Selling Life Insurance to Millennials — Mobile-First, an Absolute Must
Welcome to the second in a five-part series on selling life insurance to millennials.
The picture of a millennial, or Gen X-er, with their head bent over their phone has become a stereotype. It’s no secret that younger generations spend a lot of time on their smartphones; anywhere from two to four hours a day. App usage and daily time on their phones are highest for users under 34 years old.
A direct result of this is that mobile sales just keep growing, with sales expected to hit $209 billion by 2022. Companies can no longer afford to neglect this channel. The key differences between mobile-optimized websites and desktop websites are primarily meant to make them easier to view on phones. The site’s layout automatically adjusts to the screen’s size and form fields align vertically, making them easier to complete on the phone. On top of this, graphics and menus are streamlined to load over cell networks, so there’s no lag.
These are just a few of the differences between a desktop and mobile website which contribute to a well-designed mobile experience. We built the Breathe Life platform with a mobile-first mentality, but of course didn’t let that distract us from also ensuring our desktop experience was well designed and easy to use. Our platform seamlessly moves from mobile to desktop and will save a partially completed application on one device so it can be completed elsewhere.
Younger generations have made it clear; they prefer to shop online, and they prefer to shop on their phones. Mobile optimized websites and apps are crucial to capturing and converting this audience to sales. Even if they don’t purchase through mobile, 41% of people who completed a purchase on a desktop computer researched that purchase on another device first. These shopping habits have a direct impact on the life insurance distribution network.
Millennials don’t purchase life insurance because they don’t want to deal with in-person meetings or long physical exams. In general, they view the industry as being dated and unnecessary, despite them entering the age bracket where having life insurance is becoming more important. As a result, this is one of the many reasons we believe life insurance products have yet to truly penetrate the millennial market.
It’s estimated that a whopping 75% of millennial parents don’t have life insurance. This represents a huge untapped market for Agencies and Advisors. To capture this audience, the industry must educate these consumers, or provide them with the tools to self-educate, as to why they need life insurance. And the industry must meet them where they’re at — which is on their phones.
But many companies view the costs and time associated with in-house development of a mobile experience to be an insurmountable barrier to entry. By partnering with Breathe Life, you can enter the mobile marketplace with an InsurTech company that has a record of success and innovation. Our platform has been designed with a mobile-first mentality and our developers understand the ins and outs of appealing to the millennial shopper, and our platform has already been customized for the mobile experience.
One thing is clear; if you want to sell life insurance to a new generation, designing for mobile should be a part of your strategy.
Stay tuned next week for part 3 of the series on selling life insurance to millennials which will cover how to reach them through digital marketing.
-Ian Jeffrey, CEO & Co-Founder of Breathe Life
