The best way clients make purchases and work together with manufacturers is altering. Meals, private objects and even vehicles are ordered by a display. How do these shifts in conduct affect a extra sophisticated service like insurance coverage? And the way does digital engagement join again to branding?
We just lately spoke with Keith Farley, a marketer with expertise at huge manufacturers like Coca-Cola and Stanley Black+Decker. He’s presently SVP of particular person voluntary advantages at Aflac, often known as a pressure within the branding world because of its iconic Aflac Duck commercials (voiced by the late comic Gilbert Gottfried), launched a quarter-century in the past.
Clients born simply earlier than or after the debut of the memorable Aflac Duck are often known as Gen Z and are a a lot wanted medical insurance demographic. If all goes properly, they may very well be longtime shoppers and never make many claims for years.
Gen Z, although not a monolith, holds totally different expectations about participating with manufacturers than earlier cohorts. Which means the suitable message, or the suitable service, over the suitable channel impacts referrals and grows model appreciation. For Aflac, the constructive impressions are all linked throughout the client journey. And though Gen Z is main a few of these adjustments, all clients have modified their behaviors in recent times, in accordance with Farley.
“With Gen Z, there’s this assumption that everything is digital and they never want to talk to a human again — and that’s true in a lot of cases,” mentioned Farley. “When it comes to ordering a pizza, or booking a flight, but not when you receive a diagnosis for cancer. Now, you want to talk to a human. Sometimes, as a brand, we meet people on their darkest day.”
Cell-first shoppers
An necessary metric for the relevance of cellular engagement for manufacturers is the variety of shoppers who make big-ticket purchases over cellular. It’s an indication of the excessive quantity of belief shoppers have in cellular channels as they use their telephones to get extra issues achieved of their digital lives.
Sixty-two p.c of shoppers mentioned they trusted telephones over private computer systems and tablets, in accordance with a latest survey of two,000 shoppers performed by ecommerce software program firm StoreConnect. Twenty-five p.c mentioned they belief desktops or laptops probably the most; underneath 12% trusted tablets probably the most.
This doesn’t imply that Gen Z trusts cellular greater than older clients. In the identical survey, 64.2% of Millennials (age 25-34) mentioned they belief cellular to ebook flights and trip leases, whereas 53% of shoppers 18-25 mentioned so.v
It may be that Millennials have extra expertise than Gen Z in reserving holidays usually, so that they have extra confidence in cellular and cost apps to finish these transactions. Nevertheless it’s clear that buyers of all ages anticipate to have the selection to have interaction with manufacturers, no matter whether or not it’s a easy product or a extra complicated course of like submitting an insurance coverage declare.
Completely different channels for various outcomes
“With Aflac, we don’t have a physical product — you can’t touch it, you can’t feel it, you can’t taste it, you can’t hold it,” mentioned Farley. “But we still look at it from the perspective of what a customer wants. Do they want all the latest and greatest technology, or when they’re diagnosed with a dreaded disease, do they want to talk to a human?”
Aflac branding thrives on social media and thru mass-market campaigns. However there’s a agency line between advertising to new and current clients and customer support for incoming claims. From the buyer’s perspective, it’d all be linked. Internally, Aflac retains these two operations separate.
“Obviously, the way we market to people and the way we reach them from a sales and marketing perspective might be very different than on the back end,” Farley mentioned. “When you’re being marketed to, things are running smoothly in your life. You haven’t had a stroke or a heart attack. What’s the medium and what’s the tone that they want when something bad has happened?”
To guard customers’ privateness, Aflac handles claims over safe communications that embody e mail, chat and cellphone.
“Sometimes we do have folks who want service through a social platform — although what you’ll find is because of the nature of the private health information, people don’t want to put it out there, and obviously we’re required to not discuss your diagnosis on a social channel,” mentioned Farley.
Gen Z and Millennial shoppers are open to creating purchases on an app, as we noticed above. They’re additionally working in a job market the place direct-to-consumer purchases for insurance coverage are extra prevalent.
“The Consumer Markets division allows people to buy insurance directly from us and not through an employer,” mentioned Farley. “That has always been a very small amount in the past, but we see it growing now as you’ve got gig workers and folks that are not in traditional employment. That’s the reality. We know that people work in many different ways. It’s been a growing area for us.”
Aflac clients can undergo a complete digital move to buy insurance coverage with out ever talking to a human agent. Clients reply the related questions, make a cost and obtain a coverage. And if they like to file a declare digitally, they will observe an analogous digital move by the identical Aflac cellular app.
“However you want to access us, we really have to be there in an omnichannel way,” Farley mentioned.
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For youthful Gen Z clients, that may be the one time they interact with Aflac. However in an effort to advertise good well being, Aflac affords an annual wellness profit. This offers a minimal relationship with clients by the course of an in any other case uneventful 12 months. With this profit, clients are provided a money payout (the quantity differs from state to state) as soon as the client visits a doctor for a yearly checkup.
“Eighty percent of those (wellness claims) come through our mobile app, and we pay in seconds because it’s an automated claim for us,” mentioned Farley.
He added: “We don’t want anyone to get sick or hurt, obviously, but we do want people to experience the product. That’s why we encourage people to go through the process (of the wellness claim) because we find that when they do, they’re a customer for life.”
This program is supported by e mail reminders, which affords one other channel over which Aflac get in entrance of consumers.
When individuals click on by and make their wellness declare, internet promoter scores enhance, in accordance with Farley.
Aflac isn’t wishing sickness or harm on a buyer, after all, however the act of submitting a declare, when an occasion does happen, “closes the loop on the promise the company made,” mentioned Farley.
Which means the corporate promotes its seamless declare course of on social media by offering examples of minor claims clients could make. For example, if somebody sprains their ankle at work and sees a health care provider for therapy, that’s an accident that will be included underneath an accident coverage. If the client heals rapidly, they may not take into consideration submitting a declare. However Aflac desires them to.
Solely when the client goes by the method of submitting a declare, or of constructing a purchase order for insurance coverage, can this buyer recognize the superior omnichannel expertise. So if one thing occurs, nevertheless minor, the corporate desires to be top-of-mind and have the chance to ship and obtain buyer success.
“If you ever have a bad day, we’re going to be there,” Farley mentioned. “Give us a chance to be there for you.”
On this method, by advertising applications on social and within the inbox, Aflac can gently remind youthful uneventful clients that the corporate is able to assist.
