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Is emotion stronger than reason? Does outrage outweigh hazard?
Insurance firms thrive off data. It’s the food from which the industry feasts, speculates and grows. But such data to the consumer is like a greasy hamburger to a health-conscious eater. The attraction is not quite the same.
What does excite the average consumer is outrage. Something along the lines of: “If I do this, I could die! So, I should probably get coverage.” Consumers care about the immediate risks of here and now.
Obviously, not all risks are life and death, but there does seem to be a dichotomy of interests between what attracts an insurance individual versus what makes a consumer tick. An example of a product line that struggles to combat this dichotomy is disability insurance, which covers the ability of a person to work and earn a living.
The Council for Disability Awareness (CDA) recently launched a national campaign to raise awareness about the lack of adequate disability insurance coverage across America. The organization has worked hard in recent years to target the working adult and communicate with them on the benefits of disability insurance by placing it in the context of their lives and the moments that matter.
CDA president Carol Harnett explained: “One of the things we’ve learned over the past few years is that we have to talk to consumers within the context of their lives. We can’t just hit them with statistics, loss trends and income replacements because insurance doesn’t often rank highly in the hierarchy of their lives.
“For consumers to trust us, we have to talk to them about things that are important to them. The three reasons why someone would typically be out of work [and therefore requiring disability insurance] are: illness, injury and pregnancy. A period out of work could lead to financial struggles at home, which is why it’s important to communicate how tightly intertwined health and income replacement can be.”
The Social Security Administration states that one in four of today’s 20-year-olds can expect to be out of work for at least a year because of a disabling condition before they reach the age of 67. Does the average 20-year-old care about that? Probably not. Most would back themselves to be in the unaffected 75%. On the other hand, the insurance industry would look at that 25% chance as a reasonable hazard that should be covered.
“There’s a dichotomy going on between how insurance professionals and insurance consumers equate risk,” Harnett told Insurance Business. “Disability insurance carriers, brokers, consultants and employers are interested in the hazard and the statistics, but that doesn’t resonate at all with disability insurance consumers, who are more focused on outrage and immediate risk.
“During our six-week disability insurance awareness campaign through April and May, we changed our tune and came out with new visuals, messages and blogs to attract attention from consumers. I spent a lot of time on the social media campaign, and it was clear that Facebook and Instagram were the sites that got the most attention from consumers, while Twitter and LinkedIn spurred on most conversation within the industry. On Facebook, the best measure of engagement we had was when comments on posts led to conversation.
One Facebook post that performed particularly well was a shared blog post by actor Wil Wheaton, who wrote about his experiences of a lifelong battle with chronic depression and anxiety disorder. The CDA attributed the post with some context and explained how it was relevant with regards to disability insurance, and it had amazing traction with consumers. The human education-touch resonates much further with consumers than statistics do, Harnett explained.
Alongside the six-week awareness campaign, the CDA has also launched a new website, called RealityCheckup.org, to help educate working Americans and employers about the need for income protection. The organization’s efforts continue on.
