By 2040, almost 50% of the U.S. population will be multicultural, with a combined purchasing power exceeding $5 trillion, according to global marketing research firm Nielsen IQ. Additionally, some multicultural populations tend to favor informal financial practices and rely on trusted local networks. For instance, group saving and lending practices are commonly found in African and Caribbean, Indian, and Latin American communities, respectively.

To earn their business and trust, insurers must recognize the diverse backgrounds and experiences of multicultural populations and offer products and services designed to meet their needs.

Whether it’s property, casualty, life or health insurance, tailored offerings such as language translation and mobile solutions can help insurers build increased trust, strengthen the customer experience and empower customers to choose the best coverage for their families.

Improving multicultural customer service in the insurance industry

Insurers can incorporate several services and products to better engage and serve multicultural customers, from localized service and language support to mobile and digital-first solutions.

Language translation and support

For many multicultural communities, English is a second language. A large portion of consumers indicated that customer support in their native language strengthens their loyalty to a brand, and many also reported increased satisfaction.

Insurers can develop more inclusive customer service by using language translation tools that convert customer communications into multiple languages. Many insurers have started to address language barriers by offering multilingual support and translation services, but these solutions often fall short of providing the bestcustomer experience due to limited language coverage and lack of personalization. There’s still room for improvement in making these services not just accessible, but truly effectivefor non-English-speaking customers.

These tools should ensure that insurers’ communications, including emails, text messages, and websites, reflect the needs of their customer base, reducing language barriers that can make signing up for coverage, filing a claim or asking a policy question more difficult. Adopting solutions with integrated AI-driven translation tools also enables insurers to provide multilingual support in real time when a customer engages with a website chatbot or contacts their call center. These capabilities can build trust and loyalty and potentially boost customer satisfaction.

Mobile and digital-first solutions

Multicultural consumers are often early digital adopters and rely on smartphones. So, mobile and digital financial services are likely to engage them.

To better serve these customers, insurers can incorporate multilingual support into their apps and SMS messages and offer mindful integrations with third-party apps and tools. For example, WhatsApp and CashApp are growing in adoption within some communities.

Multilingual customer engagement

Insurers can foster greater trust and transparency with competent customer service. Hiring multilingual agents and partnering with local, minority-owned businesses to develop financial education and financial inclusion programs can help insurers better engage multicultural customers.

Talking to someone in their native language who understands their unique financial challenges, hopes and dreams can help customers access relevant information to make the best coverage decisions and build long-term relationships with insurers. Studies show consumers are 1.5 times more loyal to financial institutions that offer culturally relevant and multilingual support, so culturally mindful insurance customer service is one way insurers can increase customer loyalty.

Building trust, loyalty and greater customer satisfaction

Insurers must adapt to the needs of the growing multicultural population to future-proof their business and stay competitive. Whether it’s multilingual support, digital-first solutions, or localized, culturally relevant customer service, insurers can employ several strategies to dismantle access barriers and increase engagement.

By strengthening the customer experience and enabling customers to select the coverage that best suits their needs, insurers can build trust and loyalty.

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