem is compounded by the fact that while the average Millennial is now in their 20s, the average insurance agent is pushing 60. The question is can the generation that raised Millennials now turn around and market to them?
Under more scrutiny than ever before, marketing managers are turning to data to take the guesswork out of business decisions and justify spending. Today’s marketing channels generate an ever-increasing variety, volume, velocity and complexity of information. Every action and interaction can be tracked, analyzed and recorded.
In addition to the massive amounts of data being collected, organizations conduct ongoing market research in an attempt to uncover insights into their target audience. Researchers employ a variety of tools for quantitative and qualitative studies. Questionnaires and surveys are a favorite for quantitative studies while focus groups are the primary tool for qualitative studies. According to the Marketing Research Association, roughly 70% of all consumer research dollars are spent on qualitative research. It is estimated over 200,000 focus groups are conducted annually, with an approximate $7 billion being spent on focus group testing.
Despite the popularity of surveys and focus groups, both have serious drawbacks and limitations. Survey questionnaires are tightly scripted based on the researcher’s own decisions and assumptions as to what is and is not important, therefore they often contain inherent bias. Surveys are inflexible and do not allow the researcher to probe for subtle meanings or context behind answers. Studies show answers deteriorate as the questions grind on and the respondent repeats the same score in an effort to complete the process.
Focus groups are an artificial environment that subject people to peer pressure. Participants’ opinions could be easily influenced by facial expressions, body language or other reactions. Participants know they are being watched and may change their behavior or hold back opinions as a result. If the subject matter is sensitive, personal or potentially embarrassing, participants may withhold vital information that would affect the quality of the research results. Additionally, “groupthink” is a well-known psychological phenomenon in which group members try to minimize conflict and reach a consensus decision. This dynamic allows for the group to become influenced by one or two dominant people in the session, resulting in very biased outcomes.
Given the limitations of traditional research methods, Bodden Partners has developed a proprietary approach we call The SOUL Process® because it gets to the very essence of why people buy a product or service.
• SOUL is one-on-one listening sessions rather than focus group herd mentality
• SOUL is open-ended, flexible conversations rather than tightly scripted questionnaires
• SOUL is direct contact with the developers of communication rather than passive observation behind a two-way mirror
If you would like to know how The SOUL Process® can create breakthrough results for your product, request our free ebook today.
Millennials, roughly defined as everyone born between 1980 and 2000, are the hot topic for marketers across industries. But perhaps no industry is struggling with the Millennial conundrum quite as much as the insurance industry. For life insurance marketers, separating Millennial myth from reality is the key to success. While popular perception says Millennials are single and living at home or sharing an apartment with friends, reality is that sizable segments within Millennials are shouldering significant family responsibilities.
Among older Millennials, between ages 25-34, there are now 10.8 million households with children. Further, with Millennials accounting for 80% of the 4 million annual U.S. births, the number of new Millennial parents stands to grow exponentially over the next decade. The birth of a child is a proven trigger for life insurance purchase. And given that 57% of Millennial mothers are unmarried, the need for the life insurance safety net is palpable.
Identifying Millennials with an insurance need is only the first step. The more difficult task is speaking to them in a way that will get them to stop, pay attention and take action. Rather than sitting around a conference room table guessing and experimenting with what will resonate with this audience, Bodden Partners believes the best way to understand any consumer is to listen to them.
We have developed a proprietary, trademarked interviewing technique which we call The SOUL Process. We hold in-depth, one-on-one listening sessions with consumers and potential buyers about their needs as well as their attitudes and reactions to a particular product offering and brand. The ultimate goal of the questioning technique is to get consumers to disclose what they would need you to say and how you would need to say it in order for them to be interested in your product.
Curious about how it works? Request our free ebook today.
Millennials, roughly defined as everyone born between 1980 and 2000, are the hot topic for marketers across industries. But perhaps no industry is struggling with the Millennial conundrum quite as much as the insurance industry. According to a LIMRA study, only 34% of Millennials own individual life insurance.
The Census Bureau projects that the Millennial population at 75 million people, and growing. This generation continues to expand as young immigrants swell their ranks. With a growing influx of immigrants and immigrant births, Millennials are the most diverse generation in history, yet among marketers there is a tendency to assume they are the same when it comes to their lifestyle, use of technology, attitudes, behaviors, opinions and preferences.
For life insurance marketers, separating Millennial myth from reality is the key to success. In upcoming editions of this blog, we will be exploring the challenges and opportunities of marketing life insurance to Millennials. We invite you to join the conversation.
