Many personal lines insurers will admit that targeting younger generations is a current business focus. However, commercial lines linsurers may want to start looking at the generation’s behaviors and desires first.
Generations Y and X express a strong interest in starting their own businesses in the next five years and have different expectations of how they want to do business with insurers, according to a survey commissioned by
The study polled 1,258 consumers, spanning the generational gamut, and asked about their likelihood of starting a business in next five years:
• Gen Y: 46%
• Gen X: 35%
• Baby Boomers: 21%
• Silent Generation: 4%
The Gen Y demographic represents a truly entrepreneurial market segment with eight percent reporting they have already started a business. Unlike the older generational segments, Gen Y, and to a large extent Gen X, pose an interesting challenge with respect to how they want to do business with their insurance companies, EMPLOYERS says. Most Gen Ys prefer to interact with their insurance company online, at their convenience. Specific online features Gen Y consumers want include (percent rating the item a 9 or 10 on an importance scale of 1 to 10):
• Online quoting: 86%
• Online customer service: 83%
• Online policy management: 81%
• Online payments: 79%
Currently, according to the results, U.S. adults have received roughly the same amount of quotes online for their business as they did for the personal insurance. At 26%, Gen Xs are more likely than the other age segments to have received an online quote for their personal insurance. One in 10 U.S. business owners say they purchased their business policy online in the past 12 months, and Gen Xs are most likely to have purchased their business insurance policy online in the past 12 months.
The study also found that the majority of Gen Ys (70%) feel that it is very important for their insurance company to be tech savvy. And, about two-thirds (67%) are active users of social media.
