Keys to success in life insurance digital distribution
Life insurers must leverage digital, data and behavioural science to create simple solutions based on a true understanding of human behaviour. By adopting a much more customer-centric approach to designing, implementing and nurturing digital journeys and experiences, insurers can balance the absence of human touch and create multi-channel acquisition strategies and messaging that resonate with different audiences.
Below are seven foundational features that life insurers need to implement and continuously refine to succeed in digital D2C distribution.
1. Optimizing for mobile phones: With more than 80% of digital traffic and conversions coming from mobile phones, it is essential that insurers design and optimize websites to meet the expectations of mobile users. This involves optimizing the landing page, correctly structuring and tagging pages, using next-generation image formats, ensuring call-to-action buttons are visible and much more. Google and other platforms also reward mobile-friendly sites with higher search rankings and better visibility, which translates into better conversion rates at lower costs.
2. Bringing meaning to life insurance: Appreciating the need for life insurance can be challenging – death and finances are some of the most uncomfortable topics for people to think about. Our research at ˿ƵAPP also reveals that for many people it is difficult to make a connection between a life risk and insurance as a solution to address that risk. To overcome this, insurers must develop clear and empathetic value propositions that resonate with customers’ context, emphasize the risks and offer an easy-to-understand solution.
3. Awakening the need for life insurance: By combining clear messaging, captivating visuals and evocative captions, insurers can awaken the need for life insurance across different digital channels, engaging target audiences and driving organic, high-intent traffic to their websites. ˿ƵAPP experience shows that insurers can reach and connect with hundreds of thousands of customers on social media and search platforms without spending loads on paid advertising.
4. Providing helpful, jargon-free content: Offering informative, personalized content while avoiding jargon and simplifying technical terms can further awaken the need for life insurance and help customers make informed decisions. Moreover, well-written and organized content that engages customers can improve search engine optimization (SEO), increasing website visibility and attracting organic and high-intent traffic. Content and SEO can be a sustainable customer acquisition strategy at much lower cost compared to paid advertising.
5. Personalizing life insurance to lifestyle needs: Selecting sum insured is one of the biggest drop- off points in the customer journey. While some insurers have introduced financial calculators, these often ask many difficult questions and spit out a number that does not mean much to the customer. Instead, insurers can adopt tools like ˿ƵAPP’s Face the Future, which simplifies and yet personalizes the process, helping customers understand the sum insured needed for the lifestyle they want their family to have – further bringing meaning to life insurance.
6. Striving for a seamless customer journey: From the first interaction to the policy purchase, the customer journey should be designed with customer experience in mind. By applying behavioral science, user interface and user experience principles, insurers can guide customers seamlessly through each step of the journey. This, together with removing negative friction points (e.g., scrolling, typing, too many options and decisions) and streamlining the underwriting process, can considerably reduce drop-offs and boost conversion rates.
7. Leveraging data and behavioral science: By responsibly tracking and analyzing customer interactions and behaviors, insurers can gain valuable insights into their target audience, optimize user experience and streamline underwriting. Machine learning models can detect non-disclosure and predict sales conversion or early lapse based on behavioral and contextual signals. These insights can be then combined with behavioral science principles to design effective communications and tools that foster customer honesty, confidence and loyalty.