What Millennials and Gen Z want when they buy insurance

Younger Canadians are accustomed to getting immediate results from their actions. Sending an e-transfer, text or e-mail means things happen in the blink of an eye, said Katy Fowler, personal lines hero at InsuranceHero.

“We expect our internet to be fast and to load the page instantly for us so we’re not banging the mouse on the desk,” said the Young Broker Council member. “We also find ourselves having a lot of screen time and sometimes this can hinder the personal connections we make. We almost seem to be forgetting that sometimes the best things take time and a little bit of hard work.”

The insurance industry, she said, needs to be in tune with that mindset. While Millennials and Gen Z customers can find online advertisements for car or home insurance in minutes, the key message those buyers need to hear is that it’s the coverage that matters.

“There’s much more benefit in discussing your coverage options with a broker or an agent rather than purchasing a policy yourself online,” said Fowler. “I would urge young people not to shy away from reaching out to a broker. We are there to make sure they are covered the best way we know how.”

She said it’s also important to help younger clients cover their prized assets, and recognize their needs are different from those of prior generations.

“With the increased cost of purchasing a car, or the rising costs of insurance and gasoline, we seem to be paying much more now than [people] were back in the day,” noted Fowler.

For such young clients, programs like user-based insurance can help personalize the premium paid on a car insurance policy. Plus, these programs track individual driving behaviours and reward customers based on their driving habits.

Fowler also noted young people place a high value on technology, and that it needs to be brought up when discussing a tenant package designed to cover contents in a rental apartment.

Most insurers request a minimum contents limit of $30,000 but it’s important to talk with clients about whether that amount would fully cover everything (dishes in the cupboard, food stored in the pantry, a laptop or gaming system) if it had to be replaced after a fire.

“It’s important that customers are reviewing their content limits on both home and tenant packages on the items they own because they’re all increasing in value,” she added.

“It’s also important that the young people are talking to their brokers about their prized possessions, what they value and how to make sure coverage is in place for said items if they need them.”

This article is excerpted from one that appeared in the May issue of Canadian Underwriter. Feature image courtesy of iStock.com/g-stockstudio