Enticing millennial clients
Vitality’s use of tech to entice new, younger customers is well advertised (as discussed earlier in this guide), offering an Apple watch as part of an insurance policy, which tracks how much exercise the customer is doing and dictates the monthly premium they pay.
Legal & General is trialling a selfie-based life cover app in the US, which it hopes to bring to the UK market soon.
The idea behind selfiequote.com is the app allows the user to take a selfie and based on the photo it estimates their age and body mass index, providing an indicative price for term assurance (see below for example).
In an interview with FTAdviser in August last year, Mark Holweger, managing director of Legal & General Insurance, explained: “It's basically an engagement model that can break down the misconception that protection is expensive, and act as a stimulant with millennials in particular to help them think about taking out protection.”
Exactly the kind of technology many believe the industry more widely should be adopting.
Iona Bain, founder of the Young Money blog, suggests insurers are increasingly taking advantage of mobile and wearable technology to the benefit of millennials.
“Firstly, younger customers who do all their ‘life admin’ through their smartphone can now see their insurance policy, giving them benefits through intuitive, appealing apps – this helps them keep on top of their health in real time.”
She continues: “Insurers can use the information provided by this technology to provide policies that are priced most appropriately, offer the right benefits at the right time and can be of the most use to their customers.”
Financial decision-making
“There is no doubt technology has improved the protection experience. From being able to compare different companies and products, to making the application process more efficient so customers are able to manage their own policy, technology has made a huge difference,” says Craig Brown, director, intermediary at Legal & General.
But he asserts more needs to be done with technology to help generate greater interest in protection, particularly as many millennials are leaving big financial decisions until later in life.
As Mr Brown points out: “Traditionally, the first main trigger to taking out protection has been buying your first home. However, with many younger people now starting life with bigger debts, such as university fees, and struggling to get their foot on the property ladder, this trigger is becoming less important.
“Today’s average first-time buyer is in their 30s, meaning millennials are not exposed to financial planning and risk planning until a much later stage than previous generations.”
