Digital distribution models typically aim to make it easy for consumers to buy life insurance, focusing on slick design and conversion optimization to compete for market share.
The bigger challenge for the insurance industry’s market growth, however, is capturing consumers’ attention and awakening their recognition of the need for life insurance in the first place.
Marketing life insurance online can be challenging. Not only is every brand vying with a huge array of information for consumers’ attention, but psychological research has also shown that people may actively avoid messages that force them to consider their own mortality.
We tested the idea that marketers can benefit from positioning products and messages to align with certain times in consumers’ lives when they are likely to be more receptive. Such times, known as predictive moments, occur when:
Predictive moments |
We conducted an experiment that randomly placed 2,852 U.K. participants into hypothetical predictive moment scenarios. We measured whether the simulations impacted participants’ receptiveness to life insurance using neuroscience techniques, collaborating with research agency Walnut Unlimited to administer the technique. The testing technique used was called Implicit Reaction Time, which assesses the conviction behind participants’ answers to attitudinal questions by the time it takes them to respond.
Implicit Reaction Time Test A test that measures how quickly participants respond to attitudinal questions. Fast reaction times imply stronger associations between mental concepts and hence more strongly held beliefs and higher conviction in participants’ responses to questions. |
Marketing that engages consumers at moments when life events and mindsets align could be powerful means for insurers to help people make important choices about financial protection. Such models could include embedding insurance within relevant digital experiences that bring these risks top of mind. Leveraging predictive moments with truly persuasive messages will always be important when it comes to awakening consumer need for life insurance.
Strategies incorporating predictive moments may enable insurers to focus on effectively targeting new customer sets in their markets, rather than competing for existing market share, which may reduce acquisition costs. However, more research is needed to understand exactly which online experiences may provide the most effective predictive moments. Novel audience research techniques that explore participants’ conviction in their responses can be valuable for furthering our understanding of human attitudes and insurance purchasing behavior.
