UK Millennials’ rarely opt to interact with insurance firms on social media, says Decode study
UK millennials prefer to contact insurance firm services directly via phone with social media interactions proving to be surprislingly infrequently adopted, according to data from Decode.
Conducted on behalf of strategic business applications company Pegasystems and consulting, technology and outsourcing service Capgemini, advised by sociologist Dr Paul Redmond, the study found that millennials ranked getting a tweet response from insurers as their ninth most important consideration (8 per cent), with a response to email queries in under 24 hours the most important preference (46 per cent).
The survey of 1,000 UK residents between the ages of 18 and 34 found that when purchasing insurance, 51 per cent of respondents would use price comparison websites. Online web searches clocked in at 48 per cent followed by word of mouth from friends (27 per cent) and family (24 per cent).
Generation Y’s reluctance to adopt social channels for their insurance queries was overshadowed by their heavy reliance upon a number of other digital and online channels.
On the findings, Dr Paul Redmond said: “While maybe surprising to insurers, these results confirm much of what we’re discovering about millennials and the way that they behave. They don’t see themselves as digitally savvy because for them digital and social tools are a given, and it’s clear that a strong bias exists for wanting to deal with actual people.
“No doubt this explains why millennials are unconvinced about interacting with insurance providers via social media. Use of social media, even amongst the young, is still used primarily for social transactions.”
Redmond concluded: “Crucially, however, when it comes to making critical financial decisions, social media is still viewed with some suspicion by the very people for whom it has been developed, and insurers will need to bear this in mind.”
Tony Tarquini, director and industry principal of insurance at Pegasystems, added: “Millennials and the social and digital tools they use are clearly a disruptive force, but this study suggests that this is perhaps not to the extent that we have come to expect. Although digital clearly matters, there’s no doubt that adding it to face-to-face interactions as part of a seamless omni-channel offering is how insurers should reach out to this new generation of customers.”
Only 16 per cent of millennials said that reviews on social media was an important factor in influencing the purchase of insurance.