Changes in the Life Insurance Shopper Journey in 2022
With the pandemic, many people questioned their mortality and how they would safeguard their family’s financial future. Unfortunately, pandemic restrictions also prevented clients from visiting an office for their insurance needs. According to COVID-19 Consumer Insurance and Retirement Pulse Survey, 37% of people fear the pandemic may bring future financial impacts on retirement plans. According to the same survey, 15% also anticipate purchasing life insurance due to COVID-19.
COVID-Driven Buying
Consumers are more likely to buy insurance due to the pandemic. Nearly 1 in 3 consumers (31%) say they were more likely to purchase coverage due to the pandemic, according to a survey by LIMRA. Since people have faced their mortality, life insurance has become a more important subject.
According to LIMRA, 48% of Millennials say they plan to buy coverage next year. But, regardless of how many do not follow through, the industry still needs to assist these young adults in getting the right coverage when they look for it. Due to the pandemic, the awareness of life insurance’s value has never been greater in our industry.
The shift toward individual Life Insurance
Between significant layoffs and the big wave of people leaving their jobs due to the Pandemic, the need for personal life insurance has grown. According to a survey conducted by Pew Research Center, 48% of people surveyed said they had to leave their jobs due to childcare issues.
People increasingly need to meet their life insurance needs outside of group plans. As a result, there’s a rapidly growing market for individual life insurance outside of corporate benefits.
No Exam policies and affordable Life insurance Prices are favourable to clients
The pandemic has birthed the next generation of life insurance consumers. They realize the benefits of having a life insurance policy to ensure your family’s peace of mind. However, they don’t want to deal with the long process of obtaining life insurance. There’s also a requirement for more convenience and efficiency in services, hence the demand for no-exam policies and a push for digital services.
Life insurance policies have been low or haven’t changed much, as well as the rise of No-Exam Life Insurance is making life insurance products More Price-Competitive. However, since it’s due to the pandemic, many clients feel these favourable prices may be temporary and rush to buy in 2022. According to Policygenius, there have been insignificant changes in premiums since the pandemic but a rise in no exam policies, digitization, and automation.
The pandemic made it more convenient to buy insurance
One central pain point in the insurance purchasing process for clients was the convoluted process of getting insured. But in addition to no exam policies being more frequent, Insurers and brokers have had to lean on other methods of communicating and sending documents that are not face-to-face and more convenient for clients.
Clients can more easily go through the entire process from the comfort of their living room. To meet consumer demands for white-glove consumer experiences, 78% of CEOs surveyed have turbo-charged progress on the creation of a seamless digital customer experience, according to a KMPG survey. In addition, 79% say it has brought new urgency to create new business models and revenue streams.
Bottom Line
People are looking to buy life insurance either because of lifestyle changes or because COVID had them thinking about it. They also know the pandemic is temporary and feel a sense of urgency to get “good prices.” Lastly, insurers have had to digitize, develop no-exam policies and create more convenient processes, which have changed clients’ expectations of the insurance shopping journey.
