Generational Insight

Driving Product Innovation through Generational Insight for Aflac

Aflac provides supplemental health insurance designed to cover out-of-pocket healthcare expenses, including surprise medical bills.

The company faced a significant challenge in reaching Millennials — a young, healthy audience with other priorities for their often limited budgets. 

Traditional health insurance was already a begrudging purchase; convincing them of the value of supplemental health insurance would require a significant value proposition.

I led mobile ethnographies to explore Millennial perspectives on health, finances, and appetite for risk.

The research revealed a generational shift in how Millennials viewed caring for their health.

Experiences — brunch with friends, concerts, college football road trips, coffee runs with coworkers — were more than leisure activities. Experiences were essential to their wellbeing — supporting their physical, mental, emotional, and social health. 

However, when asked how they would handle out-of-pocket medical costs, research participants identified just one solution: give up experiences (and often for extended periods). 

This meant that the things that most supported their health and wellbeing were also the first things they sacrificed.

I led additional qualitative research (IDIs, online bulletin boards and journals) to investigate the consequences of out-of-pocket medical debt. 

The research was heartbreaking, revealing a toll on wellbeing — from stress and isolation to a diminished ability to heal and recover. 

The financial industry didn't offer any alternative solutions. 

In fact, much of the industry's messaging encouraged eliminating experiences to build savings. 

This positioned caring for one's health as being in direct conflict with being financially responsible.

Aflac had an opportunity to address an unmet consumer need.

To address it, I created, defined, and named a new product category: Lifestyle Coverage.

Shifting the narrative from protection against illness to protection of life's experiences aligned with Millennial perception of how to care for one's health.

I developed a value proposition and messaging platform, then tested them in additional qualitative research (focus groups). 

Research participants said they would be willing to pay more than five times the cost of a typical Aflac policy for Lifestyle Coverage.

The launch of the Lifestyle Coverage product category drove immediate impact: a 5% year-over-year increase in sales by a young, budget-conscious audience, for which insurance was a low interest category.