Guide to AI-era insurance marketing strategies for consumer and AI effectiveness
As digital marketing trends adapt in the AI era, consumer behavior in the insurance space is also shifting — creating new uncertainty for insurance agencies. While the majority of consumers still begin their insurance journey online, how they engage with information is changing rapidly:
- 69% of insurance consumers start with an online search, highlighting the continued dominance of digital discovery.1
- AI-generated summaries are becoming the first stop, with many users skimming these overviews instead of clicking through to websites.
- 36% of U.S. consumers use AI to understand insurance information, with 33% using AI to compare plans — signaling growing openness to AI for decision-making.2
Despite these stats, the value insurance agents bring to insurance shopping remains high. 86% still prefer to receive advice from human agents rather than AI (14%).2 Together, these trends in digital marketing suggest that insurance marketers will improve effectiveness if they adapt their digital strategies to meet consumers where they are — in the AI-enhanced, summary-driven insurance shopping experience.
Savvy insurance agency digital marketers are capitalizing on new strategies to stay relevant, improve engagement during the shopping journey, generate more leads, and improve profitable growth. If you’re appointed with Nationwide, view the webinar Marketing to Reach and Influence Protectors to learn how to connect with consumers across four distinct high-value segments. This webinar is a resource to help you improve your agency’s digital marketing effectiveness.
Segmentation and personalization resonate with consumers
Segmentation and personalization are no longer optional — they’re essential. Custom messaging at the segment level increases content relevance and builds trust. According to McKinsey, personalization can:
- Reduce acquisition costs by up to 50%
- Lift revenues by 5–15%
- Improve marketing efficiency by 10–30%3
By leveraging data-driven personalization, agencies can build stronger customer relationships and attract new business. Consider deploying a segmented content strategy across your website, social media, and email — with consistent messaging that resonates with each audience.
Read more about personalization and segmentation
Video content builds connections
Video is now the universally preferred content format — across all age groups. Consumers expect fast, relevant, and engaging content, especially on platforms like YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok.
To future-proof your agency’s marketing, lean into short-form and long-form video. Tailor content to each life stage, adapting messaging to segment preferences to increase engagement and visibility.
View this short video to learn how to create effective short-form videos.
- Match content format to life stage: Don’t use one-size-fits-all content. Tailor your format, messaging and tone to each generation’s preferences.
- Use video across all age bands: YouTube is the leading universal platform for video content4 — but be sure to adjust length and style by audience segment. Do you have YouTube as part of your digital strategy?
- Share segment-specific video content in personalized ways: A tactical execution may look like this. Make a YouTube video for families with teen drivers and deliver it in emails to your customers who have teens at home. Personalizing the email with a strong subject line will help improve the clickthrough rate and achieve video views of the embedded video that brings valuable information to your customers and builds trust.
Online review and replies influence both people and AI
90% of consumers read online reviews to guide most of their purchase decisions.4 But it’s not just human eyes on your reviews – AI models now scan and summarize content and sentiment from websites, review platforms, and social media including YouTube and LinkedIn. Agencies that prioritize excellent customer service and actively manage their online reputation – responding to all reviews and online comments – send a beacon of their business values to readers and a “signal of life” to improve likelihood of appearing in AI Overviews.
Read more about effective reputation management through online reviews and replies.
Your takeaway
The AI era is reshaping how consumers shop for insurance. To stay competitive, your agency’s marketing strategies can create stronger engagement based on audience segment preferences — with smarter segmentation, more engaging content, actively replying to online reviews and comments, and a strong digital presence written for humans and the hidden AI audience.