Eye-opening research about who is shopping for life insurance

Life insurance is gaining popularity

In fact, the insurance trade association LIMRA found in its 2023 study of consumer intentions that a record-high number of people (39 percent) planned to purchase life insurance within 12 months.¹

To earn your business a seat at the table with interested consumers, you need access to life insurance data about their distinctive wants and needs. As consumer expectations for relevancy and personalization grow, marketing life insurance solutions has become increasingly data dependent. To help our partners understand the middle-market life insurance demographic trends and drive winning distribution strategies, TruStage™ is continuously scanning the consumer marketplace for actionable insights we can share with our people-centered partners. We call this our commitment to human intelligence.

In recent months, our team has discovered increasing interest in life insurance among certain segments of the consumer marketplace, including Black and Multiracial consumers, members of the Gen Z age group and single mothers. What follows is a look at the unique circumstances, values and beliefs of these important segments of the life insurance marketplace.

Black and Multiracial consumers shopping in the next five years

According to TruStage What Matters Now™ multicultural and multigenerational research, Black and Multiracial consumers are the most likely consumer segments to purchase life insurance in the future, with 42 and 43 percent, respectively, saying they expect to obtain a policy within the next five years. In contrast, White and Asian consumers were the least likely to purchase life insurance in the next five years, at 29 and 27 percent, respectively.²

Much of the mounting interest in policies among African American consumers, in particular, may be due to the level of economic concern they report. More than four in 10 (41 percent) Black survey respondents told LIMRA they were experiencing high levels of financial stress in 2023. Prior life insurance data from LIMRA showed a correlation between owning life insurance and feeling financially secure, which underscores the opportunity life insurance providers have to advance financial health and wellness with their products.³

Gen Z needs proactive guidance, easy-to-obtain policies

Among the age groups surveyed in the TruStage research, Gen Z respondents offered perhaps the most surprising insight. A full 34 percent said they expect to buy life insurance in the next five years.² In its survey of consumers, LIMRA found an even higher volume of Gen Z interest in acquiring policies, with 44 percent planning to purchase in the next 12 months.¹

Although a significant number of Gen Zers want, and even plan, to obtain life insurance, it’s not the kind of task they seem to prioritize. Thirty-seven percent of LIMRA survey respondents said the reason they had not yet bought a policy is because they “just haven’t gotten around to it.”⁴ This emphasizes the need for life insurance providers to be both proactive and easy to work with when it comes to engaging the Gen Z crowd.

Single mothers over index on financial anxieties

In terms of family makeup, single mothers are another segment of note for life insurance providers. Nearly six in 10 (59 percent) told LIMRA they need or need more life insurance. Nearly four in 10 (38 percent) said they intended to do something about it in 2023, namely buying coverage. According to the trade association’s calculations, this represents a 5-million household opportunity.¹

The growing demand for life insurance among single mothers makes sense in context of the anxieties experienced by these women. Whereas just 29 percent of the general population polled by LIMRA admitted to being concerned about burdening others with burial and funeral expenses, nearly half of single mothers (48 percent) said the same. Leaving dependents in a difficult financial situation because of a premature death was another area of great concern for single mothers, with 51 percent telling LIMRA they are extremely concerned about such a circumstance. This compares to just 29 percent of the general population saying the same.⁵

Knocking down hurdles to financial coverage

Both LIMRA and TruStage human intelligence shows that each of the above consumer segments faces hurdles to obtaining life insurance. To name just a few: Black consumers report believing coverage is too expensive; Gen Z doesn’t like thinking about death; single mothers say they are balancing other financial priorities.

Of course, awareness of these lifestyle blocks is merely a first step toward earning the trust and business of these important consumer segments. Life insurance providers must also lean in on the strategy of acting on this intelligence.

TruStage is committed to not only understanding, but also responding to, policyholder hurdles so we can systematically help tear them down, putting greater financial protection in the hands of more Americans.

One example is our deployment of instant decisioning, which not only makes obtaining life insurance fast and easy, but also enjoyable. Digital experiences like this help consumers leap over their individual hurdles to financial freedom and get back to the other priorities of their lives quicker.

That means no taking time away from the kids or the job for a medical exam. It means not having to set reminders to follow up on an application’s status. It means more time to chase down kids, work projects or personal passions — and more time to get back to the enjoyable parts of life.