50% of consumers use social media to research insurance brands

Research from digital marketing specialists Speedie Consultants highlights the changing buying habits among consumers looking to buy insurance, stating that 50% now use social media to research an insurance product.

The independent study, delivered with Userv, found that Facebook was most popular, with one in five people carrying out their insurance research using the social network.  

However, interestingly, only 22% felt it helped them with their final decision. 67% said it didn't help at, suggesting that even though consumers are actively looking for information to help them make a purchase, the information they need is unavailable on the social media channels they visit.

Jason Hulott from Speedie Consultants believes the statistics prove that insurance companies are failing to engage their customer properly: “Insurance companies are not engaging with customers or providing them with the information required via their social media channels. Our survey said 50% of consumers use social media to research an insurance product but two-thirds said the content didn't help them make a decision.”

“They need to engage where their customers are, but they also need to ensure they invest in providing relevant content and information, and not just sales messages.”

Research from Eptica in May highlighted the issue insurers are having engaging with customers not just on social media, but across a number of standard digital channels. The 2015 Eptica Multichannel Customer Experience Study found just 40% of routine questions asked via the web, email and Twitter are answered by insurance company customer service teams.

50% of questions are successfully answered via email, compared with 40% on the web and, perhaps most worryingly, 30% on Twitter.