Pacific Life Insurance Company |
PACIFIC LIFE INSIGHTS | THOUGHT LEADERSHIP IN ACTION FOR LIFE INSURANCEAdapting to Sell Life Insurance in a Changing Landscape |
With the extended presence of COVID-19 and the hybrid work environments, it seems like everyone is online. Consumers are shopping online and emerging technology makes it quicker and more convenient to compare products and pricing—including life insurance, but that doesn’t mean customers don’t need financial professionals* to help them make informed decision about life insurance. Here are some options on how to leverage the changing landscape to help build your business and reach more customers. As a financial professional, you may think this means your role in the sales process could diminish. The opposite is true. Given how quickly consumers are changing how they shop, the role of a knowledgeable professional to help navigate and guide could be more important than ever. How Consumer Behavior is ChangingToday, 1 in 3 consumers shopped on a comparison-shopping website before they applied for life insurance.¹Here are some reasons as to why consumers may prefer online shopping
Online shopping lets consumers be in control, and they can research and hop from website to website as their needs dictate. If they are dissatisfied with your website or customer service, they probably won’t be back. However, human beings are still social creatures. Social media is influencing what people buy, how they shop, and how they interact with companies. Up to 54% of social media users use these platforms to research products, and 71% are more likely to make a purchase if someone they know recommends it.³ |
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Adapting to Consumer BehaviorSome may think that since people buy their insurance online, the role of the life insurance professional is reduced. Actually, the life insurance agent or financial professional’s role may be more important than ever.Consumers may need someone to help them wade through the many options. Just because they can read about life insurance doesn’t necessarily mean they understand it, especially with unfamiliar product features that may be difficult to understand, such as conversion options. Recall that 41 million people said they needed life insurance but didn’t have any. Moreover, it may surprise you, but millennials and Gen Zers also see the value in life insurance and are interested in purchasing it. However, more than half of them either don’t have any or don’t know if they have it.⁷ There is a market out there: how do you reach them? Use Technology to Help YouMany consumers expect every online buying process to be simple and speedy. Take advantage of accelerated underwriting to move things along. Accelerated underwriting uses data from external sources, new analytics, and modeling techniques to calculate life expectancy and generate an insurance quote.⁸This can make getting life insurance a faster process than it used to be. However, many people still have questions about how life insurance works or figuring out how much they need. That’s an area where financial and life insurance professionals can provide value. |
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Before you say life insurance is a boring topic to post about, consider Maersk, a shipping container company that posts entertaining videos and photos to engage with their audience. They have more than 3 million followers on Facebook.¹⁰ From 2019 to 2020, the use of Facebook and YouTube to research financial topics doubled.¹⁰ Some tips for getting the most out of social media:
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SummaryConsumer buying habits change continuously: the key to creating value for customers is to be adaptable in your approach. Your people skills are still vital in a digital world because they help to create and maintain customer relationships. Customers can find information online, but many may still need—and desire— help making sense of it all.* In order to sell life insurance products, a financial professional must be a properly licensed and appointed life insurance producer. 1 Source: Jeff Piotrowski. “What 2020 Shows Us About Selling Life Insurance in 2021.” ThinkAdvisor.com, December 31, 2020. https://www.thinkadvisor.com/2020/12/31/what-2020-shows-us-about-selling-life-insurance-in-2021/ 2 Source: Insurance Information Institute. “Facts + Statistics: Life Insurance.” June 23, 2021. https://www.iii.org/fact-statistic/facts-statistics-life-insurance 3 Source: Aleh Barysevich. “How social media influence 71% consumer buying decisions.” Search Engine Watch. November 20, 2020. https://www.searchenginewatch.com/2020/11/20/how-social-media-influence-71-consumer-buying-decisions/ 4 Source: Gary Shaw and Neal Baumann. “2021 insurance outlook - Accelerating recovery from the pandemic while pivoting to thrive.” Deloitte.com. December 3, 2020. https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/industry/financial-services/financial-services-industry-outlooks/insurance-industry-outlook.html/#endnote-sup-11 5 Source: Cameron Huddleston. “2021 Outlook For Life Insurance Buyers.” Forbes.com. January 11, 2021. https://www.forbes.com/advisor/life-insurance/2021-buyers-outlook/ 6 Source: Insurance Information Institute. “Facts + Statistics: Life Insurance.” June 23, 2021. https://www.iii.org/fact-statistic/facts-statistics-life-insurance 7 Source: Adam Winslow. Closing the Life Insurance Gap for Millennials and Gen Z. Insurancenewsnet.com. July 20, 2020. https://insurancenewsnet.com/innarticle/closing-the-life-insurance-gap-for-millennials-and-gen-z 8 Source: NAIC. “Accelerated Underwriting.” May 27, 2021. https://content.naic.org/cipr_topics/topic_accelerated_underwriting.htm 9 Source: LIMRA . “2020 Insurance Barometer Study Reveals a Significant Decline in Life Insurance Ownership Over the Past Decade.” Life Happens and LIMRA announce results from its 10th annual consumer study. June 2, 2020. https://www.limra.com/en/newsroom/news-releases/2020/2020-insurance-barometer-study-reveals-a-significant-decline-in-life-insurance-ownership-over-the-past-decade/ 10 Source: Alina Gorbatch. “5 “boring” brands with amazing social media strategies.” Awario.com. June 14, 2017. https://awario.com/blog/5-boring-brands-amazing-social-media-strategies/ |
Rob Bisch Pacific Life Broad Market Sales Desk |
The Power of PacificAt Pacific Life, putting customers first has allowed us to serve families and businesses successfully for over 150 years. As part of a mutual holding company structure, we have no publicly-traded stock, so we can focus on long-term strategies, financial strength, and the best interest of our policyowners.You and your clients, our policyowners, are at the heart of the business decisions we make. |