How to engage young customers

Vol 47: Issue 2 | July 2024

In short

• Young people are still less likely to have life insurance, because the risks can seem distant and the benefits unclear.
• Insurers are educating young people on the platforms they use, such as TikTok and Instagram, with some using influential celebrities to get the message across.
• There is a push to bring young insurance advisers on board, so young people can get advice from their peers.

Getting young people interested in life insurance cover for events they don’t expect to occur for decades has been a perennial challenge for the sector, with cohorts of life insurance policyholders skewing to an older demographic.

In Australia, new customers aged under 40 make up only 10 per cent of AIA’s male customers and 17 per cent of its female customers. And, in New Zealand, just 8 per cent of under 35s have sought professional financial advice. The average age of a new customer at New Zealand’s Fidelity Life is 37. 

Bronwyn Kirwan, chief commercial officer at Fidelity Life, says that across the life insurance industry in New Zealand the insured population is declining because young people are under-represented and, increasingly, policies are lapsing due to greater financial pressures.

Research commissioned by Fidelity Life — titled Advice for good: Rethinking New Zealand’s relationship with financial advice — delved into why younger people are less likely to take up life insurance.

The statistics are telling: 37 per cent of 18–24-year-olds feel overwhelmed about their financial situation; 66 per cent of 18–34-year-olds lack confidence with making money and finance decisions; and 41 per cent of New Zealanders under 35 don’t know where to get financial advice they can trust.

Educating a generation

Delivering educational content about life insurance to the younger demographic via social media — TikTok, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn — is key, says Kirwan.

She points to the work of Josh Cuttance, a young Dunedin-based financial planner producing clear and straightforward financial content aimed at a younger audience. Cuttance posts a large number of talking-head videos across social media.

Each is less than a minute long and covers basics such as ‘insurance — choosing a provider’ and ‘is insurance expensive?’. 

“We really back the advice community in New Zealand to deliver a professional, holistic experience for customers,” says Kirwan.

Allianz Life Insurance Malaysia Berhad also relies on bite-size, easy-to-comprehend content to engage younger customers. 

“In general, we prioritise interactive and engaging content such as videos, social media, seminars and customised customer promotions,” says CEO Charles Ong. “We focus on building a thriving online and offline community around our brand, not just short-term engagement.”

While young people in Malaysia are less interested in life insurance than in pursuing a better lifestyle, Ong says this is changing.

“We see younger segments without insurance — that is those aged 21 to 30 — having a higher interest in getting insurance,” he says. “With evolving life stages and heightened awareness from the pandemic, we recognise the need to play a bigger role in imparting wider knowledge on sustainable protection and medical plans to this segment of Malaysians.”

Apart from communicating on the right platforms for younger segments, Allianz Life Insurance Malaysia Berhad recognises that, like many insurance customers, young people often prefer to deal with companies online, on demand. The insurer offers health and wellness services via its self-serve customer portal MyAllianz, which also allows customers to access and manage their general, life and employee benefits policies from mobile or computer.

A focus on the flip side

If you can’t get young people engaged with life insurance, can you capture them with a focus on avoiding risks through a healthy lifestyle? That’s one approach AIA is using. It targets the younger demographic to get them engaged in life insurance via its wellness offering, AIA Vitality.

AIA Vitality is a behavioural, science-backed wellbeing program that supports customers to make healthier choices. It provides rewards to incentivise them to move more, eat well, complete regular health checks and look after their mental health.

The program appeals to a younger audience but more needs to be done, says AIA chief shared value and marketing officer Stephanie Phillips.

“It helps to start that conversation around what AIA is about. We’re championing and encouraging everyone to live healthier and longer, better lives,” she says.

Life insurance might be low on the list of priorities for young, healthy people, but AIA is trying to emphasise that they have financial responsibilities and should protect themselves with income protection, trauma insurance and total and permanent disability cover.

The insurer also uses sports stars such as Ash Barty, Stephanie Gilmore and Patrick Cripps as brand ambassadors on Facebook, Instagram and, more recently, TikTok.

“We want to build that approachable and trusted brand image and keep pace with those audiences to effectively reach and connect with them,” says Phillips.

Young customers, young advisers

Kirwan sees advice as a key part of the solution in engaging young customers with the benefits of having life insurance. 

“I think there’s a real reticence from some young people to reach out for advice when they think that is going to show up in the form of a particular demographic, that may not necessarily look or feel like a demographic they want to open their heart to about something as deeply personal as things financial,” she says.

Fidelity Life launched its ‘Career connect’ education and scholarship program to help more young people and those from more diverse backgrounds become financial advisers. It has doubled its commitment to the program this year.

Similarly, Allianz Life Insurance Malaysia Berhad is working to attract future leaders to the ranks of Allianz’s insurance agents.

“The aim is to provide full-time, committed professional agents who can sell all insurance solutions, including life insurance and general insurance, thus catering to the broader needs of the younger segment,” says Ong.

Kirwan says the industry in New Zealand is trying to shift the profile of advisers. “We are very keen to see a vibrant advice industry,” she says. “Also one that looks like the New Zealand population, with diversity in terms of gender, age, heritage and experiences.”

Read this article and all the other articles from the latest issue of the Journal e-magazine.

Read issue 2 of the Journal