Insurance Trends in 2016

Now that 2016 is over, it’s possible to look back at the year in insurance—its positives as well as its negatives. 2016 was a challenging year for many, but there were also some bright spots in the year. Here are a few of the things that had an impact on the insurance industry.

Major losses caused by serious catastrophic events. In the first six months of the year, insured losses rose to a staggering $31 billion, a 51% increase from the previous year. The major causes were large-scale catastrophic events including a wildfire in Canada the size of Delaware—causing $6.9 billion in damage—and a number of high-magnitude earthquakes in Japan.

Google Compare bit the dust. Google Compare was a Google-run website allowing consumers to compare and purchase auto insurance products. Its shutdown attracted a lot of industry attention, including criticism that Google didn’t truly understand the industry. However, consumers are still buying heavily online—auto insurance shopping in general rose from 16.9% to 17.3% over the year—and there are still plenty of online insurance comparison sites out there. It’s likely that this trend will only grow in the coming year.

Mobile became even more crucial. In 2016, consumers used their cell phones considerably more than their laptops to shop for many different products—including insurance. Mobile usage was up to 51% over the year, as opposed to 42% for desktop. It’s more crucial than ever for insurance agencies to have mobile-friendly websites that enables easy online quotes and shopping on mobile devices. In 2017, it’s likely that mobile will become even more prominent than desktop.

Tracking marketing campaigns became less optional. It’s crucial these days to track the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns—and there are plenty of platforms, technologies and tools that make it possible to track marketing outreach performance in social media, email, and more. Most social media platforms have analytics that let you identify your best-performing content and drive your marketing strategy accordingly.

Insurance agencies got social. Social media marketing became even more important in 2016—and this trend is only expected to continue. These days it’s possible to identify where your target markets hang out online and make sure your agency has a presence on all of those platforms. In 2017, it will become even more important to reach your audience where it is.

In 2017, it’s expected that social media, mobile web experiences, and marketing analytics will become key to driving revenue growth for many insurance agencies. Make sure your website is mobile-friendly and makes it easy for customers to shop and get quotes online, that your agency has a social media presence targeted to your audience, and that you’re tracking each outreach. These tactics could be the key to a strong performance in 2017.

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