August 2016
The Millennials Are Here: How Can Insurance Firms Use Technology to Keep Up?
The rise of the millennials is complete: they’re driving, they’re settling into the working world, and they’re now a huge demographic begging to be tapped into by insurance firms. But as news breaks of a mobile app set to change how the younger generation approaches insurance, it’s never been more important to embrace new ideas and technologies to keep up with the competition.
Everything On the Go
If there’s one thing we’ve definitely perfected in the 21st century, it’s bringing things on the move with us. Whether it’s taking a call from the office or listening to our favourite music, we’ve found a way to make it mobile. One insurance firm which has clearly clocked onto this trend is Ageas, which has recently launched Back Me Up – the new mobile phone-based pay-as-you-go insurance app for under 50s. The app works by taking a picture of up to three key items to insure for £15 a month – a simple and effective concept.
The app clearly makes the insurance market more accessible for millennials, all the while speaking directly to them in a language they understand: technology. With such a strong idea at its heart, we anticipate
Ageas doing very well from Back Me Up.
That being said, they’re not the first to take mobile and make it work for insurance. As we’ve spoken about in a previous blog, it’s now become fashionable for health insurance plans to be reactive to the steps individuals are taking towards keeping fit via wearable technology and mobile devices. Cleverly, this encourages young people to be healthy and makes for, yet again, easier access to the world of insurance.
Close the Communications Gap
It’s not just fancy apps and snazzy fitness wearables which have made mobile phones so indispensable in recent years, and insurance firms need to be aware of that before they leap into the deep end to appease millennials.
Indeed, the communication gap is now well and truly closing, with individuals using the likes of Skype, Facebook and text messaging services to keep in touch. The great thing is, that this doesn’t just apply to consumers: brands have the ability like never before to reach out to customers.
Team Lunar’s bespoke CRM, for example, can be configured to reach customers via a text message directly from the CRM itself. The advantage of doing this is the direct nature of contact – whereas emails are forgotten about or skimmed over, a text message is sent directly to the device that’s most likely in the customer’s hand at any one time.
It’s ideas like this which keep insurance firms relevant to young people, and ensures that they’re forming a lasting relationship with the next generation of consumer. The lesson here is to use the advantages of technology in a customer’s everyday life and apply them to your business’ strategy.
Embrace Change Inside & Out
The ideas around keeping things mobile, communicating more directly, and embracing new and exciting technologies doesn’t just need to be aimed at potential millennial customers, however.
Inevitably, they are the workforce of the future, and there are expectations and ideals which come with that. Cloud-based technology, for example, has become the norm for many young people – from storing files on Dropbox, to backing up music on the iCloud – and insurance firms need to equally adopt this way of working in order to attract the next generation to various roles.
From here, new ideas and innovations will start to develop organically within the organisation because teams will be able to relate better with the consumers they’re targeting; their insight really is invaluable.
In conclusion, technology and all its exciting innovations are simply waiting for insurance firms to get stuck in. If Ageas is anything to go by, we’re glad to see that it may already be the case! So if you’re in insurance and reading this, don’t spurn the millennial out of fear of misunderstanding – embrace technology instead, go head-to-head with the competition and make your mark on the future. Good luck!
Bring your insurance firm confidently into the 21st Century with a bespoke, Cloud-based CRM solution from Lunar CRM. Get in touch to find out more and arrange your free demo!