Gen Z will notice and reward innovation and authenticity. (Delmaine Donson/peopleimages.com/Adobe Stock)In recent decades, catering to millennials has been a top priority. But these days, savvy independent insurance agents are expanding their customer engagement strategy to reach Gen Z.
The oldest members of Gen Z turn 26 this year. They’re approaching some major life milestones, like buying a starter home or a new car, and they’ll need trusted guidance to help them make smart insurance decisions.
Compared with older generations, Gen Z has different needs, communication preferences and insurance knowledge. To attract and retain Gen Z customers, agents have to meet them at their level.
Not sure how? Let’s walk through three Gen Z trends that can help agents shape their engagement approach.
No. 1: Insurance confidence is low.
About 43% of Gen Z don’t feel confident in their insurance knowledge.
A lack of insurance knowledge can have serious consequences. Gen Z may not make informed decisions about their coverage or choose the best policy. And as they buy more insurable products, uninformed choices could leave them underinsured.
To boost Gen Z’s insurance confidence, here’s what I recommend:
- Prioritize education. Focus on expanding Gen Z customers’ insurance knowledge before attempting to sell more policies. Keep things digestible with bite-sized educational content.
- Lead with the basics. Start with the ins and outs of premiums and deductibles versus, say, boat insurance specifics.
- Check in regularly. At every consultation, ask customers if there’s anything they’d like you to explain, and offer a few examples to get them going. When you’re finished talking, leave room for questions.
No. 2: Everyone (and everything) wants their attention.
Members of Gen Z don’t waste time slogging through long emails, blog posts, or phone calls. They’ve grown up in a world of instant information and endless digital content. If they don’t feel engaged, something more interesting is only a few clicks away.
How can agents keep Gen Z customers engaged? These three tips can help:
- Communicate via text. For 94% of Gen Z, texting is the most popular mode of communication. Compared to a phone call or email, texting Gen Z customers can make it easier to set up consultations, send reminders, share educational snippets, and answer questions.
- Keep things simple. Only communicate the essentials, and pick short sentences over long paragraphs. Supplementing your texts with an email newsletter? Get to the point with formats like Axios’s Smart Brevity or the military BLUF.
- Gamify your insurance education. Members of Gen Z have grown up on gamified learning apps. Financial literacy apps like Zogo can make insurance education fun and help each lesson stick. Zogo lets users earn digital pineapples for completing short, insurance-related modules. Then, they can exchange their accumulated pineapples for real-life rewards, such as Amazon gift cards..
No. 3: Social media is king.
It’s no secret that Gen Z is the most online generation yet. But Gen Z’s online habits are unique. They start roughly 40% of searches on TikTok or Instagram — and they spend hours on their favorite platforms.
For agents who want to consistently reach Gen Z customers, a social media strategy is a must. To drive engagement:
- Pick the right platform. For Gen Z, Facebook and Twitter are old news. Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat are more popular alternatives — and YouTube routinely tops the list.
- Be authentic. Gen Z wants to build genuine connections on social media. Selfie-style, personality-driven videos might resonate more than sleek marketing content.
- Use emojis strategically. Emojis can be an eye-catching addition to social copy. But do your research: dated or excessive emoji use can seem out of touch. Play it safe with Hubspot’s recommendations, and stay plugged in to changing trends.
- Add a landing page link to your bio. Many platforms don’t allow links in image or video captions. One workaround? Add a Linktree or similar landing page link to each account bio (typically in the Website field). Flesh out the page with links to educational content, your agency’s website, and other social media accounts. Then, reference the “link in bio” in every video and post description.
- Continually optimize your strategy. Remember, the goal is engagement – a small but dedicated following is better than nothing. Test new content formats and posting frequencies to see what resonates.
Don’t have the time or energy to invest in social media? Try tapping into Gen Z’s real-world social network. Next time you’re selling to a Gen Z customer, ask if their friends need coverage, then say you’d love an intro.
Creativity wins big with Gen Z.
Agents who intimately understand Gen Z’s needs will consistently win customers. And perhaps more than their older counterparts, Gen Z appreciates creative, tech-forward engagement.
So don’t hesitate to think outside the box. Consider being bold with your agency’s social accounts. Or partner with social micro-influencers. No matter your strategy, Gen Z will notice and reward innovation and authenticity.
Deb FranklinDeb Franklin is the co-CEO of Peak6 InsurTech, the insurance operations and technology subsidiary of PEAK6. The information contained in this page is provided for general informational purposes only and may not be applicable to all situations. We Insure makes no guarantees of results from the use of this information.
This article is published with the author’s permission and may not be reproduced. Any opinions expressed here are the author’s own.
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Clinton Mora is a reporter for Trending Insurance News. He has previously worked for the Forbes. As a contributor to Trending Insurance News, Clinton covers emerging a wide range of property and casualty insurance related stories.