Commentary

Insurance Targeting: Marketing Same Product To Three Demos

Digital marketing agency PM Digital and analytics company Paradysz set out to analyze online behavioral trends in the insurance industry to determine audience, demographics, and media interests and preferred methods of buying insurance.

The report focuses on the middle market, ages 25 to 64, catering to young families, older families and empty-nesters. Despite targeting the same product to all three demographic subsets, each responds differently based on the communication strategy. Some prefer to engage with some channels over others. Although the marketer might focus on reaching empty-nesters with a similar message as one sent to consumers with young families, the brand won't likely find them on Facebook.

No one likes to bet on a bad thing, but that's what consumers do when they buy insurance. Survey data from GfK MRI suggests this segment is less likely to carry life insurance compared with ten years ago. One exception points to the higher annual income group, households with between $75,000 and $149,999. This segment has seen a slight upward trend in the number of people with life insurance.

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It's less common for middle-market consumers to have outside assistance from financial planners and accountants, but those with older families are most likely found online, per the PM Digital and Paradysz study. This group may be the easiest to reach because they tend to go online using mobile phones, desktop computers, or from public locations like schools and libraries, but they don't like to buy online.

When it comes to information about insurance, they depend on the Internet for communication, but they're less comfortable shopping online. Favorite Web sites include CraigsList.org, Univision.com, GaiaOnline.com and Webkinz.com; and shopping sites are Buy.com, LLBean.com, Walmart.com, Target.com, and Dell.com, per the study.

Older families tend to prefer to receive their information through direct mail. Those carrying life insurance in this segment are 101% more likely than the general population to have purchased directly from an insurance company via Web site, 11% more likely than the general population to have acquired insurance in response to mail advertising, and 96% more likely to have responded directly to an insurance company via phone.

Young families just beginning to think about life insurance are 136% more likely than the general population to purchase directly from an insurance company on their Web site, and are 95% more likely to have responded directly to an insurance company via phone.

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