Smartphone UBI … Made to Order for Millennials

If you want to talk buying power, let’s talk millennials.

Born in the last 20 years of the twentieth century, millennials (a.k.a. Gen Y) represent 79 million people. Many are still in school, but make no mistake: already, they wield $170 billion annually. And that number is sure to rise. By 2020, a comScore white paper predicts, they’ll have a hand in a whopping 30% of all retail purchases.

Call them the most important audience to engage for your future growth, and you won’t be exaggerating.

So how to engage them?

First step, understand what’s driving them. Millennials are tech-addicts. Early adopters. The mobile generation. They’ve cut their teeth during the digital revolution, and as a result, they rely on connected devices like a fish relies on water.

For example, take a look at this marketing survey by Rosetta. It shows that 68% of millennials check email hourly, calling their mobile phone “the centerpiece of their life.” Pew Research backs that up, saying 80% of people aged 18–34 own a smartphone.

Apps play a starring role in this picture. Millennials use apps for shopping, gaming, entertainment, social networking – and they don’t just use them. They love them.

Smartphone UBI + Millennials

Our experience with usage based insurance has convinced us that smartphones are the next logical step in the innovation of PHYD insurance. And for millennials, it’s a match made in heaven.

When choosing apps, millennials select for convenience and functionality. They’re “achievement-oriented, tech-savvy, team players, family-oriented” (source).

Smartphone UBI encapsulates the same: it’s a highly-functional technical innovation with the potential to turn road safety into a goal-oriented game, encouraging drivers to compete against one another for safety … creating an incentive that appeals both to team players and the family-minded.

The possibility of gamification spells big opportunity when marketing to millennials, but even without that element, the technology alone ties together many important qualities that drive the millennial mindset.

“They don’t just want an online map, a restaurant app, or a game… they want the best version of these apps that are different, better, cooler, more creative, and more personalized than anything else they’ve used before” (source).

While some drivers have expressed concern about UBI and privacy, that doesn’t hold as much water for millennials, who are “less concerned about privacy than older generations” (source).

Moreover, and this is important, millennials want to stay in touch with you through a variety of media. They actually “prefer a combination of email, search promotions and social networks when interacting with companies and brands” (source).

In other words, they’re looking for a multi-faceted connection to you and your services. Integrating the smartphone into that picture is a smart move.

Learn more about how smartphone UBI works for your business. Click here.